What Difference Does It Make? (Kierkegaard)

“‘Whatever difference there may be between two persons, even if humanly speaking it were most extreme, God has it in his power to say, “When I am present, certainly no one will presume to be conscious of this difference, because that would be standing and talking to each other in my presence as if I were not present”’” (Soren Kierkegaard, quoted by Vernard Eller in Towering Babble [1983]).

The Doctrine of Reconciliation

1. The grace of God in Jesus Christ

Between holy God and sinful man stood a chasm. God freely chose to cross it and, in doing so, judged man but also received him as his child. In Jesus Christ we became God’s people as much as God is our God. Even if we confess our reconciliation to God with uncertainty, that reconciliation nonetheless remains indestructibly present. In Christ, we have been reconciled to God, we are at peace with God, and we have been given a new and truly human being. If we sin, our new and proper being judges us. If we walk in faith and love and hope, we give provisional expression to this new being which is ours solely by grace. This grace is the grace in which God from all eternity chose to elect all human beings in union with Christ. Jesus Christ manifested this election and introduced this new being in time. Our privilege as Christians is that we know this new being is ours in Christ and we get to celebrate and share this good news with others.

The Work of God the Reconciler

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21, English Standard Version). Our reconciliation with God is this exchange which takes place in Jesus Christ. Christ takes our whole sinfulness upon himself and in exchange makes us the rightful covenant partners with God.