As we study through the New Testament, the Scriptures provide us with many beautiful words that serve to describe the wonder and comprehensiveness of the great salvation given graciously by our Savior, Jesus Christ. Among these words are justification, redemption, forgiveness, adoption, and reconciliation. In justification, the sinner stands in certain guilt and condemnation before God, but God declares him or her righteous. While they still have no personal righteousness that is acceptable to God, the righteousness of Christ is imputed and they are therefore justified or declared righteous. In redemption the sinner stands imprisoned as a slave in sin and guilt, but God pays the redemption price and eternally grants the slave his or her freedom. In forgiveness the sinner stands before God owing Him an insurmountable debt, but as the sinner’s substitute, Christ pays the debt and it is eternally forgotten by being marked “paid in full.” In adoption the sinner stands before God as an unknowable stranger, but is made a son or daughter of the living God in Christ.
In reconciliation the sinner stands before God as His sworn enemy, but through the work of Christ becomes His eternal friend. The Greek verb katallasso means “to change.” In the New Testament it is used to speak of a change in a relationship, as in a wife being reconciled to her husband. It also speaks of God and man being reconciled. When people change from being at hostility with each other to being at peace, they are said to be reconciled. Therefore, when the Bible speaks of reconciliation, it refers to the restoration of a right relationship between God and man.
The word used in our passage in Colossians 1:20 is apokatalasso. The root word has been intensified using a preposition and it means to be thoroughly, completely or totally reconciled. This is possible only through Jesus Christ. As the preeminent One, only He can take two previous enemies–God and man, and join them together. The divine method of reconciliation was personal and costly–the cross of Jesus Christ.
In formal terms, reconciliation represents the manward effect and value of the cross. Since the word signifies complete change, the term cannot be applied to God who is immutable and unchangeable, but it does apply to men and women, who through their faith in the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, are placed in a changed relationship to God and to His judgments about the human race. Today, the Bible will lead us to understand the meaning of reconciliation, the means of reconciliation, and the purpose of reconciliation. We begin with the meaning of reconciliation.
THE MEANING OF RECONCILIATION. Colossians 1:20a
Why Is Reconciliation Needed? When He finished creating the heavens and the earth, God declared His creation was “very good.” However, God’s perfect creation was soon ruined and corrupted by the failure of Adam and Eve to remain obedient as they fell into rebellion and sin. The consequence of the Fall was a fatal and condemning tragedy for every member of the human race–and all of God’s creation. Sin destroyed the perfect harmony between creatures and their Creator. According to Romans 8:22, God’s creation was subjected to futility and now groans and suffers as though going through the pains of childbirth. We now live on a cursed earth in a cursed universe. Even with all of the “good” things mankind has been able to achieve, we are all still under the malevolent influence of Satan whom the Bible calls the “god of this world” and “the prince of the power of the air.”
Because of the rebellion of the human race, God’s ultimate plan for the universe is to reconcile all things to Himself through Jesus Christ. Through the Lord Jesus Christ, God will intervene and reverse the curse, destroy Satan and sin, and restore His creation. These ideas are captured by the phrase, “through Him to reconcile all things to Himself.” But, what does God mean by “all things”? Reformer John Calvin said that “things in heaven” refer to righteous angels” and things “on earth” refer to those who have been redeemed. All those who have been redeemed will be reconciled. This is supported by the middle clause that says that Christ “made peace through the blood of the cross.” We must take note that people are reconciled to God not that God is reconciled to people. For mankind has left God and needs to be brought back to Him. This is done only by grace and only through the redemption by the Lord Jesus.
Enemies and Ambassadors. According to Romans 5:9-10, “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” All people are God’s enemies because of their rebellion and disobedience and are thereby estranged from God.
Second Corinthians 5:18-20 tells us, “Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
Reconciliation involves removing rebellious and sinful man’s hostility toward God. This is one of the many marvelous accomplishments of God on behalf of a person the moment he or she believes in Christ for salvation from sin. Because Christ bore mankind’s sin on the cross, He has made peace with God possible. People no longer need to be the objects of God’s wrath. By trusting themselves to the reconciling work of Christ alone, people pass from God’s wrath to God’s blessing and from spiritual death to spiritual life. This is the treasure of the Good News being proclaimed, the message of reconciliation, delivered in the ministry of reconciliation. And since all believers have been reconciled, all should serve Christ as His ambassadors. Paul’s appeal was an impassioned plea addressed to the world on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
Biblical Portraits of Reconciliation. While there are many portraits that describe reconciliation in the Bible, our time allows only two. The first is found in the forty-fifth chapter of Genesis. I am sure you remember this story. Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery. While starting in Egypt as a slave, God eventually raised Joseph up to be second in command over all the Egyptians. When his estranged brothers made the long trek from Canaan to buy food in Egypt, they finally found themselves in Joseph’s presence. They were stunned to find he was still alive and that he was a ruler over the land. But the Lord brought them together. At their reconciliation Joseph said, “God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt” (Genesis 45:7-8).
The second is also familiar. Luke’s gospel records our Lord’s parable of the Prodigal Son. In the story of a father and his two sons, the youngest estranged himself from the family by taking his inheritance in advance and wasting it all in a distant country. But things went very bad for him and he found himself without money and hungry. In that condition, he considered returning to the home on which he had turned his back. What sort of reception would he get from his alienated father and brother? When he finally returned, at the moment of his reconciliation, his father called for “the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found” (Luke 15:22-24). The Lord Jesus here painted a beautiful picture of reconciliation.
THE MEANS OF RECONCILIATION. Colossians 1:20b, 21, 22a
The Need for Reconciliation. Our text tells us that all of us “were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds.” Reconciliation is necessary because people are alienated from life and God. Before conversion the Colossian believers also were enemies or hostile to God in their minds as well as in their behavior, internally and externally. Sin begins in the heart and manifests itself in covert and overt deeds.
This universal truth about the sinfulness of the human race is repeated in Ephesians four. There, Paul wrote that all people are “darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness” (Ephesians 4:18-19). All people are estranged from God because of their sin and therefore all need reconciliation to be made right with God.
The Blood of His Cross. Notice that it was Jesus who reconciles sinners to Himself. But how did He do that? Verse twenty tells us that it was “through the blood of His cross.” This then is the means of reconciliation and it shows how our relationship with God is restored. “Blood” in this verse is a metaphor for the atonement, or the covering of our sin. This connects our Lord’s death with the Old Testament sacrificial system. The innumerable animal sacrifices under that Old Testament system pointed to the violent death that Jesus, the Lamb of God, would suffer. Yet, in the case of the Lord Jesus, He was not a helpless victim. He intentionally and voluntarily gave Himself as a sacrifice.
In John 10:17-18, Jesus Himself tells us, “I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
Reconciled Through Christ’s Death. Reconciliation of sinners to God is by Christ’s physical body through death. The Bible declares “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22). In order to redeem humans, Christ Himself must be truly human. Thus, Christ’s real physical body and death were necessary for man’s salvation. When the Bible talks about the shedding of Christ’s blood, the point is not the bleeding, but the dying by violence as a sacrifice. Christ died as our Substitute. He took the place of sinners, dying a substitutionary death that paid the full penalty for the sins of all who believe.
THE PURPOSE OF RECONCILIATION. Colossians 1:22b-23
What Does Reconciliation Accomplish for the Believer? Reconciliation produces three benefits for the believer. First, at the moment of salvation, the believer is made holy. Holy means separated from sin and set apart to God. The result of Christ’s death is redemptive in that it is designed to present all believers holy in His sight. Ultimately, holiness is God’s trajectory for all believers. Christ’s death is the basis for judicial justification, progressive sanctification, and ultimate glorification.
Second, we are made blameless, or without blemish. All our sins are forgiven in Christ and leave no marks or blemishes and produces a blameless character. Third, because of being reconciled to God, we are made beyond reproach. We are free from the enemy’s accusations. In Christ, the formerly accused are now unaccused and the formerly condemned are now free.
The Evidence of Reconciliation. It is a sad fact that not all who profess to be Christians are, in fact, saved. In Matthew thirteen’s Parable of the Soils the seed of the Word of God fell on rocky soil and soon was scorched and withered away. Some seed was choked out by thorns. Jesus warned some Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine” (John 8:31). The evidence of a life truly reconciled to God is faithful obedience.
This reconciliation in Christ comes only by an abiding faith, shown by the words “if you continue.” The Colossians had a settled faith, established, like a building on a firm, strong foundation, therefore, Paul did not doubt that they would continue. In fact, he spoke of the hope (confident expectation) which this gospel of reconciliation provides not only to them but also to the whole world–to every creature under heaven. This is obviously a figure of speech indicating the universality of the gospel and its proclamation, not that every person on the globe heard Paul preach.
The Hope of the Gospel. Paul concluded by once more focusing on the proclamation of the gospel, the proclamation that restores lost sinners to God through the reconciliation accomplished by the Lord Jesus. That he says it “was proclaimed in all creation under heaven” shows God’s great continuous goal of the gospel being preached to the remotest parts of the earth. To Paul, that mission was ongoing. And to us, today, it still is.
The mission of proclaiming the gospel is still of supreme importance because it declares God’s justification, redemption, forgiveness, adoption, and reconciliation. That divine message of salvation by faith in Christ transforms men and women, appeases God’s wrath, it comes through Christ and Christ alone, it is available to all who believe, and it gives every believer the ministry of reconciliation.
Many years ago, it was part of my ministry to take groups of high school students on a short-term summer missionary assignment. We had a number of destinations, but we most often went to Mexico. It took several days to make the long drive from Kansas City to Mexico. After we crossed the border at Reynosa, the highway on which we traveled took us past a large regional landfill. If the wind was blowing in the right direction, we could smell it long before we saw it. The road took us very close to the garbage dump and we were shocked to see very young children climbing the large mounds of trash. We were even more alarmed to see that they were living in makeshift cubicles they had constructed out of pieces of cardboard and similar materials. Later, we were told that most of those children were abandoned there and that they survived by scavenging through the trash to find items they could sell. As you might imagine, these children had no resources for personal hygiene, and ended up taking upon themselves the aroma of the landfill. They were dirty and they were malodorous and no one wanted to be around them.
These children described the true condition of every human being. All of us are filthy and offensive to an immensely pure and infinitely holy God. Isaiah said, “All of us have become like one who is unclean and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment” (Isaiah 64:6). Jeremiah said, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick” (Jeremiah 17:9). David wrote, “There is no one who does good, not even one” (Psalm 14:3). Paul concluded, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). All people are in this condition: we are sinners, alienated and estranged from God. In God’s eyes, our sins make us filthy and offensive. Is there any way to change our wretched condition?
Through Jesus Christ, we can be reconciled to God through faith. Like the Prodigal Son, we turn to God, estranged, humiliated, offensive, and polluted. And in that filthy condition, God receives us, puts His best robe on us, the ring of His inheritance on our finger, and places the gospel of His salvation on our feet. Then He celebrates our repentance and our reconciliation. The sinner is transformed into a redeemed saint, eternally clothed with the dazzling righteousness of Jesus Christ. He or she is no longer polluted by sin, but is now adopted into God’s eternal family having been given the gift of eternal life.
Did the sinner accomplish this on his or her own? No, as our text tells us, it was through Jesus who made peace through the blood of His cross. Jesus, who reconciled each and every true believer in His fleshly body through His death as our Substitute. Instead of the corruption of sin and wickedness, He will present each believer holy, blameless, and beyond reproach to God the Father. So, the question is, have you received Jesus Christ as your Savior? Has Jesus reconciled you to God? He does that when you come to Him to receive Him as your Savior by faith. If you have never trusted in Christ as your Lord and Savior, He stands waiting to receive you right now. Will you receive Jesus as your Savior as we close this message with prayer?
