Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Cost of Reconciliation
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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We would normally read and expound these scriptures in the context of Passover. We normally think of Passover in terms of being reconciled to God. However, Passover and the Day of Atonement are inextricably bound in that both of them involve reconciliation. Atonement, though, supplies answers and solutions to problems not resolved by Passover. The Passover is personal in nature, providing reconciliation of the individual to God and the beginning of unity with man in the church with Christ. It is through Passover that we learn the price of redemption and reconciliation—xno less than that of the Creator, Jesus Christ. Atonement, however, is universal in nature and provides reconciliation of the world to God—all of mankind at one with God and each other through Christ. Passover shows Satan defeated, but still free to work out his nefarious schemes to produce confusion and division, as well as rebellion against God. Atonement, on the other hand, shows Satan defeated and punished by banishment—no longer free to do anything but to bewail his lot. The emphasis in I Peter 1:17-21 is on the cost of reconciliation, which is vital to God's purpose because a major portion of our desire to obey God comes from our sense of obligation to God and Christ in appreciation for how much was paid for us to be free. We will never feel this until we begin to understand that this was done for us as individuals. If only one person had ever sinned in all of God's creation, it still would have taken the life of the Creator to get him free from the wages of his sin. He did it for us! It is easy for us to escape responsibility for His death when we conclude, "Well, He did it for all of mankind." Indeed, He did, but he did it for us as individuals too. This is the path that a person has to take in his thinking to recognize the cost that was made for us and to come to a sense of obligation. We ought to respond if only out of thanks for what He did. We owe our lives to Him. People have been willing to give virtually everything to someone who saved their lives from drowning, snatched them out of the way of a speeding automobile, or saved them from some other kind of painful death. At Passover, we rehearse that, understanding that Jesus Christ saved us individually.
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Matthew 6:12-14
Among the three personal requests Jesus includes within His Model Prayer—for daily sustenance, forgiveness, and deliverance from evil—only the middle one receives additional comment (verses 14-15). His instruction clarifies the second half of the request in verse 12 (see Luke 11:4): “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (emphasis ours throughout). Our Savior wants to ensure that His disciples do not miss the severe implications of seeking forgiveness while withholding forgiveness from those who have wronged us. As God freely forgives those He calls—despite their horrendous sins against Him—He expects the elect to follow His example and show mercy to others. The verb tenses in this request, faithfully translated into English, are instructive. The petitioner asks God to forgive him as he has already forgiven those who have sinned against him. Luke's version of the Model Prayer adds a slight twist, reading “for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us,” which in Greek is in a continuous tense, perhaps better rendered, “as we keep forgiving.” These tenses suggest that God's original forgiveness at justification is a singular act of grace on His part, but our ongoing forgiveness contains a condition: If we fail to reciprocate forgiveness toward others, God may withhold His mercy from us. The Greek word behind “forgive” in Matthew 6:12 is aphiēmi (Strong's #863), which in classical Greek meant “to send off” in a variety of nuances: “to hurl [a spear],” “to release,” “to let go,” or “to let be.” In Scripture, it is often used in the sense of “to leave,” as in Mark 1:20, where Zebedee's sons “left” their father to follow Christ. It can also mean “to set aside,” used in Mark 7:8 to describe the Pharisees “laying aside” God's law in favor of their traditions. In Mark 12:19, the Sadducees try to entrap Jesus with a story about a man who dies and “leaves his [childless] wife behind.” When the woman anointed His feet with costly oil in Mark 14:3-9, Jesus uses aphiēmi in the phrase “let her alone” (verse 6). Sometimes, it can mean “to allow” or “to permit,” as in Mark 5:37, where Jesus allowed only Peter, James, and John to witness His transfiguration. The Greeks used aphiēmi to mean “to remit” or “to forgive or pardon” in both a secular (to forgive monetary debt) and religious (to forgive a fault or sin) sense. It describes a dismissal or release from obligation. As its many usages suggest, the spiritual sense not only implies absolving a sinner from paying what he owes (Mark 11:25), but it also retains the undertones of “laying aside,” “leaving behind,” “letting go,” and “leaving alone.” When God forgives someone, the debt is wholly removed, never to be revisited or reinstated; it is “laid aside,” “left behind,” “let go,” and “left alone.” It should be the same when people forgive others. Notice how Jesus phrases this request: “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” It may seem insignificant, but in this way, Jesus emphasizes the human element of the process of forgiveness: We are to forgive the person, not just the infraction. If a person remits a debt on a purely business or legal level, the forgiveness is real, but it has a negligible impact on the relationship between the debtor and debtee. The transaction has been essentially faceless and emotionless, and while the debtor is undoubtedly grateful, there is scant guarantee of a continuing association. Instead, God desires not just forgiveness but also reconciliation. The debt, offense, or sin has caused a breach in the relationship, and forgiveness removes the hindering element so the involved parties may return to peaceful, positive, harmonious interactions. He has reconciled us to Him through the blood of Christ (Colossians 1:19-21), and He wants us to reconcile with others, especially those in the faith from whom we have become estranged by sin or offense.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
The Model Prayer (Part Seven): Forgive Us Our Debts
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Ephesians 2:14-22
Paul is speaking about Jew and Gentile—two different ways of life—being brought together under the auspices of the work of reconciliation Jesus Christ Himself did. God and Christ began the process of reconciliation through Christ's sacrifice. They actually laid the groundwork a long time before that, but Christ's sacrifice got the ball rolling for the whole process. That sacrifice destroyed the enmity between God and man. It also destroyed the wall, division, or partition that separated men from other men. In Ephesians 2, Paul focuses on the division between Jew and Gentile, but it could also be black and white, man and woman, or slave and free. It could be whatever separates one person from another. Christ's sacrifice did the work to break down all those walls. Once we accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, those human divisions—those demographics—mean nothing spiritually. Our demographic is now "Christian," follower of Christ, and the way of life that we live is Christian. It is not Jewish, not Gentile, not male, not female, not black, not white. Our life is Christ's life. Our identification is as His disciples or as God's children or His elect. So, those physical differences between us should fade into the background. They should fade away for all time once the resurrection comes—because we will then be fully spiritual brothers and sisters in Christ, all part of the same God Family. The way Paul phrases it in Ephesians 2:21-22 is that we are now part of the same building—"a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." God wants to live in us. We are now being built into one Temple, each of us a brick in its wall, so to speak. We are now all one Body. We are all cells in that one Body, that is, Jesus Christ's Body. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:4, "There is one body." If there are disagreements between the cells of that one Body, then the Body is in danger of becoming divided. But the Body cannot be divided because it is one Body. That is why reconciliation between brethren is so essential! If reconciliation does not occur, then something will happen in that Body—and it is not good. One or the other, or both, will be ejected from the Body if it does not get resolved—because the Body cannot function properly with internal strife. The Body must grow together into unity! The middle section of Ephesians 4 speaks to this: "The whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies . . ." (verse 16). Thus, there cannot be schisms between true members of the true church. This is why it is so vital for brethren to be reconciled to one another: because it is crucial to the growth of the church that we learn to get along and to put these "things that offend" behind us. Perhaps now these often-read verses will have more meaning: John 15:11-13 "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one that this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." John 15:17 "These things I command you, that you love one another."
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
The Cost of Reconciliation
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