from Pneumaformity: Transformation by the Spirit in Paul
by Mark J. Keown
The Spirit Who Reconciles People to God and Each Other
People are reconciled to God and receive the Spirit when they believe. Out of their belief, they are called to reconcile with one another; they are to live in peace with Jew and Gentile and let their relationships be shaped by God’s virtues. They join in reconciling all things to Christ.
Romans 5:10–11
Having laid out his thesis that people are justified by faith and not works of the law, in Romans 5:1, Paul shifts to reconciliation.[1] He expresses this by saying believers “have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Their status is further expounded in terms of the access believers have to the grace of God’s acceptance and the hope of participating fully in God’s glory (5:2). As people are justified and reconciled to God, believers now boast in their sufferings, knowing the educative power of pain to produce endurance, character, and hope (5:3–5). The hope they have is not shame before God but honor, because “God’s love has been poured into [their]hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to [them]” (v. 5). This hope recognizes the link between faith, justification, reconciliation, and the receipt of the Spirit. Believers experience God’s love and hope through the Spirit.
In vv. 6–8, Paul expands on the last clause of v. 5, emphasizing the love of God demonstrated in Christ’s sacrificial death for unworthy humankind. In v. 9, this justification effected by Christ’s shed blood results in salvation from God’s wrath. In v. 10, Paul describes sinful humankind as “enemies” (plur. ἐχθρός). The term is used in the NT of human opponents,[2] Satan in enmity with God,[3] generally all God’s enemies[4] and people in enmity with God and righteousness.[5] This hostility is due to sin and ungodliness, placing people before the wrath of a holy God (vv. 6, 8–9). However, now, rather than being crushed under the feet of the Lord (Ps. 110:1), people can yield to the Lord and be “reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Rom. 5:10). The verb καταλλάσσω is Pauline, used of a wife being reconciled with her husband after separation (1 Cor. 7:11) and of Christ reconciling people to himself and God (2 Cor. 5:18–20). The focus here is the reconciliation of people to God.
In v. 11, believers have now received reconciliation (Rom. 5:11). The noun καταλλαγή is used for the reconciliation of the world to God (Rom. 11:25; 2 Cor. 5:18–19). As a reconciled people, they shall be saved and now boast in God through the one by whom they were reconciled, Jesus. This reconciliation reverses the effect of sin and death caused by Adam and humanity. Thankfully, the grace of God and the new Adam has spread to many, bringing justification and eternal life (Rom. 5:12–21). The work of the Spirit is to reconcile believers to God, in Christ, and, obviously, in the Spirit. They are also reconciled to one another, although this is not the focus of Paul’s ideas here.
Romans 11:15
In his discussion on the place of Israel in God’s purposes, Paul again mentions reconciliation. He does so in a conditional sentence leading into a question. The parallel structure of ἡ ἀποβολὴ αὐτῶν, “their rejection,” and τὸ παράπτωμα αὐτῶν, “their trespass,” in v. 12 suggests this is a subjective genitive speaking of unbelieving Israel’s rejection of the gospel, and hence, of Christ and God.[6] Israel’s rejection of Christ and the gospel has resulted in “the reconciliation of the world.” κόσμος is not universalistic, as the rejection of some is explicit.[7] The term can imply the world itself, as in Colossians 1:20; however, more likely, Paul here means the “people of the world” who respond to the gospel with faith.[8] The reconciliation here recalls reconciliation with God in Romans 5:9–10, but in a context discussing racial relations to God and one another, it hints at the consequent reconciliation of the people of the world in Christ to one another.
2 Corinthians 5:18–20
In his apologia and appeal to the Corinthians to reject the false teachers, Paul again mentions reconciliation.[9] “All these things” (πάντα) in 2 Corinthians 5:18 is vague but likely speaks of the benefits of the gospel referenced in the preceding section.[10] Such things are from God, who reconciles all believers (us) to himself. He also gave to Paul, his team, and others “the ministry of reconciliation.”[11] The Spirit is not mentioned, but the ministry in view is participation in the new creation in the Spirit and not the flesh (v. 17).
This passage then speaks of the missional commission Paul, his team, and other similarly called believers have received of proclaiming God’s reconciliation of the world to himself and each other. God no longer holds sin against all believers, and with that in mind, Paul and his coworkers are commissioned to proclaim the gospel of reconciliation to the world. Premised on this, Paul appeals to the Corinthians on behalf of Christ to turn from the poison of his enemies and “be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). While this focuses on their reconciliation to God, it also speaks of their reconciliation with Paul and his team and, together with the whole body of Christ, reconciliation to God. The work of the Spirit is to shift people from enmity to God to a state of reconciliation. They are reconciled together in Christ.
Ephesians 2:16
Ephesians 2:1–10 stresses the basis of individual salvation—the people of God are saved by grace, through faith, and not by works. As new creations, they are set apart for works God prepares for them in advance. Ephesians 2:11–21 builds on this foundation,[12] emphasizing the coming together of Jews and Gentiles as one people in Christ.[13] Whereas before Gentiles were alienated from God and Israel, now, through Christ’s blood, they have been made one with Jewish believers. The wall separating Jew and Gentile has been broken down so that, living in peace and not hostility, they form one cosmic “man.” Jew and Gentile have been reconciled together in one body through the cross [v. 16]. Through Christ, faithful Jews and Gentiles equally “have access in [and by[14]] one Spirit to the Father” (v. 18). They are no longer strangers and aliens but are fellow citizens with other believers who form the household and temple of God. The Ephesian recipients are also a part of this community, being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. The Spirit, then, brings about the reconciliation of people not only to God and Christ but to one another in Christ.
Colossians 1:20–22
To thwart the diminishing of Christ in the Colossian heresy, Paul begins the body of the letter with a glorious hymn celebrating Christ’s supremacy and deity (Col. 1:15–20). He is God’s image, preeminent over his creation, which he sustains and holds together, and over his body, the church. Filled with God’s being and fullness, Christ is pleased to reconcile to God all things in earth and heaven. This reconciliation has been achieved by making peace through Christ’s blood shed on the cross.
In v. 21, Paul speaks of the former state of the Colossians as those alienated or estranged (ἀπαλλοτριόω) and “hostile in mind, doing evil deeds.” This alienation is separation from God caused by sin. However, now that these Colossians are believers, God has reconciled them in Christ’s body of flesh by his death (v. 22). They may stand firm in the faith, being holy, blameless, and above reproach before God. These attributes are not merely moral but social; their relationships are to be shaped by God’s virtues (which Paul will outline in Colossians 3).
While the Spirit is not explicitly referenced in Paul’s use of reconciliation language, it is apparent from other mentions of the Spirit and his broader theology that the Spirit brings people into a state of reconciliation with God. Furthermore, standing firm in the gospel, they are reconciled and are to love each other without falling into enmity and brokenness. Empowered by the Spirit, pneumaform people have received a ministry of reconciliation. They are to take the message of reconciliation to a world in enmity to God and divided from one another.
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[1] “Paul understands the event of becoming a Christian as one in which we receive the Spirit of God in reconciliation and justification.” Habets, Anointed Son, 261.
[2] See Matt. 5:43, 44; 10:36; 13:25 (parabolic of God), 28 (parabolic of God), 39; Luke 1:71, 74; 6:27, 35; 19:27 (parabolic of God’s enemies), 44; Rom. 12:20; Gal. 4:16; 2 Thess. 3:15; Rev. 11:5 (of the witnesses and so God), 12 (see previous reference).
[3] See Matt. 5:39; 13:39; Luke 10:19
[4] See Matt. 22:44; Mark 12:36; Luke 20:43; Acts 2:35; Rom. 11:28; 1 Cor. 15:25, 26 (death); Phil. 3:18; Col. 1:21; Heb. 1:13; 10:13; James 4:4.
[5] Acts 13:10; Rom. 5:10.
[6] While ἀποβολή can mean “loss,” here it carries the meaning “rejection” (BDAG, s.v. “ἀποβολή,” 108).
[7] See vv. 11–12, 15, 20, 22–24.
[8] The reconciliation of the actual earth is implied in Rom. 8:19–22; 1 Cor. 15:26.
[9] This passage does not feature in Fee’s exegetical analysis in GEP. However, I believe it flows out of the contrast of “new creation” and “flesh” in vv. 16–17, and so the Spirit is in view implicitly at least.
[10] These include, potentially, God’s power experienced in suffering (2 Cor. 4:7–18), the hope of resurrection (2 Cor. 5:1–5), the Spirit (2 Cor. 5:5), Christ’s love (2 Cor. 5:14), Christ’s redemptive death and resurrection (2 Cor. 5:14–15), and being a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).
[11] The genitive is effectively short for “the ministry of proclaiming the gospel of reconciliation” to reconcile people to God and one another in Christ. As such, it is a genitive of apposition (epexegetical). It could be one of product (the ministry that produces the reconciliation of people to God and each other).
[12] Fee notes the use of “flesh” in Ephesians 2:11 and that the Spirit is implied in the background. Fee, GEP, 680–81. I agree. The Gentiles, then, formerly “in the flesh,” are now “in Christ” and “in the Spirit.” The fleshly identity of people remains (ethnicity, gender, social status), but in Christ and by the Spirit, people are united together in God.
[13] See also Fee’s discussion of 2:11–22, GEP, 681–90.
[14] See the discussion “Baptized in the Spirit,” in chapter 2.
This post is adapted from Pneumaformity: Transformation by the Spirit in Paul by Mark J. Keown This title is set to be released on September 17, 2024. If you are interested in adopting this book for a college or seminary course, please request a faculty examination copy. We will also consider requests for your blog or media outlets.
According to Paul, it is by the Spirit, through Christ, that God transforms people, communities, and the cosmos
Prominent recent studies elevate the themes of “Christoformity” and “Cruciformity” in Paul, but few sufficiently account for how a believer is actually transformed into the image of Christ. Pneumaformity fills the gap in Pauline studies by surveying Paul’s letters for teachings on the Spirit’s agency in the life of God’ people. This study aptly demonstrates that the Holy Spirit is the instrument through whom such radical living is possible. This study dives into Paul’s teachings on the following aspects of the Spirit’s agency and more:
- the Spirit’s participation in conversion
- the Spirit’s role in forming Christian character
- the Spirit’s integrating work within the Christian community
- the Spirit and missional engagement
- the Spirit’s place in the believer’s final eschatological transformation
Keown shows how Paul infuses his christological language with pneumatological realities, offering readers a fuller understanding of the Spirit’s work in individuals, the church, and the world.
