In his letter to the Christians at Corinth, the apostle Paul wrote that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Cor 5:19). The word reconcile translates the Greek word katallassō (καταλλάσσω), which refers to “the exchange of hostility for a friendly relationship.”[1] According to Merrill F. Unger, “Reconciliation, therefore, means that someone or something is completely altered and adjusted to a required standard (cf. Rom 5:6–11). By the death of Christ the world is changed in its relationship to God. Man is reconciled to God, but God is not said to be reconciled to man. By this change lost humanity is rendered savable.”[2]
The word counting translates the Greek word logizōmai (λογίζομαι) which was an accounting term that means “to determine by mathematical process, reckon, calculate, frequently in a transferred sense, count, take into account something.”[3] It is used to communicate the idea of something being imputed or credited to another. For example, Paul said that when Abraham believed God, “it was credited (λογίζομαι) to him for righteousness” (Rom 4:3). That is, when Abraham believed God at His Word, the Lord credited righteousness to his account. Paul later called this “the gift of righteousness” (Rom 5:17). In 2 Corinthians 5:19 Paul used the negative particle me (μή) to negate logizōmai. That is, God is not counting, not calculating, or not taking into account “their trespasses against them.” The phrase as a whole emphasizes that God, through Christ, is offering reconciliation to His enemies, and this comes to those who believe in Christ as Savior.
Of course, to talk about reconciliation is to assume there are two or more persons who need to be reconciled because of a fractured relationship, because at least one person has been offended by the actions of another. Biblically, God is the one who has been offended by His sinful creatures. Because of our offensive sin, our relationship with God was broken. God loves us, but not our sin. We are quite apt to produce sin, but are powerless to deal with it. God initiated the restoration of the relationship by dealing with our sin. This is why the cross was necessary, for “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). At the cross, God judged our sin as a His righteousness required, and offers salvation as His love desires. All our sin, which is an offense to God, was imputed to Christ on the cross where He was judged in our place and paid the penalty for all our sin. Jesus tasted “death for everyone” (Heb 2:9), and is Himself “the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). God did His part to reconcile us to Himself. The positive human response to believe in Christ is what actuates the benefits of the cross to us and brings about the reconciliation God desires. When we trust in Christ as our Savior, we are given the very righteousness of God as a gift (Rom 5:17; 2 Cor 5:21; Phil 3:9), and are justified by the blood of Christ “and shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him” (Rom 5:9).
To receive God’s offer of reconciliation, the lost sinner need only receive Christ as Savior. When a person believes in Jesus as their Savior, trusting Him alone to save them, the benefits of the cross are applied, and a relationship with God is gained. This reconciled relationship is obtained only in Jesus, who said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6). Because of the shed blood of Christ on the cross, God was able to “to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross” (Col 1:20). Faith in Christ is the human response that completes the reconciliation and brings relational peace. Peace is secured because both sides accept the work of Christ on the cross. Jesus mediated our peace, “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all” (1 Tim 2:5-6a). Unbelief is the only thing that keeps a person from being reconciled to God and experiencing peace with Him. God could not have done more that He did at the cross, nor made reconciliation more simple for mankind.
The Father was satisfied with the death of Christ and the barrier of sin has been removed (expiated) by Jesus, who is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), and who “who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood” (Rev 1:5). God now calls everyone to believe in Christ as Savior, the mediator between God and mankind, that the benefits of the cross might be applied to them and forgiveness of sins received. God judged our sin at the cross where Jesus “died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God” (1 Pet 3:18). The Bible teaches that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4), and is “not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Pet 3:9b). But God is not a bully and does not force anyone to be saved. Forgiveness of sins (Eph 1:7), the gift of righteousness (Rom 5:17), and eternal life (John 10:28) are received in the one who believes in Christ as their Savior.
While the way is open for everyone to be saved, it is effective only to those who believe in Jesus as their Savior. When we trust in Christ as Savior, there is actual peace between us and God, for “having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:1). For though we were enemies of God, “we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son” (Rom 5:10). God has set aside His enmity toward lost sinners and desires peace, but the lost sinner must lay aside his enmity toward God and accept His offer of peace by accepting Christ as Savior. Positive volition is needed for salvation to occur.
Through the death of Christ, God made a way for sinful people to come to Him and have peace with Him. The atoning work of Christ on the cross is finished and reconciliation is accomplished on the divine side. God extends peace to those who will accept it. This relational peace between God and people is actualized when the lost person accepts God’s offer of reconciliation and believes in Jesus as Savior. Then, and only then, are the benefits of the cross applied and salvation is received. Reconciliation then becomes a reality on both sides. I “beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:20). I say with Paul, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).
Dr. Steven R. Cook
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- The Gospel Explained
- Free Grace Salvation
- The Cross & Crucifixion of Jesus
- The Purposeful Suffering of Christ
- Jesus’ Substitutionary Atonement in Salvation
- Defining Salvation in the Bible
- Who is the One Who Saves?
- The Value of Jesus’ Death for God and Christians
- A Look at Grace
[1] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 521.
[2] Merrill F. Unger, “Reconciliation,” The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1988), 1067.
[3] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 597.