Reconciled to God

Continuing his thoughts on how God has brought about true in Christ, the Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 2:16 that he [i.e., Christ] might reconcile both [Jew and Gentile] unto God in one body by the cross. The term reconciled is truly marvelous! The Greek is apokatallasso. The simple verb is katallasso, which means “to change or exchange as coins for others of equal value.” So, the idea is to ex­change hostility for friendship. In three New Testament references, however, the prefix apo is added (Eph. 2:16; Col. 1:20, 21). This Greek preposition adds the idea of “back.” Therefore, apokatallasso means “to bring back to a former state of harmony.” Let us be clear on the fact that Jew and Gentile have not always been divided; before Abraham the human race was all one with no distinctions. So, this reconciliation is a “changing back” to the time of no variance, no distinction.

Even deeper, there was a time when there was no variance between God and man. Think of it! There was a time when there was no enmity, no warfare between us. When was that time? It was, of course, in the Garden of Eden. But sin created a barrier; it brought variance and division. The very moment sin entered, they immediately realized they were naked, immediately tried to hide from God, immediately tired to shift the blame to someone else, and immediately denied responsibility. In that one moment, that one act, variance was introduced. But it was then the blood of Christ “reconciled” us; it was a “changing back” to that time of no variance. What a truth this is! As a believer, each of us is no longer at variance with God; we have returned to that time of walking with Him “in the cool of the day” (Gen. 3:8), communing with Him in heart and mind.

It is truly fascinating that apokatallassō is not found in Classical Greek. In fact, even the simple verb katallassō was never used in ancient pagan worship. Why? Because the pagans were never reconciled to their gods; they had no concept of a god with whom they could have no variance. The gods of the ancient pagan religions were always angry, always demanding appeasement. Only in the New Testament Epistle do we find this meaning, for never before has man been brought back to a time of no variance. Only the blood of Christ could accomplish that. Even the Old Testament sacrifices were inadequate; they were only an “atonement,” that is, a covering of sin. Only by Christ’s blood could we be reconciled.

All this is intensified when we see that man is not only separated from God, but men are also separated from each other. Men can’t get along with other men, much less with God. Why can’t men get along with each other? Because they can’t get along with God; their response to God and His Word has been negative.

But may we go even further in this picture by seeing that this is also true of the emotional and psychological problems of individuals. Barring physical causes, most, if not all, of these problems are caused by a wrong response to God. And may we be so bold to say that most, if not all, of the psychologists and psychiatrists of to­day would have to look for another line of work if everyone would respond properly to God. Pick any problem, and you will be able to trace it back to a wrong response to God and His revealed Truth. We say all this because recon­ciliation brings us back to the time of no variance, no warfare, no “class struggle.” We now have peace with God, peace with other men, and peace with ourselves. This leads to a second principle.