Original scientific paper

https://doi.org/10.53745/bs.93.2.6

Christ’s Reconciliation Ministry and the New Creation in the Letter to the Ephesians and other Pauline Letters

Tomislav Zečević orcid.org/0000-0002-4068-1184 ; Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb - Regional Study of Theology in Rijeka, Rijeka, Coratia

Abstract

The opening lines of this article emphasize that lasting peace in the world can never be built on ephemeral human foundation but only on the unchangeable foundation of Jesus Christ. A biblical incentive for peace can be found in the Pauline concept of Christ’s reconciliation ministry/sacrifice as an act of new creation. This article underlines the Letter to the Ephesians, particularly the passage Ef 2,14-16, which is pertinent, given that besides emphasizing vertical reconciliation between God and men, it also emphasizes horizontal reconciliation between two hostile groups of Jews and Gentiles that results in the creation of a new being of the Church, that represents a new reconciled humanity in which the old ethnical and racial divisions that lead to conflict and wars to this very day diminish in value. The first part of the article underlines the meaning and origin of the important Greek expressions that are used to depict the process of the new creation, such as καινὴ κτίσις, »new creation«, in the authentic Pauline letters and καινός ἄνθρωπος, »new man, new humanity«, in the Letter to the Ephesians and in deutero-Pauline letters. There are three different applications of the motif of the new creation that are not necessarily mutually exclusive when applied to the individual convert, community of faith (the Church) and the entire world. There are two significant characteristics of the new creation: reconciliation and rejection of the worldly human standards in order to lead an authentic new life in Christ. The second part offers certain traits of the concept of peace and reconciliation in the Pauline literature with a special emphasis on two Greek terms employed to denote reconciliation: (ἀπο)καταλλάσσω, »reconciliation«, and ποιέω εἰρήνη, »to make or establish peace«. This chapter emphasizes the connection between the two connected motifs of the new creation and reconciliation. Once again, a special emphasis is given to the passage Eph 2,14-16, as it is the only Pauline and New Testament passage overall, in which the subject of creation is not God the Father, but Christ himself. The final third part addresses further meaningful characteristics of the imagery of the new creation, such as the development of the Pauline theology of reconciliation and vocabulary from individual and communal application in the authentic letters towards a wider application to the entire creation in the deutero-Pauline letters. Finally, the topic of reconciliation as an act of creation reminds us that in the Church, which remains the new creation of Christ, the first stage of God’s universal plan of salvation for the whole humanity and the entire creation has already been realized. In the light of the wars that are being waged at this moment and throughout the world, this means that we as Christians and as members of the Church, are invited to testify that God is the only true source of lasting peace that can only occur in Jesus Christ.

Keywords

The Letter to the Ephesians; Christ, peace; reconciliation ministry; God; new creation.

Hrčak ID:

308070

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/308070

Publication date:

21.9.2023.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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