What does it mean to be reconciled to God?

2 Corinthians 5:19: “It was God [personally present] in Christ, reconciling and restoring the world to favor with Himself, not counting up and holding against [men] their trespasses [but cancelling them], and committing to us the message of reconciliation (of the restoration to favor).”

Being reconciled to God means believing that God is no longer “counting up and holding against [men] their trespasses [but cancelling them],” all because of the finished work of Christ at the cross. See the context of the verse below: 2 Corinthians 5:17-19-

“17 Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!

18 But all things are from God, Who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself [received us into favor, brought us into harmony with Himself] and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation [that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him].

19 It was God [personally present] in Christ, reconciling and restoring the world to favor with Himself, not counting up and holding against [men] their trespasses [but cancelling them], and committing to us the message of reconciliation (of the restoration to favor).

20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors, God making His appeal as it were through us. We [as Christ’s personal representatives] beg you for His sake to lay hold of the divine favor [now offered you] and be reconciled to God.

21 For our sake He made Christ [virtually] to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become [endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of] the righteousness of God [what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness].”

---

Pretty long addendum to address comments such as "So you are saying once we are saved, because the righteousness of Christ covers us we should continue in sin?”

Being reconciled to God means being put/set right with God. It entails believing that we are made righteous in God's sight and get to “not perish but have eternal life" through Christ's sacrifice alone. He knew no sin but became sin for us so that we who knew no righteousness might become the righteousness of God. In Him, every single one of our sins- past, present and future - has been utterly cancelled/wiped away forever, never to be remembered by God because of His single sacrifice for sins: Hebrews 10-

“12 Whereas this One [Christ], after He had offered a single sacrifice for our sins [that shall avail] for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 Then to wait until His enemies should be made a stool beneath His feet.14 For by a single offering He has forever completely cleansed and perfected those who are consecrated and made holy.”

Also Romans 5:19 tells us: “By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.”

This is what being reconciled to God entails- believing that in Christ, we have utter cancellation of sins and eternal right-standing with God, even though our physical lives are still imperfect and so, so messed up. This is the crux of the message of Christ - Righteousness by faith and not by works of the law aka useless will-power/human strength-driven activities such as suppressings sins or doing things in order to be righteous/godly (be like God) as Adam and Eve tried to do. The arm of flesh will fail and when it does (due to Time and Chance or Satan's sifting as was the experience of Peter who put confidence in his strength to stand firm,) those suppressed sins will burst forth in a volcanic eruption of sins that lead to death (Romans 7:5.) The Pharisees who hated Christ were full of such works.

The reason why we are not committing particular sins and gone the way of Judas is because God did not allow us to get tempted beyond what we can bear. To think that all sinners enjoy their sins and don't want to give them up is akin to thinking that Peter enjoyed denying Jesus and could not wait for another opportunity to deny Jesus. Or that Judas felt no prick in his conscience and couldn't wait to spend the 30 pieces of silver on goodies. What do we think is the major cause of depression and suicide even among unbelievers? It is guilt for sins, fear, anxiety, hopelessness and sorrow in the heart for sins aka not measuring up to particular standards - no different from what happened to Judas who was full of remorse for his sin. What the lost sheep need is not more levies of works of the Law that kills but super(hyper)-abounding Grace: Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd who saves from sins, cleanses us, transforms us and makes us able to produce good works (Titus 2:14.) Never trust yourself. Trust Christ.

Isaiah 64:6 describes all of man's righteous works that proceed from self as “a menstrual rag" —

"We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in Your sight."

Even we would be nauseated if someone offered us a glass of sparkling, cold water with just a dash of the giver's poop or menstrual rag in it. Even worse is what many attempt to do in order to get God to have a good opinion of them: reject His gift of righteousness in Christ thus trashing the reconciliation that we have through His sacrifice of His own Son and offering Him a stash of man's best efforts at obeying the law which amount to nothing but a menstrual rag in His sight. Adding human strength/arm of flesh-driven works aka trying to obey the law in order to get right with God makes Christ of no effect in the lives of those who try:

“For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace.” Galatians 5:4.

Recall being reconciled with God means being set right with God. Beloved of God, let's not be found trying to obey the law in order to achieve the same result. The result is being cut off from Christ. For all who believe in Jesus, having Him as our Righteousness and Strength, all of our entire lifetime of sins are forgiven and every demand that the law made of us has been fulfilled. Hebrews 9 says:

"27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many...."

The wages of sin is death. One death for our entire lifetime of sins. Christ died that death. Christ was offered ONCE to bear the burden of all our sins. Jesus is not going to come and die again for the sins that we might commit tomorrow. This is God's written word but many disbelieve God and preach that believers' sins that Christ was crucified for are still hanging unpaid somewhere and that our reconciliation is not sure unless we do certain things prescribed by self-appointed Old Testament-style high priests using the arm of flesh that will fail.

Only God's freely-given gift of righteousness which is from Christ's shed blood will suffice for this reconciliation, and He freely gives to all who believe. Romans 5:9 says of how God sees all who believe in Jesus-

“And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

This is Grace- undeserved, unearned unmerited favour. Beloved of God, Grace is a Person. His name is Jesus Christ. Titus 2:11 says of Him:

"God’s marvelous grace has manifested in person, bringing salvation for everyone."

Verse 14 of the same Titus 2 says: "He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

God's gracious gift of righteousness to us is apart from works or how vile our sins are. Notice Christ gave His life to free us from "every kind of sin"? Even those sins in Revelation 21:8 that some preachers threaten you with hell for unless you save yourself from them with your human strength (arm of flesh) that will fail-

"But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers,and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

- Christ "gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us,.." This includes the sins listed above and every sin in existence. He came so that we should have no part “in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone"; so that we should "not perish but have everlasting life.” Christ Himself tells us in John 3:14-16:

"14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."

Recall the bronze serpent that God told Moses to make when snakes were biting the Israelites to death in the wilderness? Christ draws a parallel between the way that the Israelites got to escape death and the way that we get to “not perish but have eternal life.” Christ Himself gave this typology of Himself as the bronze serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness.

1 Corinthians 15:56 says: “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.”

The snake sting in the affected Israelites is a type of the sin nature that all of mankind inherited from Adam: Romans 5:19-

“By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.”

The strength of sin is the law. The sinner/old nature gets empowered/strengthened by attempts at obeying the law (human effort at doing things in order to be saved) instead of looking to Christ lifted up for our salvation.

The Israelites that had been bitten by snakes only had to look at the bronze serpent on the pole - for us, Christ lifted up to free us from the power, pleasure and penalty of sin, grant us everlasting righteousness apart from the Law and give us eternal life. Believing this way is seeing Christ lifted up. Imagine the Israelites trying to get the serpent's sting/venom out of their wounds, rushing off to do burnt offerings/give gifts to God or doing their best to keep the Law in order to be healed and escape death instead of looking at the bronze serpent on the pole. They would have been distracted from looking with all of their futile efforts at doing what the law commands in order to be made whole. The effect of the serpent's sting/venom within isn't stalled by these futile activities. Rather, it gets worse. Death is the result. But this is exactly what many in the church today are doing with that false “Yes we are saved by grace but we still have to obey the Ten Commandments and do good things in order to be godly, made whole, escape God's wrath and make it to heaven” doctrine.

Many are still experiencing the effects of the sting of death (like the snake sting that killed some of the Israelites) in the form of proliferation of acts of sin, depression, sickness, lack, oppression, stress, everything that is as a result of the sin nature (sting of death) inherited from Adam because they are not looking to Christ alone for salvation, even salvation from sins and addictions. Just as rushing off to do things in order to be healed would have given the serpent's sting more power to wreak more havoc, the Law that many churchgoers are trying to keep in order to be godly/saved gives sin (snake sting) power over them and causes many to produce a harvest of sinful deeds (snake sting symptoms) that lead to death. See this in Romans 7:5-

“When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.”

The old nature is the sin nature inherited from Adam by all of his descendants. See this in Romans 5:19-

“By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.”

The one with the old nature is not a new creation in Christ. He might profess Christ but he struggles to keep the Law and do good things in order to be godly aka “be like God.” He does not believe that Christ's obedience has made him righteous/godly/like God. Recall 2 Corinthians 5-

“17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life].18 But all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ [making us acceptable to Him] and gave us the ministry of reconciliation [so that by our example we might bring others to Him], 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting people’s sins against them [but canceling them].”

Notice this new life and everything that comes with is from God and for those who are joined to Christ by faith as Saviour? But faith in Him as Saviour from what? Matthew 1:21 answers this question-

“And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

The one who has the old nature strives to curb his sinful tendencies and be sin-free by will-power aka arm of flesh that will fail. But Jesus Christ “the Anointed One came and died to demonstrate his love for sinners who were entirely helpless, weak, and powerless to save themselves.” Romans 5:6.

Those who (like the Pharisees who depended on their will-power at obeying the law in order to be godly,) think they are good, not that bad and need less saving than "core sinners" cannot enjoy Christ's salvation. He is Saviour to the uttermost. He came for the ENTIRELY helpless. In reality, that covers everyone descended from Adam. Of ourselves, there is no good in anyone of us. The reason why we are not committing particular sins is because God did not allow us to get tempted beyond what we can bear. Peter learned this after his denial of Christ which he knew 100% that he could never do. We all are all entirely helpless of ourselves and need God's saving Grace as much as the Pharisees and the adulteress that they took to Christ for stoning, no matter what our "born-again" age is. None of us can walk on our own.

Peter experienced this first-hand when he found himself denying Christ three times after he absolutely knew that he would not. Afterwards, he saw, as we who believe see by Grace that of ourselves, our will-power to live right is utterly useless and that there is no good whatsoever in us. This was also Paul's experience in Romans 7:18-

“For I know that nothing good lives within the flesh of my fallen humanity. The longings to do what is right are within me, but will-power is not enough to accomplish it."

God's word says human effort (the arm of flesh) will fail, is powerless and cannot. But Pride in the arm of flesh (human effort at obedience) that will fail says:

"No, I can. God must be wrong. I still have some good in me. I can keep the law and resist temptation to commit sin by my will-power. (Misinterpreting) faith without works is dead so I must and I can do works to prove that I have faith. Since I can do it, others must too. They are just lazy and love to sin.”

Beloved of God, this is the only reason why you and I are not wallowing in heinous sins: 1 Corinthians 10:12-13-

12 "So beware if you think it could never happen to you, lest your pride becomes your downfall. 13 We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust Him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously."

Beloved of God, Jesus Christ "the Anointed One came and died to demonstrate His love for sinners who were entirely helpless, weak, and powerless to save themselves." Romans 5:6.

Also Romans 6:14 says: "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace."

But some churchgoers are being taught to put the cart before the horse, striving to be godly by human strength at obeying the law after the example of Adam and Eve. See the typology of the forbidden fruit as a picture of the law which many are eating of in a bid to be godly/be like God in Romans 7:8-12 The Message

.) This is smack where Satan wants everyone to be because the result is still the same as it was when Adam and Eve fell for his seemingly good but actually deathly advice of trying to be godly (be like God) by human strength (arm of flesh.) This is the way that Proverbs 14:12 speaks of:

“There is a way which seems right to a man and appears straight before him,

But its end is the way of death.”

Thought to add that law-keeping is anything at all that one does by human strength in order to be godly (like God, after the example of Adam and Eve) or in order to “not perish but have everlasting life.” These are works of the law. The difference between these will-power/human strength driven works and works of faith is the mindset that the doer has about these works come about.The law is not of faith. The doer of the Law (not a doer of the word of faith) sees God demanding that he obeys the Law, live a godly life by his own power and do all sorts in order to get into His good books, escape punishment, enjoy His blessings and generally “not perish but have everlasting life.” Like a helpless and clueless infant whose mother holds up in a standing position her lap, he thinks he is standing by all himself and is yet to realise that he will fall flat on his face should his mother let go of him.

He does not realise that if God took away His restraining hand that restrains man from sins and which makes many churchgoers believe that they are or can be good by themselves, we would all devolve into committing the worst sins - collapse into the useless and helpless heap of flesh that we are of ourselves. There is no good in man of himself!

Paul addressed this truth in Romans 1 where a group who “suppress the truth” of righteousness by faith (verses 16-19) devolved into sin after “God lifted off His restraining hand…” —

“24 This is why God lifted off His restraining hand and let them have full expression of their sinful and shameful desires…”

These human strength (arm of flesh)-driven works of the Law cannot save anybody as it is written in Ephesians 2:8-9 - “We are saved by Grace through faith and not by works…” The Pharisees were full of such works.

The one who is under Grace is also doing works, but he sees God supplying through Christ the desire, willingness and the ability to do good works and the doing of the work itself. Even though we who are under Grace are doing works, we do not see it as a demand from God without which He would withhold His blessings and let His wrath fall on us. We see our works as "I would never have been able or willing to love/give/pray if God was not working in me and doing it all." We see our heavenly Father in Christ supplying the willingness and ability to do as we are doing. Works of the Law take the arm of flesh (human effort) to accomplish- this is why its doers can boast about their strength to stand (as Peter did before he fell foul of “You shall not bear false witness” three times) and condemn others who are still struggling in sin.

But works of Faith take Grace (Christ Himself) to accomplish, even though it is we who are under Grace that are doing the work.

Some church leaders try to compartmentalize the law into moral law/oral law/ceremonial law and say that we who believe are still subject to some of these compartments of the law. What a horrid antichrist teaching that points man to attaining godliness by human strength aka arm of flesh! The law is a whole and just like the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (a picture of the law which many are eating of in a bid to be godly/be like God -see Romans 7:8-12 The Message

) which has many parts- bark, root, stem, etc, eating of any part of the law (the letter) kills, whether moral, oral, ceremonial or the one with which man privately judges himself in his heart (see Romans 2:12-15

.)

The more one tries to be godly (be like God) by human effort at obedience (dependence on law-keeping in order to be like God who cannot perish and has everlasting life) as Adam and Eve attempted to do, the more sin strengthens its grip over the life of that one, “For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under Grace.” Romans 6:14.

Romans 7 also shows us that the law that we who believe are dead to includes the Ten Commandments; Paul used the 10th Commandment (You shall not covet) as an example in this chapter.

Believer, those sins and issues of life that keep you up at night and which you feel makes you unreconciled/have no fellowship with God, Christ came to free you from them ALL. No matter how vile and offensive your sins are, believing Him and with Him as your Righteousness and Strength to overcome, the Lord God sees you as righteous through and through, "even though we are guilty of many sins," because our righteousness is not our own. It is Christ's-

"And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins.” Romans 5:16.

See The Passion Translation: “And this free-flowing gift imparts to us much more than what was given to us through the one who sinned. For because of one transgression, we are all facing a death sentence with a verdict of “Guilty!” But this gracious gift leaves us free from our many failures and brings us into the perfect righteousness of God—acquitted with the words “Not guilty!””

A common refrain of even churchgoers to this truth of Grace is:

"So you are saying once we are saved, because the righteousness of Christ covers us we should continue in sin?”

Beloved of God, beware preachers of the above doctrine of demons that equates righteousness in Christ with lawlessness. Matthew 1:21 tells us what Christ came to do:

"And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Christ Himself tells us in (John 6:43-46) what He is doing in the life of every believer:

“Jesus said, “Don’t bicker among yourselves over Me. You’re not in charge here. The Father who sent Me is in charge. He draws people to Me—that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do My work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End."”

Also see Titus 2:14 for what Christ came to do: "He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

Beloved of God, how can these two things - being saved from sins/put together by Christ and continuing to live in sin - how can they co-exist? How can the blind receive sight from Christ and continue to be blind while living in Christ? Believers, run from any pastor that posits this kind of horrid antichrist argument that says that righteousness in Christ is licence to commit sin. What a horrid antichrist doctrine it is. Let's take our blessed brains to church:

How then can these two things - being saved from sins by Christ and continuing to live in sin - how can they co-exist? How can you who have Christ who saves from sins (Matt. 1:21) as your Saviour continue to live in sin?

Those who push this argument of the possibility of “Christians continuing to wallow in blatant or covert sin after being joined to Christ who saves from sins" that is so lacking in God's Wisdom (Christ Himself) imply that Christ cannot accomplish His work as Saviour from sins in the life of the sinner who utterly depends on Him for salvation, even salvation from sins. This false argument belies the fact that its promoters trust in their strength to make them godly (like God) as Eve was deceived into doing. Such see themselves as their own saviour from sins and ungodliness. This is the very definition of unbelief in Jesus Christ.

Believer, our Heavenly Father in Christ wants us to continually believe and keep on seeing ourselves as He sees us in the mirror of His word- Righteous through Christ's blood (Romans 5:9.) This is what it means to be a doer of the word. This Way, we are transformed by His Spirit and so, get to live right.

Believer, by Grace, whenever we fail or mess things up, let's not go the way of Judas who turned to his human strength at keeping the law to make things right. Like Peter who also committed a similar sin of betraying Jesus but did not look to what he could do by his own power to make things right with God, let's turn to Christ who perfects, establishes, strengthens and settles us after each trial that He brings us out of, just as He did Peter who fell flat on his face but trusted Christ; he went on to do exploits in His name. Only then can we be strong and do exploits, yet not us but Christ in us.

Trying to obey the law to get right with God is the sure-fire way to get cut off from Christ:

“For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace.” Galatians 5:4.

No Saviour from sin here so acts of sin that lead to death proliferate (Romans 7:5,) just as the snakebite victims in the wilderness would have produced more symptoms that lead to death had they rushed off to do things to free themselves of their symptoms instead of looking to the bronze serpent on the pole for salvation- smack where Satan wants everyone to be.

Our truth is that in Christ, we have been reconciled with God. God sees us as righteous ONLY because of the shed blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ, “even though we are guilty of many sins"-

"And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins.” Romans 5:16.

Those sins that you struggle with, your inability to live a godly life and your lack of good works which antichrist pastors deceive you into believing that you can get rid of by your arm of flesh (human strength) and thus be godly (be like God,) Christ came to free you from all of them. Titus 2:14 says of Him:

"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

Antichrist pastors teach dependence on human strength at attaining godliness as Satan did to Eve. Such place the burden of salvation from sins on the helpless sinner, describe the truth of Grace as license to sin and preach that man can be godly by human effort at doing stuff, thus expressing their unbelief in Christ who came to free us from every kind of sin and cause us to live right. But God's word says differently-

"And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ." Romans 5:16-17.

Only by forsaking our own (self)righteousnesses and believing Jesus (having Him as our sole and utter Source of righteousness and strength) do we get to live in triumph over sin and death. This is the Good News. Following it is being doers of the word and not hearers alone, and this we do by Grace alone. When your believing is right, right living will follow.