the offences not reckoned to them

Yet all is of God, Who conciliates us to Himself through Christ, and is giving us the dispensation of the conciliation, how that God was in Christ, conciliating the world to Himself, not reckoning their offenses to them, and placing in us the word of the conciliation. 2Corinthians 5:18,19

God was in Christ conciliating the world to Himself. That is to say, He took the initiative to make a world that was at enmity with Him to make them His friends. It was done “in Christ”. What does that mean? “By not reckoning their offences against them.” Literally it states: THE offences. This is not referring to offences in general, but to very specific offences. Paul is here referring to the fact that the world crucified God’s Son. This we know, for when the apostle (as the only one of the apostles!*) speaks about conciliation, he connects this with the death of God’s Son (Rom.5:10), “the cross” (Eph.2:16) and “the blood of the cross” (Col.1:20). Conciliation glows brightly against the background of enmity. God is not holding it against the world that they have crucified His Son. His Son died not only through what the world did to Him, but He also died for the world, as Paul wrote a few verses earlier:

For the love of Christ is constraining us, judging this, that, if One died for the sake of all… 2Corinthins 5:14

The cross is God’s proof of His love: it can’t be reversed by any degree of enmity! ——————————– *The word that, for instance, John used (>hilamos) in 1John 2:2 is a totally different word than the one Paul used (>katallage). The first is connected with the covering of sins, the second with the conciliation of enemies. ——————————— translation: Peter Feddema

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