How are we to be reconciled to God? God's way of peace.

RECONCILIATION:  GOD'S WAY OF PEACE

Kalvarienberg by Paolo Veronese.

On whose side is the enmity?  The New Testament never speaks of man reconciling God.  We must be reconciled to God

Reconciliation, by Josefina de Vasconcellos, in St. Michael's Cathedral, Coventry.

The question is, on whose side does the enmity lie?  Are the barriers only one our human side, or are there also barriers on God's side?  It is often noted that the New Testament never speaks of man reconciling God; indeed, it never speaks of God being reconciled at all.  He is always the reconciler, never the reconciled.  For example, in 2 Corinthians 5:20 the apostolic appeal is, "to be reconciled to God"; an appeal directed to us and requiring action on our part.  There is no corresponding appeal to God.

Joseph Barber Lightfoot (sometimes called J. B. Lightfoot; 13 April 1828 – 21 December 1889) was an English theologian and Bishop of Durham.  "It is the mind of man, not the mind of God, which must undergo a change, that a re-union may be effected."

This has led many scholars to take it as axiomatic that all the enmity and all the misunderstanding are on the side of the human race.  The nineteenth-century commentator, J. B. Lightfoot, set the tone, "It is the mind of man, not the mind of God, which must undergo a change, that a re-union may be effected."

The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God

Two people in a heated argument in New York City.

It is, of course, true that there is enmity on the human side: "the mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God" (Romans 8:7).  More broadly, we are by nature followers of God's arch-enemy, "the ruler of the kingdom of the air" (Eph 2:2).  Resentment of divine rule, disobedience of his law, mistrust of his ways, rejection of his gospel and hatred of his followers are all fundamental aspects of the human condition.  Mankind lives in a state of chronic revolt against their Maker.  Any meaningful concept of reconciliation must, therefore, include the removal of this enmity, replacing hatred with love and blasphemy with doxology.

There are barriers to reconciliation on God's side

A world map showing all the truth and reconciliation commissions in Museum of Memory and Human Rights, Santiago, Chile.

Yet the New Testament makes plan that there are barriers on God's side, too.  He cannot condone sin.  He hates it, condemns it and opposes it.  It is so abhorrent, indeed, that he cannot look at it (Habakkuk 1:13), much less can he be expected to walk in concord with the children of darkness.  He deems them aliens and foreigners (Ephesians 2:12), impenitent rebels against his kingdom.

Mankind's attitude to God is a mixture of guilt, fear, hatred and paranoia

William Blake's color printing of God Judging Adam original composed in 1795. In the Biblical story, God's judgement results from the fall of man.

All this is highlighted in the Genesis account of the fall of mankind.  Sin immediately brought resentment and fear.  When Adam and Eve "heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden" they immediately hid among the trees; and when they were challenged Adam answered, "I Heard you in the garden, and I was afraid" (Genesis 3:8-10).  The relationship is in tatters, and from this moment onwards mankind's attitude to God is a mixture of guilt, fear, hatred and paranoia.  But the Genesis account does not end there.  It ends with the words, "God drove the man out" (Genesis 3:24).  John Milton paints a charming picture of the fallen couple's departure from Paradise:

Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach

They hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow,
Through Eden took their solitary way.

They were banished.  Innocence once lost, is lost forever

Adam and Eve Driven From Paradise by James Tissot

But they were not voluntary exiles.  They were banished (Gen 3:23); and not only were they banished, but the road back was closed: "After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life" (Gen 3:24).  It is a defining moment.  The human race can never go back to the womb.  Innocence, once lost, is lost for ever.  And there can be no cheap grace, though at that point Adam and Eve could scarcely have imagined what the cost of their sin would be.  Yet even in the moment of expulsion, there is grace.  The human pair are not banished from the earth, only from the garden; and they are not left without provision.  No longer will they enjoy the lush provision of paradise, but the ground will still support them, though by the sweat of their brow.

God forcibly expels them, and bars their return.  The way back to eternal life is closed;  and closed not by mankind's "No!" to God, but by God's "No!" to mankind

Depiction of the Fall in Kunsthalle Hamburg, by Master Bertram

Yet the divine anger towards the disobedient pair is plain enough.  God does not simply order them to leave, he forcibly expels them, and bars their return.  Eden was the place where God walked, where humans live din harmony with their Maker, with each other and with their environment, and where eternal life was within their grasp.  Now, their situation is changed irrevocably.  Eden is behind them, and at the gate stands a flaming sword.  The divine holiness, the flaming anger of God, now stands between mankind and paradise.  Humanly speaking, the way back to eternal life is closed;  and closed not by mankind's "No!" to God, but by God's "No!" to mankind.  Anyone who dares to go back must reckon with the flaming holiness of offended deity.

A new way to paradise: The blood of Jesus

Paradise by Jan Bruegel

That would be the mission of Christ.  He would approach the Holy in the name of mankind, the sword would flash, the curse would be endured, and a new way would be opened back to paradise.  But it would not be a way opened through a change of heart on mankind's part.  It would be opened through the blood of Jesus.

Be reconciled to God

The Fall of Man by Lucas Cranach, a 16th-century German depiction of Eden, with the tree of life (left) and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil

But if it is the holiness of God that guards the way to the tree of life, why does Paul plead with us to be reconciled to God (2 Cor 5:20)?  Is this not a clear plea that we should lay aside our enmity against God?

The person who is being urged to "be reconciled" is not the one who harbours the resentment.  God has banished man; now we must deal with what he has against us.

"Abraham Sends Hagar Away", 1837 by Émile Jean-Horace Vernet (30 June 1789 – 17 January 1863)

There is a close parallel to Paul's form of words in Matthew 5:24, where Jesus lays down the principle, "first go and be reconciled to your brother'.  The key point here is that the person who is being urged to "be reconciled" is not the one who harbours the resentment.  Quite the contrary: "If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar.  First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift."  In this context, reconciliation clearly does not mean changing your own personal attitude to someone: it means changing their attitude towards you.  "Be reconciled", here at least, is equivalent to, "deal with what your brother or sister has against you".  I'm view of the overall teaching of Scripture, Paul's appeal, "be reconciled to God", must be seen in this light.  God has banished man; now we must deal with what he has against us.  We must make peace with the one we have provoked by our sin.

Source: Macleod, Donald. Christ Crucified. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2014, pages 151-154.