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Message of Reconciliation

“…that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them, and he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”
[ 2 Corinthians 5:19]

What is the message of reconciliation?

I don’t think Christians have done a very good job with it.

Trained to Fear

If terrorists hijacked and crashed a passenger plane once every week in America, you would still be 20 times more likely to die in a car accident, but most people would stop flying.

We have been trained to fear.

Truth and Blasphemy

When Jesus was a man, He spoke blasphemy. What He taught contradicted the paradigm of the religious leaders.

When satan tempted Jesus, he used scripture...truth. He was called an angel of light...truth.

When Jesus spoke, it sounded like blasphemy. When satan spoke, it sounded like truth.

The Long Arm of Salvation

A friend of mine, during a discussion about spiritual things, once said that one must be somewhat of a Universalist when approaching faith. I think I agree. Here’s why…

“…that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” [2 Corinthians 5:19-21]

“…and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.” [1 John 2:2]

I’m not sure how to put to words what I am thinking about these scriptures, but I’ll try. Jesus didn’t count men’s sins against them. This behavior had nothing to do with whether they accepted Him or not. John explicitly states that Jesus didn’t just die for the sins of believers but for the sins of the whole world. The implications of these passages are profound. They are a direct violation of what nearly every evangelical Christian is taught regarding what is necessary to be forgiven by God. Nothing is required to receive God's forgiveness. I can’t help but think about how good and gracious that makes God look.

Escatological Behavior

Peter said in Acts 2:16-21 that the "last days" began at Pentacost.

No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

Since we see here that we are and have been in the "last days" for centuries, we can interpret  Isaiah 2:2-4 correctly.

Now it will come about that In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways and that we may walk in His paths." For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And He will judge between the nations, and will render decisions for many peoples; and they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war.

The implications of this verse are astounding. We think that things will get really bad before Jesus returns. This passage contradicts that belief. So we should be contending for a better world despite its current depraved state thus fulfilling Isaiah 60:1. How do we do this? One way is to not do what we've been doing. We must treat people the way Jesus treated them...

...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. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. [2 Corinthians 5:19-21]

The Word of God, Christ in Me

Here's 1 Colossians 1:25-27...

"Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit,

so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God,

that is,

the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations,

but has now been manifested to His saints,

to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles,

which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."


…so that I [Paul] might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God.

What is the “word of God” Paul is talking about?

The mystery which has been kept secret until now.

What is the mystery?

Christ in me, the hope of glory.

So how does Paul define the word of God?

It is Christ in me, the hope of glory.

I’m not a Greek scholar, but I know English pretty well. The way this phrase is punctuated implies that I am the hope of [God's] glory. If this text is translated correctly, we’ve been looking at ourselves wrongly for centuries.

Borderline heretical statements aside, Paul clearly implies that the word of God is not a book, but the revealed secret that Christ is already walking the earth…in me.