RECONCILIATION. Reconciliation is bringing again into unity, harmony, or agreement what has been alienated. According to Biblical teaching, there is need for reconciliation between God and man because of the alienation between them which has its source in human sin and the righteous aversion to it and hatred of it on the part of God. The Bible teaches that God Himself has provided the means of reconciliation through the death of His Son Jesus Christ.

1. The Biblical data. The word “reconciliation” (καταλλαγή, G2903) is found four times in the Greek NT. Three times it is used of the reconciliation between God and man (Rom 5:11; 2 Cor 5:18, 19) and once of the reconciling of the world to the covenant line by way of the cutting off of the Jewish people (Rom 11:15). An intensive form is used (with the prefix apo), meaning “to reconcile fully” (Eph 2:16; Col 1:20, 21).

When reconciliation has its full Biblical meaning of salvation, the alienation it removes is clearly the result of sin (Isa 59:12). This is apparent from 2 Corinthians 5:19, where reconciliation is brought into connection with God’s not imputing trespasses. In more than one place in Paul’s letters reconciliation appears as the parallel and equivalent of justification (Rom 5:9, 10; 2 Cor 3:9; 5:18). This is not strange because the means of reconciliation is the death of God’s Son (Rom 5:10). The purpose of sacrificial death is expiation. The death of Jesus Christ and the imputation of His righteousness to the sinner is ground for removing the cause of alienation between God and man, namely, the guilt of sin.

But “reconciliation” has a broader meaning than “justification.” The word katallagē derives from the socio-economic sphere (cf. 1 Cor 7:11). It speaks in general of the restoration of a proper relationship between two parties. It refers broadly to overcoming an enmity, without specifying how this enmity is removed. In Paul’s writings the word katallage is contrasted many times with “enmity” and “alienation” (Rom 5:10; Eph 2:14f.; Col 1:22). In the positive sense it has the meaning of “peace” (Rom 5:1, 10; Eph 2:15f.; Col 1:20f.). The removal of the reason for alienation brings about a condition of peace between the warring parties.

In its Biblical sense, “peace” is the inclusive term referring to the restoration of fellowship between God and man. The inclusive sense of “reconciliation,” as it is used regarding salvation, that is, overcoming of enmity and alienation, is reflected in what it has in view, namely, the restoration of peace between God and man. Thus Paul can exult, “Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:1).

The Bible teaching is that peace is brought about by the death of Christ. We are reconciled in the body of His flesh through death (Col 1:22). Romans 5:10 speaks of having been reconciled by the death of Christ. Colossians 1:20 speaks of God’s having made peace through the blood of Christ’s cross.

“Reconciliation” is used also in connection with the uniting of the Gentiles with the covenant line (Rom 11:15). In this passage the characteristic traits of reconciliation are present. Paul says of the Gentiles that they were without Christ, aliens from Israel, and strangers to the covenant of promise. They were far off and foreign. Christ is the One who brings peace, who preached peace, who is our peace. He is said to have removed and to have abolished enmity, to have brought the Gentile near, and to have made of Gentile and Jew one. Gentile and Jew have been brought into a single commonwealth. What is in mind is not directly the removal of enmity between God and man but the abolishing of the distinction in Christ of Jew and Gentile. Nevertheless, what separated them is identified as the law. It is by the cross of Christ that what separated them, the enmity, has been broken down. Thus they could be brought together and united in one body. Of two Christ made one new man, thus making peace (Eph 2:16).

This and the other elements of reconciliation must be seen against the background of the all-embracing purpose of God to reconcile all things to Himself through Jesus Christ (Col 1:20f.). This indicates the scope of the idea of reconciliation. Having made peace through the blood of Christ’s cross, God has the great purpose of reconciling to Himself all things in heaven and in earth.

Thus it is possible to speak of the Gospel of salvation in its broadest scope as the “ministry of reconciliation” and the appeal of the Gospel to the sinner as the call to be reconciled to God (2 Cor 5:20).

2. Doctrinal formulation. The doctrine of reconciliation brings into focus man’s alienation from God because of sin and God’s provision for restoring man to His favor. In its most embracive meaning reconciliation has to do with the removal of that which stands in the way of the proper relationship between God and the world in the most inclusive sense of the word. Thus it must have in its purview all the facets of the restoration of the world, including the final reconciliation of all things in Christ to the Father at the last day.

The Scripture passages which refer explicitly to reconciliation invariably speak of man’s being reconciled to God and not of God’s being reconciled to man. At first sight, it might be thought that there are Scriptural grounds for concluding, with liberalism, that the alienation was altogether on the side of man. Liberalism taught that there was an alienation of man from God, but that it was entirely from man’s side. It would not admit that God was estranged. God remained always the same, always favorably inclined toward mankind, in spite of its weakness and sin.

That the Scriptures speak explicitly only of God’s reconciling man to Himself does not mean, however, that it is only man who has been alienated from God and not God from man. Because of sin mankind has come under the righteous judgment and curse of God. God is too holy to look upon sin; He recoils from it. This righteous judgment of God must be satisfied, and this satisfaction is accomplished, the Scriptures teach, by the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The idea of sacrifice involves the idea of expiation for sin, which is necessary if God is to be reconciled. Although the Bible does not refer explicitly to God’s being reconciled, the Scriptural teaching will not allow that reconciliation be only on man’s part. Reconciliation is of God to man as well as of man to God.

Furthermore, the alienation involves more than a sense of estrangement on man’s part. This can be seen from Christ’s teaching in Matthew 5:23, 24. Christ commanded one who brings his gift to the altar and there remembers that his brother has a grievance against him to postpone making his offering until he has been reconciled to his brother. This command cannot be taken to mean simply that the one offering his gift should replace an attitude of animosity toward his brother with one of good will; for this he would not have to leave the altar. It means that he should remove whatever is the ground for his brother’s complaint against him. He should bring a change into the situation which occasioned alienation between them, so that he and his brother can again be in harmony. Christ teaches, therefore, that whatever is behind the alienation should be removed before the worshiper presents his sacrifice. Likewise in the relationship between God and man, it is not simply a question of an attitude on man’s part that must be changed. What must be changed is the condition of alienation which has arisen because of sin. If this alienation is to be removed, the ground of the alienation, namely, the guilt of sin, which deserves the divine wrath, condemnation, and curse, must be removed.

Since this is the case, it is not at all surprising that the scriptural teaching concerning reconciliation is brought into the most intimate connection with those of justification and the expiatory death of Jesus Christ. What effects reconciliation is the sacrifice of Christ, whereby the sinner is relieved of the guilt and the condemnation of sin and receives the righteousness of Christ imputed to him. Since release from condemnation involves also being freed from bondage by the payment of a ransom, reconciliation also has an intimate connection with redemption.

The new relationship between God and men, resulting from their reconciliation, is that of sonship. It is the result of adoption (cf. Gal 4:4f.). Adoption is the goal of the great divine purpose of reconciliation. It is a direct result of redemption, justification (Rom 3:25, 26; 4:25), and reconciliation (2 Cor 5:18, 19).

Contrary to liberalism, contemporary theology has had more place for the idea of divine wrath. It has had a greater place, therefore, for the idea that reconciliation involves God as well as man. Contemporary theologians have come to assert that the divine yes is at the foundation of every divine no. Karl Barth taught that all men are elected and are reconciled. They must only be brought to realize it.

Especially under the influence of Sören Kierkegaard and Karl Marx, the idea of alienation and estrangement has become a major theme of contemporary philosophy, theology, and literature. This accounts in great measure for the importance that the doctrine of reconciliation has assumed in current theological thought. The notion is often secularized, however, referring only to a reconciliation of one with his own deeper nature. Even in contemporary theology this secularizing tendency is present. Its peculiar tendencies do not allow contemporary theology to view reconciliation in its proper relationship to the sacrificial death of Christ, expiation, and the imputation of righteousness, all of which are essential to the Biblical doctrine. See Atonement.

Bibliography J. Hastings, ed., art. “Reconciliation,” A Dictionary of the Bible (1902), IV, 204-207; G. C. Workman, At Onement or Reconciliation with God (1911); J. B. Champness, The Heart of the New Testament (1941); F. W. Dillistone, The Significance of the Cross (1944); A. W. Argyle, “The New Testament Interpretation of the Death of Our Lord,” The Expository Times, 60 (Oct., 1948-Sept., 1949), 253-256; J. Murray, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied (1955); K. Barth, Church Dogmatics (1956), IV, i, ii; H. Ridderbos, Paulus: Ontwerp van zijn theologie (1966).