Reconciled

18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

Reconciliation is the action of making one view or belief compatible with another. Reconciliation involves removing man’s enmity towards God.

Here Paul no longer sees people as he once did. When his understanding of who Christ is changed, his understanding of everyone else did, as well. Once Paul understood that Christ, the Son of God, died to pay for human sin, Paul saw that those who are "in Christ" are entirely new creatures. Through faith in Christ, any person can be reconciled to God.

By using the word reconciled, Paul means our separation from God caused by sin can be removed, once and for all. Forgiven for all their sin, a person can become fully welcomed into a relationship with God. Paul insists that's exactly what happened to him and his friends. God reconciled them to Himself through faith in Christ. He made them new in Christ. He gave them a permanent and eternal place with Him in His glory through Christ. Once God had done that for them, Paul adds, He immediately gave to them the "ministry of reconciliation.

Not only have we been reconciled to God through Christ, but as members of His Body, we have been commissioned to carry out and continue the ministry of reconciliation that Jesus Himself started during His earthly life. We are commissioned to tell those in need of salvation, that all obstacles that separate sinful man from a holy God were dismantled by the Cross of Christ.

It is not God's will that anyone should perish but that all come to faith in Jesus. Just as Jesus reconciled us to Himself so we have been entrusted with the word of reconciliation. We have been entrusted with the responsibility of telling the unsaved the glorious gospel of grace so that they too can also be restored into a right relationship with God. The blood of bulls and goats could not satisfy God and Christ was given to pay the price through His own precious blood.