In his opening speech in the debate on LLF in General Synod yesterday, Bishop Martyn Snow told Synod that ‘The missionary imperative for this day and age is reconciliation.’
I agree with him because the New Testament makes clear that the missionary imperative for every day and age is the ministry of reconciliation. We can see this if we turn to the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:18-20:
‘All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 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. So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.’
The important thing to understand with regard to these verses is that although the ‘us’ and the ‘we’ refer to Paul himself, this does not mean that that the ‘message of reconciliation’ is one that only Paul has been called to proclaim. Rather, just as all Christians (and not only Paul) have been reconciled by God to himself through Christ, so also all Christians have been entrusted with the missionary imperative of sharing the message of reconciliation throughout the whole world and until the end of time.
If we go on to ask about the content of this message of reconciliation which Christians are called to share, we find Paul’s most comprehensive statement of its content in Ephesians 2:11-22 where Paul writes:
‘Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.’
What we see in this passage is that God’s reconciling work in Christ has both a horizontal and vertical dimension. It reconciles Jews and Gentiles, but it does so on the basis of reconciling both to God through the cross of Christ. In the words of the Evangelical biblical commentator Thomas Scott:
‘… Thus Christ was the peacemaker between Jews and Gentiles: and at the same time, he reconciled both of them in one body unto God; for the ceremonial law implied man’s state of condemnation, pollution, and enmity against God; to whom he could not approach, except on a mercy seat, and by priests, sacrifices, incense, and purifications; being at last kept at a great distance from him: but the death of Christ upon the cross took away that guilt, which was the cause of the enmity; that so, a holy God might honourably pardon and be reconciled to his rebellious creatures; and it made way for the communication of his Holy Spirit to regenerate sinners and so to destroy the enmity of their hearts against the holy character, worship, and service of God. Having finished this great design he had come by his apostles and ministers, to preach peace with God, and with each other, to the Gentiles who had been far off; and to the Jews who were outwardly nigh to God. For through the Person, sacrificed, and mediation of Christ, sinners of all descriptions were allowed access to God, as a Father, and were introduced with acceptance into his presence, with their worship and services, under the immediate teaching and influence the Holy Spirit as one with the Father and the Son in this great work of salvation, as well as in the unity of the Godhead.’ [1]
In Ephesians 2:22 Paul describes the outcome of God’s reconciling work as the creation of a new temple, a holy place inhabited by people who have been made holy through the work of the Spirit. This temple is the Church and in the rest of Ephesians Paul goes on to describe what it means for Christians to live in the Church as people who have been reconciled to God and to each other through the death of Christ.
Two key points in this description are, first, that Christians are called to live in unity with one another in a way of life marked by humility, patience, and love. In Paul’s words:
‘I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.’ (Ephesians 4:1-3)
Secondly, in a first century social context marked by rampant sexual immorality, Christians, as those who have been reconciled to God, are to be people who not only refuse to practice such immorality. but even to talk to talk about it:
‘But fornication and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is fitting among saints. Let there be no filthiness, nor silly talk, nor levity, which are not fitting; but instead let there be thanksgiving. Be sure of this, that no fornicator or impure man, or one who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.Let no one deceive you with empty words, for it is because of these things that the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.’(Ephesians 5:3-6).
As John Stott explains, in these verses:
‘Paul turns from ‘self-sacrifice… to it’s very opposite, self-indulgence,’ from genuine ‘love’ to that perversion of it called ‘lust.’ The Greek words for fornication (porneia) and impurity (akatharsia) together cover every kind of sexual sin, in other words all sexual intercourse outside its God- ordained context of a loving marriage. To them Paul adds covetousness, surely because they are an especially degrading form of it, namely the coveting of somebody else’s body for selfish gratification. The tenth commandment had specifically prohibited coveting a neighbour’s wife, and earlier in this letter Paul has written of the ‘greed’ involved in unclean practises (4:19). So all forms of sexual immorality he writes, must not even be named among you. We are not only to avoid their indulgence, but also to avoid thinking and talking about them, so completely are they to be banished from the Christian community.’[2]
Read it all in the Reflections of an Anglican Theologian
