SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/26/2017 11:18 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Intro to
“Reconciled to God”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Colossians
1:20-23
Message of the verses: “20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. 21 And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, 22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach- 23 if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.”
Before I begin this introduction for our Spiritual Diary
I have to say that 43 years ago this very day that I was reconciled to God and
God was reconciled to me through the blood of the cross and that is the most
wonderful thing that has ever happened to me.
We begin to look a bit at the introduction to what is the
fifth chapter in John MacArthur’s commentary on Colossians which he entitled
“Reconciled to God.” And the first thing
we must do is to talk about the word “reconcile.” Reconcile is one of the most significant and
descriptive terms that we will find in all of Scripture and now we must look at
five key words that are used in the New Testament to describe the richness of
our salvation which is in Jesus Christ alone.
Those five key words are Justification, Redemption, Forgiveness and
Adoption and of course Reconciliation.
John MacArthur writes the following: “In justification, the sinner stands before
God guilty and condemned, but is declared righteous (Rom. 8:33). In redemption, the sinner stands before God
as a slave, but is granted his freedom (Rom. 6:18-22). In forgiveness, the sinner stands before God
as a debtor, but the debt is paid and forgotten (Eph. 1:7). In reconciliation, the sinner stands before
God as an enemy, but becomes His friend (2 Cor. 5:18-20). In adoption, the sinner stands before God as
a stranger, but is made a son (Eph. 1:5).
A complete understanding of the doctrine of salvation would involve a
detailed study of each of those terms.
In Colossians 1:20-23, Paul gives a concise look at reconciliation.
“The verb katallasso
(‘to reconcile’) means ‘to change’ or ‘exchange.’ Its New testament usage speaks of a change in
relationship. In 1 Corinthians 7:11 it refers
to a woman being reconciled to her husband.
In its other two New Testament usages, Romans 5:10, and 2 Corinthians
5:18-20, it speaks of God and man being reconciled. When people change from being at enmity with
each other to being at peace, they are said to be reconciled. When the Bible speaks of reconciliation,
then, it refers to the restoration of a right relationship between God and
man.”
In this letter to the Colossians Paul uses another term
for reconcile – apokatallasso. Now this is a compound word that has a
preposition which is added that intensifies the meaning of the word. This word means thoroughly, completely, or
totally reconciled. What do you think
that Paul would use this stronger word in his letter to the Colossian church? It was because this church, at least part of
the liberal part of it, were holding to something that was wrong, and that was
that Christ was merely another spirit that was being emanating from God. That
word “emanating” means to come out or from something, and that is what the
false teacher in the Colossian church were saying about Jesus which of course
was wrong for Jesus Christ has always existed and always will. As Paul refutes this denial, he emphasizes
that there is total and complete and also full reconciliation through the Lord
Jesus Christ for He possesses all of the fullness of deity which is seen in
Colossians 1:19-2:9, as Jesus is able to fully reconcile sinful men and women
to God as seen in 1:20 “and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the
blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or
things in heaven.”
MacArthur concludes “Paul defends Christ’s sufficiency to
reconcile men to God by discussing four aspects of reconciliation: the plan of reconciliation, the means of
reconciliation, the aim of reconciliation, and the evidence of
reconciliation.” We will begin looking
at these in our next SD.
1/26/2017 11:48 PM
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