In God’s full salvation, there are the items of propitiation and reconciliation; that is, God propitiates for us who once had a problem with Him, and God reconciles to Himself us who were His enemies. When we believe into the Lord and are saved, we gain and enjoy these two items.
1) “...His [God’s] Son a propitiation concerning our sins” (1 John 4:10).
When we sinned against God, we became sinful before Him. This caused a problem to develop between God and us. For this reason, the Lord Jesus not only offered Himself as our sin offering on the cross (Isa. 53:10) to redeem us from our sins before God, but He also became our propitiation to appease the problem which we had with God.
1) “He [Christ] is a propitiation concerning our sins” (1 John 2:2).
The word propitiation literally means a mediation between two parties in order to make them one. When party A develops a problem with party B, either offending party B or owing something to party B, then party B will make some demand on party A. If the demand is not met, the problem between the two parties will not be resolved, and the two will not be able to be reconciled. Thus, there is the need for propitiation. Our sins separate us from God and inhibit our fellowship with Him. They cause us to have a problem with God. Therefore, we need the Lord Jesus to be our propitiatory sacrifice to satisfy God’s demand.
1) “He might...make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Heb. 2:17).
When the Lord Jesus accomplished redemption for us on the cross, He also accomplished propitiation for us. Since His suffering of death and shedding of blood dealt with the sins that caused our problem with God, they appeased the problem that was caused by sins. This enables God and us, us and God, to be mutually at peace.
1) “Whom [the redeeming Christ] God set forth a propitiation-cover [the lid of the ark] through faith in His blood, for the showing forth of His righteousness” (Rom. 3:25).
On the cross Christ accomplished propitiation for us through His redemption. He Himself became our propitiation, which is typified in the Old Testament by the lid of the ark in the Holy of Holies, the place where God showed mercy to man. Upon Christ as the propitiation-cover, God is able to apply the very propitiation accomplished by Christ to those who believe in Christ and draw near to God. This appeases the problem between Him and them which is caused by sin.
1) “God...reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Cor. 5:19).
Reconciliation to God closely follows propitiation and is brought to us by propitiation. The propitiation accomplished by the Lord Jesus through His redemption reconciles us to God.
To be reconciled to God literally means to have a thorough change toward God. In man’s fall, man rebelled against God, developed a problem with God, opposed God (Col. 1:21), and became God’s enemy (Rom. 5:10). Therefore, man needs a thorough change toward God; that is, he needs to be reconciled to God through the redemption of Christ. It is not that God is reconciled to us, but that we are reconciled to God. Since God has never caused any problem with us, He does not need to be reconciled to us. Rather, it is we who have developed a problem with God and therefore need to be reconciled to Him.
1) “But all things are of God, who [God] has reconciled us to Himself through Christ and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:18-19).
It is of God that we are reconciled to Him. God reconciles us to Himself through Christ and in Christ. Therefore, reconciliation is all God’s doing.
2) God “through Him [Christ] to reconcile all things to Him, having made peace through the blood of His cross” (Col. 1:20).
Since God wants to reconcile us to Himself, He made peace for us through the blood shed by Christ on the cross, and then through Christ He reconciled us to Himself. Therefore, this sweet matter of our being reconciled to God was accomplished by God. It was accomplished by God through Christ shedding His blood on the cross. By shedding His blood on the cross, on the one hand, Christ made peace on our behalf to reconcile us to God, and on the other hand, He accomplished the same on God’s behalf, since it is God who made peace for us through Christ.
1) Having peace toward God—“We have peace toward God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). To have peace is to be at peace. We were once sinners, those who had problems with God. We had no peace with God and were not at peace with God. But now since we have been reconciled to God through the redemption and propitiation of Christ, we have peace toward God and enjoy peace together with Him.
2) Boasting in God—“We also are boasting in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation” (Rom. 5:11). Literally, the word “boasting” here includes the meaning of rejoicing, exulting, extolling, and being filled with pride. Since we have been reconciled to God through the Lord Jesus Christ and have gained God, God Himself has become our eternal portion. We can enjoy Him, boasting, rejoicing, exulting, extolling, and being filled with pride in Him; that is, “we also boast in tribulations” (Rom. 5:3), and we “boast in hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:2).
3) Being saved in life—“Having been reconciled, we shall be saved in His life” (Rom. 5:10). By being reconciled to God, we are brought into the life of Christ. As a result, we can be saved in the life of Christ, that is, saved by the life of Christ from many negative things, to be delivered from our entangling sins, from the world and its usurpation, from our flesh, our temper, and our disposition, and from our self and our natural man.
The above three items are the issues of our being reconciled to God.
1) “We beseech you [believers] on behalf of Christ, Be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20).
In the preceding text of this verse, it says that God reconciled the world to Himself. We have seen this matter previously. In this verse, God tells the believers, who are already reconciled, to be further reconciled to Him. This indicates that there are two steps in our being fully reconciled to God. The first is that when we were sinners, we were reconciled to God, being delivered from sins and being justified by God. The second is that, while we are still living in the natural life after we are saved, we are reconciled to God, being delivered from the flesh to become the righteousness of God. For the first step of our reconciliation to God, Christ died on the cross to bear our sins (1 Pet. 2:24; 1 Cor. 15:3), so that our sins may be forgiven by God and that God may justify us because of Him. For the second step of our reconciliation to God, Christ was made sin and crucified for us on the cross (2 Cor. 5:21), that we may be delivered from the flesh and that God might make us His righteousness in Christ.