Reconciliation, then, is not an adjustment to limitations, nor is it a negotiated settlement. It is not reciprocal in the sense that man and God were enemies and have now worked out terms of settlement by which they can live as friends. The supremacy of God and the priority of God’s initiative in Christ are key to understanding reconiliation. He is not resigning himself to us, he is reconciling us to himself (Rom. 5). This transformation is dynamic and lifelong. True, the foundation that makes reconciliation possible has been laid “once and for all” in the death and resurrection of Jesus. The foundation, however, is not an end in itself but precisely that, a foundation upon which the transformation of ourselves and the world can be constructed. Here the distinction between justification and reconciliation is very important. Justification is accomplished fact, reconciliation is the continuing process. We proclaim justificatlon, we appeal for reconciliation. “We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” This is not to say that justification is God’s work and reconciliation is our work. It is God who justifies and it is God who invites and engages us in the living out of the justified life.
Neuhaus, R., (1979). Freedom for Ministry. San Francisco: Harper & Row.
The distinction Neuhaus makes between reconciliation and justification sheds light, I think, on the current brouhaha between N.T. Wright and John Piper.
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