THE APOSTLE OF THE RECONCILIATION

Grace and peace.

Bound to thank. Counted worthy.

Prayer for you. Work of faith.

We beseech. Lawlessness.

Bound to thank. Obtaining the glory.

b 2:16 to 3:5.  Pray for us. Good work.

We command. Disorderliness.

Peace and grace.

In the epistle to the Romans the great theme of the reconciliation finds its fullest exposition, and the earlier

epistles of the period must be looked upon as clearing the way for its declaration and application. We noticed, for

example, in the epistle to the Galatians, that the first two chapters are devoted, practically, to the defence and

establishing of Paul's apostleship and gospel, and the recognition by those in authority at Jerusalem that the same

power which wrought in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision was equally mighty in Paul towards the

Gentiles. The remainder of the epistle reveals that the law with its curse must be removed before the blessing of

Abraham could flow out to the Gentiles, and shows that the Gentiles who were called during this period were but a

firstfruit, a remnant, a foreshadowing, but not the real fulfilment of the covenant to Abraham. This blessing of ALL

NATIONS is as future as is the kingdom associated with the name and throne of David.

When first we read the epistles to the Corinthians we find such an abundance of material, such a variety of

subjects, that as the saying goes, `we cannot see the wood for the trees', but after we have seen the epistle as a

whole, we begin to perceive that the apostle has by no means lost sight of the dominant theme of the central Acts

period, and that although the reconciliation as such is not mentioned, it is everywhere present as the guiding and

animating feature of the whole epistle. This is confirmed to us upon reading the second epistle. There, when the

troubles and divisions of the first epistle have been dealt with, the apostle can then bring forward the ministry of

reconciliation, as he does in 2 Corinthians 5.

Before dealing with the epistle in any measure of detail, let us trace the unseen, yet ever present, doctrine of the

reconciliation of the world of Jew and Gentile which so animated the apostle's early ministry.

(1) The mention of Sosthenes (1 Cor. 1:1). - The apostle associates with himself in the writing of this epistle,

`Sosthenes our brother'. Upon turning to the Gentiles, in Corinth, the apostle entered the house of one named Justus,

whose house joined hard by the synagogue. Crispus the chief ruler of the synagogue believed on the Lord with all

his house. After Paul had been dismissed from the judgment seat of Gallio, `Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the

chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him'. It would appear from this that Sosthenes had been appointed to the

office which Crispus had vacated upon his conversion.

Nothing is said in Acts 18 about the conversion of the succeeding chief ruler, but we feel sure that Paul,

courteous and sympathetic as he was, would visit Sosthenes, and express his sorrow that he had been caused to

suffer for a faith which he did not profess, and the meeting of the two may have been used by the Lord to sow the

good seed in the heart of Sosthenes, who in turn believed and associated himself with the apostle Paul. The very

mention of Sosthenes to the Corinthians would be a witness of the reconciliation.

(2) The greeting (1 Cor. 1:2). - The greeting of the apostle is addressed (a) to the church at Corinth, (b) to them

that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints; (c) with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our

Lord both theirs and ours. Some see in this a reference to the outlying churches of Achaia (see 2 Cor. 1:1); others