Terminology: Reconciliation

Reconciliation: A change in relationship or attitude from enmity to peace; the cessation of hostility in attitude or action. Reconciliation is a central doctrine of Christianity. Specifically, in Christ God reconciled the sinful, hostile world to himself by Christ's taking upon himself the cost of our hostility and enmity, thereby setting the world free to restored union with God (2 Cor 5:19). The foundational assumption of the gospel is that only God can bear and remove the consequences of human enmity toward God and the resulting separation from God; therefore God alone can effect this change in relationship.1

1. Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki & Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), p. 100.