Dropping Out Right Before the Finish

During a study week for theology students from the Gereformeerde Bond (Reformed Alliance), the Reformed New Testament scholar Dr. T. E. van Spanje gave a lecture on reconciliation in the New Testament. From the blandness of the report, I picked out the following nuggets:

The apostle never uses the verb for “to reconcile” in the active form with humans as the subject. In this, Paul is unique. You will not find this anywhere outside the New Testament.

It is not the case that God must be appeased, as in 2 and 4 Maccabees. Man is the object. That’s why I am also extremely cautious about saying that God is reconciled as the object: “God being reconciled.” Because I ask myself: where do I read that? (…) From before the foundation of the world, God has loved us. The love of God is unchanging. He loved us even while we were still sinners, and He hated sin. That is biblical.

The preaching, the proclamation, is not merely an appeal, an offer of God’s reconciliation—to use that word. The phrase “Be conciliated to God” is a creative call from God, who brings about that to which He calls.

The object of the act of reconciliation is, as shown in 2 Corinthians 5, “us,” “the world.” Dr. Van Spanje: “What is meant here is the world of humanity. This also shows the universal scope of reconciliation. It is all-encompassing—just as Paul, in Romans 5, speaks of the universality of guilt, of sin.”

A wholehearted “amen” to all the above! Here is someone speaking honestly and clearly, bringing to light the unique message of the apostle Paul. God was the One who accomplished the reconciliation while we were still sinners. He is also the One who brings about that to which He calls. Hence, the scope of reconciliation is universal and all-encompassing. There you have it! But imagine my surprise when someone confronted Dr. van Spanje with the iron consequence:

“So then, does Paul teach universal reconciliation?”

To which he responded:

“No. Because on the part of man, reconciliation is by no means always accepted.”

And with that, Dr. van Spanje sweeps away in a single sentence everything he had so magnificently set forth in his lecture.

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