Reconciliation
Romans 5:10–11
Excerpt
There are four important NT passages which treat of the work of Christ under the figure of reconciliation, namely, Rom. 5:10f; 2 Cor. 5:18ff.; Eph. 2:11ff.;Col. 1:19ff. The important Gk. words are the noun katallagē and the verbskatallassō and apokatallassō. Reconciliation properly applies not to good relations in general but to the doing away of an enmity, the bridging over of a quarrel. It implies that the parties being reconciled were formerly hostile to one another. The Bible tells us bluntly that sinners are ‘enemies’ of God (Rom. 5:10; Col. 1:21; Jas. 4:4). We should not minimize the seriousness of these and similar passages. An enemy is not someone who comes a little short of being a friend. He is in the other camp. He is altogether opposed. The NT pictures God in vigorous opposition to everything that is evil.
Morris, L. L. “Reconciliation.” Ed. D. R. W. Wood et al. New Bible dictionary 1996 : 1002. Print.
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