18. And all things (are) of God, who hath recon- ciled ns to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.
All things are of God y' this is not spoken of the universe as proceeding from God as its author ; nor does it refer to the providential agency of God, by which all events are con-
* trolled. The meaning of ra Se iravTa here is, but all is of Gqd^ i. e. the entire change of which he had been speaking. The new creation experienced by those who are in Christ is Ik tov ©€ov, is out of God, proceeds from him as its efficient cause. It is his work. God effects this great moral and spiritual
•. revolution by reconciling us unto himself. The word %ts\s> not to be limited to the apostle, first, because the reconciliation spoken of is not peculiar to him ; and secondly, because the change or new creation effected by this reconciliation belongs to all who are in Christ. ?7s, therefore, must include all who are in Christ. The objection to this interpretation that to us in the next clause of the verse must refer to the apostle, is not a serious one, because the passage is perfectly perspicuous even supposing -j^z-ta?, us^ to refer to all believers, and ^)/w,ti^, to us^ to the apostle himself / To reconcile is to remove enmity
I between parties at variance Avith each other. In this case
' God is the reconciler. Man never makes reconciliation. It is what he experiences or embraces, not what he does. The enmity between God and man, the barrier which separated them, is removed by the act of God. This is plain, 1. Because it is said to be effected by Jesus Christy that is, by his death. The death of Christ, however, is always represented as recon- ciling us to God as a sacrifice ; the design and nature of a sacrifice are to propitiate and not to reform. 2. In the paral- lel passage, Rom. 5, 9. 10, being "reconciled by the death of the Son," is interchanged as equivalent with " being justified by his blood," which proves that the reconcihation intended consists in the satislaction of the divine justice by the sacrifice of Christ. 3. In this case our reconciliation to God is made the source and cause of our new creation, i. e. of our regene- ration and holiness. God's reconciliation to us must precede our reconciliation to him. This, as remarked above, is tHe
-i great doctrine of the Bible. So long as we are under the wrath and curse of God, due to us for shi, we arc aliens and enemies, cut off from his favour and fellowship, which are the life of the soul. Thercibrc until God's wrath and curse are