Paul’s take on reconciliation

LOUISVILLE — During the most recent episode of “Leading Theologically,” which dropped Wednesday, Dr. Rodney Caruthers II helps the show’s host, the Rev. Bill Davis, find themes around reconciliation in two of Paul’s letters. Listen to their 37-minute conversation here.

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Caruthers is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and chair of the seminary’s Biblical Studies Department. Davis, the Senior Director of Theological Education Funds Development for the Presbyterian Foundation, has in recent weeks focused the broadcast on exploring themes of reconciliation, repair and reparations.

The two first turned to 2 Cor. 5:17-21, where Paul argues we are ambassadors for Christ, “since God is making his appeal through us.”

“In a broad sense, we have this idea of the God of Israel sending Jesus of Nazareth to reconcile a people — humanity,” Caruthers said. But because of sin, “there’s a great divide between God and humanity theologically.” The relationship is broken, “and God is proactive in saying, ‘I am now going to reconcile these people who are now separated from me and restore the relationship.’”

Of course, “all these divisions” are present today “for a variety of reasons, political and religious,” Caruthers said. “We all need to find a way to be reconciled back together and restore broken relationships.”

Davis wondered: How might Paul’s understanding of reconciliation differ from our present-day understanding?

The Greek word for “ambassadors” is close to our understanding of presbyters, Caruthers said, people who carry out reconciliation in community. God “cares enough to want to restore” our broken relationship, since “for the most part, humanity is not in a position to do the restoration on its own. It needs a more powerful entity to carry that out.”

And so Jesus is sent by God “who has this message of reconciliation,” Caruthers said. In a sense, “we as ambassadors are essentially little Christs. Just as God sent Jesus with this message, with his work Jesus sends his learners, his disciples, out. If you’re sent out as a learner by Jesus, you are now an apostle, a sent one. We are sent out with the same idea, the same message: the kingdom is near. Believe, repent and be baptized.”

And if we’re going to represent God, “not only do you need to know the company message, but you also need to think and behave like you’re one of the company. You have to be in line with what God … stands for,” Caruthers said. “It all falls back on the ethical teaching of Jesus of Nazareth — my care for the poor, for the sick, for the incarcerated and people I disagree with. How do I interact with them? Do I simply just give them a piece of my mind every time, or do I say, ‘OK, we have disagreements, but how can I find a way to still treat them with humanity?’”

What’s more difficult, Caruthers said, is showing our selves as God’s ambassadors to people who view us as enemies, but we are challenged to pray for and show love to our enemies. “When people speak all kinds of ill against you, you are to look beyond their faults and see their need somehow, in all that anger and vitriol and pain, and say, ‘How can I show the love of God, the love of Christ, in the midst of all that darkness?’” Caruthers said. “There are times when you have to stand up and speak against people, and I’m not dismissing that. But there are also times when people show evil and meanness and hatred and we find a way to demonstrate love in the midst of that.”

The next text the two discussed is Romans 5:6-11, a passage that reflects Paul’s understanding not only of the Mosaic Torah and the commandments given on Mt. Sinai, “but also the wider covenants — the Old Testament understanding of God’s covenants,” including promises made to Abraham, David and others. As the prophet Jeremiah points out, God’s new covenants will be written on our hearts.

“This is God saying, ‘I’m going to bring this closer to bridge the gap. I’m not going to leave you out there when there’s this divide because of sin,” Caruthers said. “I’m going to initiate reconciliation with this new covenant, and Jesus is central to this.”

The ”while we were enemies” phrase here in Romans “is meant to sting,” Caruthers said. “You’re separated enough that you can still be described as an enemy … Paul is essentially saying, God saw us in that state and said, ‘I’m going to show love, reconcile and change their status through my son.’”

Paul says we are to “model both God’s intent and Jesus’ life” by “loving and caring for others to demonstrate that reconciliation,” Caruthers said. “Because of how God loved me and reconciled me, I want to go and reconcile those who don’t know the resolution.”

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Putting the passages together for a final consideration, Davis asked Caruthers what he thinks the real cost of reconciliation is.

“Fabulous question,” Caruthers said. “I don’t say this lightly. I say it with critical thought and no sense of pie in the sky. To be ambassadors and carry this message of reconciliation in our society — to do it with any relevance and to be genuine with it — requires an incredible amount of maturity, and almost more important, a very high degree of prudence.”

“Because there are so many divides over so many things, doing things with wisdom at the right time and with the right intentions, the right mindset is there, but the timing is wrong,” he said. “How I say it and when I say it is prudence.”

What we need is “very thoughtful spiritual discipline to hear from God and listen for when and how we should do this,” Caruthers said. “Be in tune enough with God’s Spirit to see people not for what they say and do, but to see them and look beyond that and say, ‘I see what’s going on there.’ It requires a high degree of spiritual insight to be able to make a difference and not just respond to the external words and behavior of people.”

“I am moved by the way you have opened up these scriptures for us,” Davis said. “For your insights into these texts that call us to be ambassadors and messengers and hopeful proclaimers of the God who’s still transforming this world through the reconciling work of Jesus Christ, Rod, I give thanks for your engagement and your conversation today.”

View previous editions of “Leading Theologically” here.