As we go further into the Easter season, we are going to look at just what Easter means for us. We know that salvation is made possible, that forgiveness is made known, and reconciliation with God is the result. We hear that all the time as the gospel. However, much of that Good News is conflated in some understandings of the work of Jesus that seems to come from a misunderstanding of God. We want to explore this by asking two important questions: “Just what did Jesus do in his death and resurrection?” and “Just what does that mean for us?”
At the heart of the Covenant church from its earliest days is an understanding of God, the actions of Jesus, and the reconciliation and atonement that he made a reality. Because this understanding of the “atonement” runs counter to much of evangelical thought, it is important for us to spend some time thinking about this. So as a lead into the sermon series (What Did Jesus Do?) I am including some quotes from P. P. Waldenström.
“But if this is the true meaning of reconciliation, then it is easy to understand why the Bible never speaks of God’s reconciliation. Then we also understand why the Bible never says that the world is already reconciled to God. For the world is not already in a right relation to God. The reconciler is given; and in his life and work, his death, resurrection, and ascension, and in his assumption of all power in heaven and on earth are the conditions given for the reconciliation of the world. Now the proclamation is made to the world, ‘Be ye reconciled to God.’ The gospel message of reconciliation does not say, ‘God is now reconciled to you, be ye also then reconciled to him.’ Neither does it say, ‘The whole world is now once for all reconciled to God, accept therefore this reconciliation and be ye reconciled to God.’ No, the gospel message of reconciliation says, ‘God is love, and he has sent his only begotten Son to reconcile you to himself; therefore, accept him now, the Son, the reconciler, and be ye reconciled to God. ‘
“But someone will say that in this manner the reconciliation is not accomplished through the death of Christ, as the apostle says, but through faith in Christ. This objection is based on a misunderstanding of terms. If I ask concerning the means that God uses to reconcile the world to himself, the answer is, in the words of the apostle: Christ, the sacrifice of the only begotten Son. On the other hand, if I ask how a person is reconciled to God, the answer is this: In his acceptance of Christ.”
