Interestingly enough, there are relatively few scriptural references to reconciliation. Yet those we have clearly cover the whole range of human experience. Certainly, they highlight the depth at which reconciliation needs to bring healing to the human heart. Old Testament references naturally deal with personal and social offenses within Israelite society, or against God, and talk of sin offerings for forgiveness or peace offerings for restitution. They refer to Israel in relation to her enemies, including David alienated from his own people, and in temporary alliance with the Philistines (1Sam.29:4). NT references speak of how believers should reconcile differences between each other (Matt.5:23f.), how in extreme marital situations, reconciliation is to be preferred over divorce (1 Cor. 7:10-14). Other NT passages speak of reconciliation regarding historic divisions between nations (Jew & Gentile, Eph.2:11ff.), how God desires reconciliation of all things, on earth, worldwide, in heaven itself (Col.1:21f., 2 Cor.5:18f.)

One thing that distinguishes both OT and NT references to reconciliation is the extreme depth to which God's healing or reconciliation needs to reach. The Hebrew word for reconciliation (kaphar) means "to cover" or "to make atonement." Very important here is the purification needed for the actual instruments of Jewish worship themselves (tent of meeting, holy place, altar, temple after the exile, etc.) Clearly, the very religious structures and mechanisms whereby reconciliation can be re-established (whether between man and man, man and God, Israel and God) these structures and mechanisms have themselves constantly to be purified (Lev.8:15; 16:20; Ezek.45:20).

What this is saying is that the very formularies of temple worship within Jewish religion cannot of themselves create the holiness needed to ensure human reconciliation between Israel and its God. This indeed is the necessary background against which the NT understands the atoning reconciling work of Christ. As the book of Hebrews argues, the high priesthood of Christ has of necessity to replace the OT forms. No purely human effort or religious endeavor can fully resolve those issues that divide men, or divide believers, or alienate man and God. No resolution of conflict, whether personal or social, secular or religious, can match the harmony and reconciliation found in God himself.

That is why NT texts dealing with reconciliation are not content merely to "resolve" those presenting issues that bring about "irreconcilable discord." Rather, they automatically reach out in appeal to the heart of God. Only within the perfect harmony or trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit is the source of reconciling harmony to be found. Indeed, it is virtually impossible for NT texts dealing with "reconciliation" to explain what reconciliation truly means without direct reference to Christ, to the blood of Christ, to the body of Christ. Thus, in Colossians: "For in him (Christ) all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross (1:20). And you, who once were estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him" (1:21f.)

When it comes to speaking of hostility between Gentile and Jew, Paul in Ephesians writes: "You Gentiles were separated from Christ.and alienated from the commonwealth of Israel.you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace.and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility.that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near (Eph.2:11-17).

So irreconcilable are the forces that alienate humanity from itself, that only God can finally remove barriers that divide men or divide nations, and that even then there has to be received from within the heart of God , "one new man in place of the two" (a truly new humanity). The wonder of such reconciliation is that it appears within the human heart only at God's initiation, and often in the face of human hostility. "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. Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received our reconciliation" (Rom.5:10f.)

When the NT talks about this human experience of godly reconciliation, whether in relationship with God himself, with fellow Christians, as the gift of social harmony, or as a gospel for struggling humanity, what is presupposed is that full reconciliation is only possible when there is a healing of the human heart, a recreation into the image of God. As Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians: "(We are a new creation) All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation (5:18f.)

If the above represents any kind of summary of how scriptural texts portray the God given reality of "reconciliation", then the idea that proponents of orthodoxy and revisionism differ in their thinking only on questions of human sexuality, or over the peculiar polity of TEC in relation to a wider Anglican Communion - this doesn't even come close to the half of it. As Gary L'Hommedieu indicates, we are talking of two quite separate gospels here: one with a "doctrine of salvation as one among many human opinions", with "a kingdom where Jesus both is and is not the only Way", and "where the Bible both is and is not the Word of God written."

---The Very Rev. Peter J.A. Cook, Ph.D. is Rector of St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church in Lake Charles, LA. He is resident in the Diocese of Western Louisiana