- The sovereignty of God
- The power of God
- The character of God
- The desire of God
- The purpose of God
- The scope and depth of the grace of God
- The lordship and kingship of Christ
- The completeness of what Christ accomplished on the cross
...the idea that every person is reconciled to God (whether they're living in that reconciled state or not) must be seriously considered.
I posted the above comment on the "Christian Universalism" group page on Facebook, and another member there asked if I thought reconciliation is different than salvation.
ReplyDeleteI'm convinced that reconciliation is different than salvation. But salvation isn't what most traditionally think it is. The distinction is shown in Rom 5:10: "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life."
Reconciliation and salvation are two different things. Christ died for the sins of the world. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. That was accomplished by His death, and the entire world benefits. Reconciliation is positional. Salvation is experiential, and it's achieved by the resurrection life of Christ lived within the individual by the presence of the Holy Spirit.
And here's the interesting bit: The Amplified Bible refers to "saved" as meaning "daily delivered from sin's dominion." It's the experience of freedom -- freedom from besetting sins, freedom from the pull of the flesh, freedom from pull of the world, freedom to follow and live for Christ by means of His own life working within us. Viewed in this way, I know a lot of Christians who are reconciled to God, but who have yet to enter into the experience of salvation. Even the most traditional of evangelicals will admit that salvation isn't complete in this life.
It's not salvation that "saves" us; it's reconciliation. By the means of our reconciliation, we will live with God for eternity. By means of salvation, the presence of God lives in us, is experienced by us in our moment-by-moment walk, and is seen by those around us. There is a difference between the two.