Righteous and Reconciled: If It Happened to Me, It Can Happen to You!

When we call someone righteous, we typically think of all the good deeds they've done. They are righteous because they treat people right. We may think of their honest character, how they conduct business with integrity and fairness. They are honest and just in their assessments of people and situations.

Broad gulfs can hinder reconciliation

Time out. I need to confess that I've failed miserably when it comes to the above-mentioned righteous behavior. And I suspect you've failed too. It seems right to confess this so you wouldn't suspect me of being self-righteous.

A seemingly unrelated word to righteous is reconciled. I'd like to focus on the meaning of reconciliation as it pertains to relationships. We know what it means to be estranged, alienated or separated from a friend, family member or spouse. Many of us desire to be reconciled to that person with whom we were once close. Perhaps we did something to hurt or alienate them, so we know that in order for the relationship to be restored, we need to ask forgiveness. This means that the hurt party needs to forgive. Sometimes both parties have hurt each other. This happens a lot within families, between siblings, and between parents and their children.

I'm knocking off two birds with one stone by writing this blog post. The first bird is the post itself, which I hope blesses you, the reader. Second, this post helps me prepare for my part in a church Life Group. Each member of the Life Group shares for about five-minutes what they've learned from their Bible readings from the week. We're all on the same Bible-reading plan, so there's some mutual familiarity about the content.

The group has been reading from 2 Corinthians, and the words righteousness and reconciliation just happened to show up. And we see from the text that they are closely tied. I'll just cite some of the verses from 2 Corinthians that stood out to me, and give my thoughts on them. Hopefully it will all tie together.

2 Corinthians 3:6-9 (NIV) says, "6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!"

The old covenant reflects the Law of Moses, which is the "ministry that brought death." The Law, which was perfect, revealed the sin (Romans 3:20) of an imperfect people (not just the Jews, but the entire human race). But the good news is that the new covenant under Christ set us free from the law and gave us the Holy Spirit, who gives us new life. Also, this new covenant ministry "brings us righteousness!"

I'll momentarily skip to Romans 3:21-25 (ESV) for a deeper understanding of this righteousness that we receive under the new covenant. "21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith."

We see the following things from Romans 3:21-25:

• Righteousness is given apart from the law
• It's a righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe
• All have sinned
• We are justified (declared righteous) by grace as a gift
• We are justified because of the redemptive work of Christ
• Jesus was a propitiation (which means He took upon Himself the punishment we deserved)
• We receive this gift of righteousness through faith

Let's go back to 2 Corinthians 5:17-20 (ESV), "17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore,we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."

Let's look closely at verses 17-20:

• Those who are in Christ are new creations. This likely refers to the born-again experience--the new birth or regeneration, where a believer is given a new heart and the Holy Spirit takes residence inside that heart.
• The old sinful heart and life has passed away, replaced by the new heart and life. We still battle the fallen flesh after conversion, as all Christians know. The new heart isn't the same as the flesh. But the good news is that because of the power of the Holy Spirit in our new hearts, we can now have victory over the flesh.
• We are reconciled to God through Christ (v.18). We are no longer estranged, alienated or separated from a relationship with God. Our sin has been wiped away, forgiven, and no longer forms a barrier between us and God. We are in fellowship with God, completely restored through Christ.
• God reconciled us to Himself through Christ (v.18-19). In the Old Testament Jewish temple, a thick curtain separated humanity (except for the high priest once a year) from the Holy of Holies, where God resided. The temple curtain was torn in two the moment Jesus died on the cross (Luke 23:45). In Hebrews 10:19-20, we see that the curtain represented Jesus' body: "19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh..."  So, through the blood of Jesus, sinful humans can be reconciled to God and experience His presence. His presence literally resides in the bodies of all believers, who are temples of the Holy Spirit.
• Paul gives a command to all of humanity in v.20, "We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." We are reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ. That's how it's done.

Whew. That's an awesome message of reconciliation, and it ties in with righteousness in 2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV), "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

Verse 21 clearly tells us that we are credited with the very righteousness of Christ because of His atoning sacrifice on the cross. This is the gospel, the good news of justification through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ. There's an old saying that says, "All our sin was imputed to Christ. All His righteousness was imputed to us." This is known as "the double imputation."

In conclusion, Jesus died so that we could be forgiven, justified (declared righteous) and reconciled into a close relationship with God. Blessings!