Reconciliation to God

One of Paul’s most distinctive teachings about the death of Christ — something especially associated with him and logically flowing from what we have already seen — is the idea that Christ’s death brings about reconciliation to God. This theme shows up clearly in passages where Paul speaks of Christ’s death as restoring peace between God and humanity.

In Romans chapter 5, verse 1, Paul pulls together his earlier teaching — especially Romans chapter 3, verses 22–26 — and describes its outcome as “peace with God through Christ,” a peace that comes from “being justified by faith.” Later in that same chapter, verse 10 restates the argument of verse 9 by saying that believers have been “reconciled to God through the death of His Son,” treating this as another way of saying that they have been “justified in His blood.” Then, in verse 11, Paul adds, “through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”

Faith and Works

In The Moral Teaching of Christ we saw that each of the four Gospels presents Christ as teaching — clearly, repeatedly, and without apology — that God opposes all sin and shows favor only to those who obey his commands. And we saw that Paul echoes that same point with equal clarity and force. Yet we also saw something else: both Christ and Paul say, just as plainly, that God welcomes into his favor as heirs of eternal life all who believe the good news Christ announces. Put side by side, those statements can sound like a contradiction — and that tension is what we need to face now.

Because the New Testament teaches both truths so strongly, we cannot accept any “solution” that weakens either one. The first claim is demanded by the supreme authority of the moral law, which will not tolerate any violation of its rights. The second is just as necessary, because only full pardon can meet the deep need of guilty and helpless humanity. So we now look for the underlying harmony between the claims of justice and the message of mercy.