For all of the social activists who are interested in racial reconciliation, this commentary is to help us see that without Jesus Christ, any work of reconciliation (racial and otherwise), will not last. The argument made here is that the only way to truly pursue racial reconciliation as a society is through first trusting in the re-conciliatory work of Jesus on the cross. It is one of the longer articles written as a blog post, but please do go through it to see that we need Jesus in the middle of any re-conciliatory ministry in order to have true and lasting reconciliation. Please feel free to offer your comments and feedback below.
While the general definition of this German word translates to “reconciliation,” there is yet another meaning of Versöhnung that is connected to scriptures that we rarely use in our daily conversations: propitiation. It may seem to many of us that the word “propitiation” is completely irrelevant to those alive in 2020 (and soon, 2021), the Bible suggests that humanity cannot truly achieve reconciliation (racial and otherwise) without truly understanding the word “propitiation” in connection with the word “reconciliation.” Tersely put, lasting and sustainable reconciliation of any kind is not truly possible on this earth without involving the propitiatory work of Jesus on the cross.
So what is this “propitiation” that scriptures argue was, and still is, necessary for true reconciliation?
In his book, “The Power of the Blood of Jesus,” South African preacher Andrew Murray used the Dutch word “verzoening,” to describe both propitiation and the ultimate act of reconciliation that was fulfilled through the blood of Jesus shed on the cross for us, as atonement for our sins. This is also seen in German Bibles when comparing English verses that contain the terms reconciliation and propitiation/ atonement. Let’s compare five verses using a Lutherbibel translation for German and the King James version for English:
While it may be textually interesting to note that both propitiation/ atonement and reconciliation are referred to by the same German word, it makes little impact in our daily lives unless we understand the scriptural logic of why reconciliation is only truly possible through propitiatory, atoning act of Jesus. Truly, if anyone knew what it was like to reconcile two totally distinct entities together, it is Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, who died on the cross so that an unholy, condemned and disobedient group (humanity) could be reconciled to a holy, holy, holy being (God). But how did this great divorce happen in the first place?
Genesis 3 describes how we ended up being separated from God by choosing not to love, and therefore trust, His command to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We demonstrated this lack of love, trust and faith in God, by choosing to disobey His command and ate of the only tree that God had warned us would lead to our death. Death meant that for the first time since creation, our sin would permit the unholy to enter into what God had created and had called good (Genesis 1 and 2), resulting in a separation between the holy God and the now unholy human beings, who sadly once walked and talked with the living God as His friends!
Despite this separation, God Himself made a way for us to be married to Him again:
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15, KJV)
Before the fulfilling of this prophecy through the defeat of satan, death and the power of sin over humanity by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, humanity is given a system of blood sacrifices as atonement for their sin to approach God conditionally, which was then fulfilled completely by the death of Jesus on our behalf as the ultimate sacrifice to take away all sin:
“22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Hebrews 9:22-28, KJV
The propitiation, or atoning sacrifice, that was required of humanity to cover their sins since the Garden of Eden, was a conditional way to be reconciled to God based on how we followed the laws of sacrifice that would take away God’s wrath for our sin. However, even that was near impossible to follow, as we got used to following an external set of rules rather than to truly love God and obey His commandments, which if carried out perfectly, would require no sacrifice at all. Due to sin nature that entered into all humanity when we first disobeyed God in Eden, none of us could perfectly carry out the Law of the Lord, and therefore were only able to approach our Creator through these conditional and propitiatory means.
And then. Jesus.
“15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” (John 3:15-17, KJV)
Jesus died on the cross as the ultimate propitiatory sacrifice so that we would be able to unconditionally enter into God’s presence through our faith in his work that was finished on the cross.
Even though Jesus didn’t do anything wrong, He said “sorry” on our behalf to God by dying as a substitutionary and propitiatory death, so that we through His ultimate sorry, can be forgiven by God. If we don’t go through Jesus’s “sorry” to God, then we are rejecting God’s mercy towards us in giving us a way to seek His forgiveness through His plan of salvation. The greek word, “hilastērion” further points out the connection between “propitiation,” and God’s mercy that is seen in German and English Bibles:
| German (Lutherbibel 1912) | English (KJV) | Greek (Westcott/Hort transliterated 1881) | |
| Romans 3:25 | welchen Gott hat vorgestellt zu einem Gnadenstuhl durch den Glauben in seinem Blut, damit er die Gerechtigkeit, die vor ihm gilt, darbiete in dem, daß er Sünde vergibt, welche bisher geblieben war unter göttlicher Geduld; | Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; | hon proetheto ho theos hilastērion dia pisteōs en tō autou haimati eis endeixin tēs dikaiosynēs autou dia tēn paresin tōn progegonotōn hamartēmatōn hon proetheto ho theos hilasterion dia pisteos en to autou haimati eis endeixin tes dikaiosynes autou dia ten paresin ton progegonoton hamartematon |
| Hebrews 9:5 | obendarüber aber waren die Cherubim der Herrlichkeit, die überschatteten den Gnadenstuhl; von welchen Dingen jetzt nicht zu sagen ist insonderheit. | And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly. | hyperanō de autēs Cheroubein doxēs kataskiazonta to hilastērion; peri hōn ouk estin nyn legein kata meros. hyperano de autes Cheroubein doxes kataskiazonta to hilasterion; peri hon ouk estin nyn legein kata meros |
The mercy seat is first described in Exodus 25 as the place where God would commune (aka hang out with) with Israel:
“16 And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee.17 And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.18 And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.19 And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof.20 And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.21 And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.22 And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.” Exodus 25:16-22, KJV
The mercy seat being used interchangeably with the propitiatory sacrifice between the German, English and Greek translations point to how we would be able to once again have communion, or relationship, with God through the propitiatory death of Jesus on the cross, reconciling us once and for all with our Creator, and serving as the fulfillment of the mercy seat that was once the only spatially conditional method where God communed with humanity.
So what does all of this have to do with racial reconciliation? When undertaking any movement that seeks to bring two or more disparate groups together, we would usually think in terms of employing the best programs, speakers, and even living examples of reconciliation to provide their testimony of how to successfully achieve the goal of peace in a community.
But check out the testimony of Jesus. Have you heard Him as a speaker? Have you heard Him speak about peace and how to love your enemies? Have you heard Him cry out “Father forgive them!” as He was being crucified? How many human beings who have spoken about or undertaken racial reconciliation can boast of taking on the sins of their enemies so that they can be reconciled to their Creator? To ignore the very person of Jesus, who is the Prince of Peace, who bridged the deepest gap in existence with His death and resurrection on the cross, would be a gross oversight in operations for racial reconciliation work.
Putting aside politics, what you think of your annoying Christian friends (heh, like me :), and even past bad experiences of church in your life, think about Jesus. Think about how He is the only one who said sorry when He did nothing wrong. So that His friends, who were weaker than He was, wouldn’t suffer God’s wrath, because we were not made to suffer God’s wrath. He took on God’s wrath for us because we can’t. Ever. What a friend we have in Jesus…who laid His life down for His friends, us!
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13, KJV
Why would we turn to any other source first to lay the foundation of our racial (or other kinds) reconciliation work, when Jesus, the ultimate reconciliation, is waiting for us to trust Him as Lord, so that we can be changed from the inside out to love those who are different from us? Imagine telling the people who are in your movement that you finally found the lasting solution to all the dissensions that keep cropping up. Imagine that is cost-effective, because the price has already been paid on the cross for the lasting work of reconciliation that this solution offers. Imagine that this solution, called Jesus Christ, is the way, the truth, and the life of the movement that you spread to bring about racial reconciliation in your community.
True, there are still racist Christians out there who say they follow Jesus and love Jesus but are unable to love those who look and sound different from what they accept as “normal.” However, that is still part of sin nature and in no way a reflection of Jesus Himself. Why turn away Jesus Christ as your Lord because of someone else?
Sin nature, and therefore, racism, will persist until Jesus comes back, but in no way are we left to live a life cut-off from God until then! Remember that we read in Exodus 25:22 that the mercy seat is where God met and communed with people, and that Jesus, the propitiation and reconciliation between God and man, is the mercy seat where God wants to meet with us and give us this lasting peace, and lasting reconciliation that cannot be found anywhere else and by any other means. Even though sin itself will not be completely abolished until the return of Christ, we as unholy beings are able to experience the victory of overcoming our sin (such as racism) through the help of Jesus, our mediator, and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit who resides in every person who chooses to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord:
“17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.” Galatians 5: 17-26, KJV.
Consider having Jesus at the center of whatever racial reconciliation work that you are doing. Better yet, if you trust in His re-conciliatory work on the cross, you are able to experience in the life-giving peace from the One who is the center of all things already:
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6, KJV
Let us therefore pray for true peace in 2021, through the one True God, the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. Amen.
4 Replies to “Versöhnung, Versöhnung (the story of the Ultimate sorry)”
One of the issues we run into is getting ourselves and the other party from whom we are alienated, to recognize our sin nature, which most Christians would acknowledge intellectually. It then becomes a heart issue to reflect on our own actions and behavior, seeing our sins for what we are, and then, championing the image of God that exists in the other party, bring the weight of Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice to bear.
Until we see Jesus again, there will always be sin; we must be prepared in our heart to lay the groundwork of understanding for Christ’s sacrifice to continue to wash the sins of this world.
Amen. Was just reading Romans 6:
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
In light of the events at the capitol yesterday, your post is even more to the point. I pray that our brothers and sisters pray to God and not attempt to use Him as a weapon.
Amen Bruce. The first separation to ever happen was between humanity and God (Genesis 3), and the first reconciliatory solution to have ever been presented is from God towards humanity through Jesus Christ (Genesis 3:15). Any reconciliation movement that does not have Jesus at its center will turn to other means, such as sectarian violence or even false spiritual sources, to sustain the movement. Instead, if the reconciliation movement is based on Jesus and His Love and Truth lived out according to the Word (Bible), it will change people from the inside out towards reconciliation (e.g. forgiving our enemies through the power of God rather than our own strength). I pray that the Lord will help those in the U.S. to continue living out God’s Word in the midst of both sectarian violence, and the pandemic.