As Christians, we often speak of being justified by faith. And that is as it should be for that is what is meant by the gospel. As Paul writes in Romans 3, “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” (see Romans 3:22-26) The work of justifying sinners, accomplished out of God’s mercy and love through the obedience of his only Son, was decreed in eternity when, as believers, “he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” (Ephesians 1:4) The benefit of this merciful transaction is that our reconciliation with God is accomplished. Hear again the apostle, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:1)
What is to be appreciated, indeed, celebrated, is that just as our justification was something accomplished by God when we had no interest in it or part to play, so too was our reconciliation, “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:9-10) God has acted on his side of the relationship to take away all that caused us to be estranged from him. The enmity that existed because of our debt of sin, he has expunged through the blood of the cross. This is something accomplished, done, finished. This is why Paul can define his work as a “ministry of reconciliation” because “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to [him and the others called to spread the good news] the message of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)
This reconciliation signals that those who are in Christ are not to be evaluated by other Christians by worldy standards for “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (v. 17) Such fleshly distinctions were a particular problem in the Corinthian church. We can discern from Paul’s letters that boundaries, harmful boundaries, persisted between the various groups that made up the church. This was shameful and not in accordance with the gospel. Christ died for all kinds of people and in Christ such distinctions fall away (v. 14-15).
With this in mind, the situation pictured for us in Paul’s letter to Philemon is striking. Is the truth of the gospel sufficient to cause there to be reconciliation rather than retribution when Onesimus presents himself at the door of Philemon’s house? I believe Paul thought it was. And though we do not have the explicit language of reconciliation in his appeal, that Onesimus returns no longer just a slave but a beloved brother in Christ gives us reason to believe that Pauls’ confidence that Philemon would be obedient to his request (Philemon14) was not misplaced. Onesimus and Philemon were new creations in Christ, as such they were those who “live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” (2 Corinthians 5:15).
