Reconciliation
The PCUSA Confession of 1967 was organized around the concept of reconciliation. The three parts of the confession are Part I: God’s Work of Reconciliation, Part II: The Ministry of Reconciliation and Part III: The Fulfillment of Reconciliation. The concept of reconciliation was used to reveal the necessity of proper relationships with God and others. A key text was 2 Corinthians 5:19: “In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself.” The preface of this confession indicates the need for a new confession of faith for our modern world which would address the challenges of the sixties in the United States. Social problems of the sixties included “racial discrimination, nationalistic arrogance, and family and class conflict.” Reconciliation was seen as the key to addressing these problems.
As we look at our own times, we observe similar problems. Protestant churches continue splitting over divisive issues like homosexuality. States are labeled red and blue according to how people vote. While some embrace multiculturalism and ethnic differences, others focus on national interests and the particular concerns of local regions. The need for reconciliation remains a central issue. While there are signs of improvement since the sixties, it seems that it is easier to be divided into different groups than be united. It is necessary to revisit aspects of reconciliation while assessing the difficulties of achieving reconciliation. Lest we get discouraged, we should remember that even Paul’s attempts to reconcile groups of his time were only partially successful in order to endure the long road ahead.
In the New Revised Standard Version, the terms “reconcile,” “reconciled” and “reconciliation” occur twenty one times (once in the Old Testament, eight times in the Apocrypha and thirteen times in the New Testament). While there is only one text in the Protestant Old Testament in which one finds the term “reconcile”, reconciliation is an important theme of the Old Testament. Texts in Hosea address the vertical relationship between Israel and God, and texts in Genesis speak of the horizontal relationship of people to one another.
Hosea uses two metaphors to illustrate the relationship between God and Israel: husband and wife and father and son. In chapters 1-3, the marriage of Hosea and Gomer also parallels the relationship of God as husband and Israel as wife. The wife Gomer has gone astray and been unfaithful to her husband Hosea which should lead to divorce. Yet, as illustrated by Hosea’s steadfast loyalty to his unfaithful wife, God continues loving Israel and desires reconciliation with her. In Hosea 11, God describes Israel as a rebellious son, but God’s love and compassion win over his anger and desire to punish Israel. In both cases, God’s love and plan for reconciliation endure despite the fickle Israel. It is God who takes the initiative to be reconciled to Israel.
The Joseph story (Genesis 37-50) portrays both the conflict that tears the family of Jacob apart as well as the eventual reconciliation of the brothers at the end. The brothers become jealous of Joseph and sell him into slavery. Later, Joseph rises to power in Egypt, and when the brothers come to buy grain from him, it seems that Joseph will seek revenge against his brothers. When the brothers plead for the freedom of Benjamin who has been falsely charged with stealing, Joseph realizes that the brothers have changed. He forgives them and promises that he will not seek revenge. By the end of the story, the family of Jacob is reunited in Egypt with Joseph. When the brothers still doubt Joseph and ask, “What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong that we did to him?” (Genesis 49:15), Joseph promises that he will not pay them back for the evil they did to him. Moreover, he provides for all his family. Forgiveness is necessary for reconciliation to happen.
Most of the New Testament references to reconciliation are from Paul’s letters. Paul uses the term “reconcile” as one of the metaphors for salvation (Romans 5:10-11; 2 Corinthians 5:18-20). To initiate, God makes reconciliation possible by sending Jesus to die on the cross for us. We celebrate the gift of reconciliation. We are given a ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18). We are to invite others to be reconciled to God. While Paul sees the ministry of reconciliation as one largely related to people’s relationship with God, there is also a recognition that all believers who are reconciled should be in unity.
Several texts refer to humans seeking to reconcile themselves with others. Moses tried to reconcile some Israelites who were quarrelling (Acts 7:26). Jesus tells his disciples that they should be reconciled to their brother before bringing a gift to God at the altar (Matthew 5:24). Paul commands the wife who has separated from her husband to either remain single or be reconciled to her husband (1 Corinthians 7:11). Paul in Ephesians 2 addressed two types of reconciliation between people and God (Ephesians 2:1-10) and between Jews and Gentiles (Ephesians 2:11-22). Reconciliation implies that individuals/groups are separated and/or are in conflict with one another. For there to be peace the two groups need to be brought back together. Reconciliation with God must take place before there can be reconciliation between people. Reconciliation with God makes it possible for people to have a new common background. Their connectedness to God makes it possible for people to be connected to one another. The common experience should be powerful enough to bring alienated groups together. As Paul says in Galatians 3:28-9: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” Therefore, these distinctions, which lead to conflict between various groups, should not continue to be divisive. However, Paul did not argue to aboloish these distinctions entirely, so his urgings did not lead, for instance, to efforts to end slavery in the Roman world.
The PCUSA Confession of 1967 was an ecumenical movement intended to bring different Christian groups together, and some like-minded groups joined in fellowship. Some Christians did not engage in this movement, however, and believed ecumenism meant compromising one’s central convictions. For them, whether they are about issues of birth control, abortion or homosexual marriage, the difference in convictions are important and cannot be compromised for reconciliation. These Christians preferred to have fellowship with those sharing similar beliefs and convictions. Today we seem to be far from unity in Christ, and the experience of salvation in Christ does not hold the diversity of Christian groups together.
For reconciliation to work another important issue relates to adiaphora, “indifferent matters.” If people can agree to disagree about various issues, then they can remain together in fellowship. Thus Paul said that circumcision does not matter and that eating food offered to idols does not matter. Not everyone agreed with Paul about these issues. Today, the position of the PCUSA related to abortion is pro-choice; other churches say that their members must be opposed to abortion. In the past, modes of baptism were central and often divided groups. Many today accept various forms of baptism because the mode of baptism is inconsequential. For some, abortion is an indifferent matter; for others, it is not. There can be no basis for reconciliation unless we agree about adiaphora.
If even Christians cannot be reconciled to one another, one may wonder if reconciliation can extend to other religious groups or secular groups. Since there is no common experience of Christ, there can be no reconciliation on this basis. Perhaps we can seek new common experiences to bind us together. Some have appealed to Abraham as the common ancestor of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Some have appealed to our commonality as human beings created by God. Others ought to be invited to experience Christ in their lives, and we ought to respect others as potential believers.
While reconciliation is used largely in the Bible for the relationship between God and people and between groups of people, the concept might also be expanded to include reconciliation of humans with nature. In the industrialized Western world, the prominent view of humans and the world observes humans in conflict with nature. Ideal depictions of the future imagine humans in harmony with nature (Isaiah 11:6-9; Ezekiel 34:25-31; Amos 2:16-20). A new ecological vision of the world desires not only a harmonious relationship with nature but also one in which our role is to be caretakers of nature (Genesis 2:15). As Peter Singer has argued that there should be an expanding circle of concern for others, so too can Christians use the ministry of reconciliation to reach out to ever larger circles of creation as well.
