Atonement through Christ’s death reconciles humanity to God, satisfying His righteous demands for sin. Reconciliation is God's initiative, removing the barrier of sin and enabling salvation by faith. Provisional reconciliation makes humanity savable, while experimental reconciliation brings lost sinners into a relationship with God. Believers are ambassadors of this reconciliation, urging others to trust in Christ for full reconciliation with God.
Tag: Reconciliation with God
Reconciliation with God
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).