The Command to “Go” and “Be Reconciled” — Part 2, The “Then”

As I said on Part 1, Jesus’ command to go and be reconciled is stated in Matthew 5:23-24, which is a single conditional sentence even though it is divided into two verses in modern Bibles:

[Reference Link: Matthew 5:23-24 (WEB)],

The part of this sentence that is placed into verse 23 is the protasis, or “if” clause, of the conditional sentence. It states an extreme hypothetical to show the very broad scope of application of the apodosis, which is composed of the string of commands in verse 24. These commands apply EVEN IF performing them interrupts something as important as the offering of a sacrifice in the Temple and EVEN IF the recollection of an offense that interrupts it happens while my sacrifice is on the altar waiting to be sacrificed. Resolving offenses is that important, and that urgent.

The present part of the explanation will deal with what, specifically, I am commanded to do when I remember an offense while trying to offer a gift to God.

The first thing I am to do is leave!

[Reference Links: Matthew 5:24a (WEB) & Matthew 5:24a (SBL Greek New Testament)].

I must leave what I am doing, and leave any gift I was making where it is, unoffered.

.

[Reference Link: Strong’s Lexicon, Greek No. 1715, on Biblehub.com.]

Of course, as most who preach this passage will tell you, the main–nearly the only–way in which Israelites who were neither Priests nor Levites could serve in worship was by presenting offerings. So not being able to present offerings was an almost blanket prohibition on all service and collective worship. It was simply not to be done while the worshipper was aware that someone held a grudge against them.

After telling me that I should have left the Temple already, even before I reached the altar, Jesus then gives a present tense command, “go:”

[Reference Links: Matthew 5:24b (WEB) & Matthew 5:24b (SBL Greek New Testament) ].

This is urgent; it is a

The commentators generally say that the command to leave my gift and go to the believer I have offended, where they are, is more hyperbole when stated in the Temple context. They point out that, in order to comply with this command, a Galilean Jew like most of Jesus’ disciples would have to leave the long line at the Temple, walk 80 miles back to Galilee, “be reconciled,” then return the 80 miles, find the offering he had left behind several days before, and offer it. But this hyperbole does not dilute the command but instead shows just how seriously Jesus took this matter. Reconciliation is to take priority over giving, and even over the most solemn and sacred acts of worship.

Before I return to offer my gift, I must FIRST be reconciled to the believer who I have remembered holds an offense against me:

[Matthew 5:24c (WEB) & Matthew 5:24c (SBL Greek New Testament) ]

The word “first” really IS present in the Greek and means exactly what it says:

[Reference Link: Strong’s Lexicon, Greek No. 4412, on Biblehub.com.]

I must leave in order to be reconciled to the believer I have remembered that I offended, But the verb used is in a form that looks a bit strange to people used to English verbs:

Quoting Strong’s Lexicon further shows that the underlying verb refers to a process of reconciliation through which the parties form a new relationship that is different than the one they had before the offense:

[Reference Link: Strong’s Lexicon, Greek No. 1259, on Biblehub.com.]

And, note:

In its original context, reconciliation was tied to restoration of social harmony and community among each other, and also, simultaneously, restoration of the parties’ relationship with God. To quote Strong’s Lexicon again:

[Reference Link: Strong’s Lexicon, Greek No. 1259, on Biblehub.com.]

Does this mean that the concept should be abandoned or needs to be weakened when applied to believers who live in an individualistic culture like the modern Western society rather than a community-oriented culture like those of ancient Greek cities, ancient Rome or traditional Judaism?

No. It may, in fact, mean that the insistence on reconciliation needs to be reinforced among believers in our individualistic culture. The Body of Christ is just that, a Body. The focus is on all of us living together under our one Head, Christ. The Body of Christ is, thus, supposed to be community-oriented, not individualistic. The fact that we Westerners will not have learned much about reconciliation or the preservation of community from our culture is no reason to abandon these things. It is, instead, a reason to teach and practice them more carefully. so that they will be preserved.

This process of reconciliation and restoration is a process that is often not completed all at once, just as my reconciliation to God, to his control of my life, is also a process that is usually completed over a long period of time.

This can be seen from several passages that discuss God’s reconciliation to us, which was completed when Jesus died and needs noting further, as contrasted to our reconciliation to God, coming from being his active enemies to being his trusting friends.

[Reference Link: 2 Corinthians 5:16-19 (WEB)].

From this passage, several relevant things can be said:

Because of all of this, Paul goes on to write:

[Reference Link: 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 (WEB)]

Though I have been made the righteousness of God in Christ and no longer have to live in fear of God, I still do lapse into fear sometimes. And I still do go my own way sometimes instead of trusting him. That is why Paul had to beg the believers in Corinth–the letter was written to the church in that city, not the unbelievers there–to continue to be reconciled to God. My reconciliation to God is a process in which I must continue to participate.

God has made peace for us with himself through the Cross, but the reconciliation of all things TO God is not yet complete:

[Reference Link: Colossians 1:19-20 (WEB)].

But, once again, my reconciliation to God, my transformation from a rebellious enemy to a trusting friend, is a process which requires that I remain grounded in it:

[Reference Link: Colossians 1:21-23 (WEB) ].

Note particularly that:

Finally, John’s words about our sin–our old sinful nature–our sins, and our need to say the same thing God says about these (that is, to “confess” them) also demonstrates that a process is at work:

[Reference Link: 1 John 1:7-2:2 (WEB)].

Summarizing this,

After I have gone to the fellow believer that I remembered offending and successfully started a process of reconciliation–which can take many forms–with them, but not before reconciliation has started, I may

[Reference Link: Matthew 5:24d (WEB) & Matthew 5:24d (SBL Greek New Testament)].

to complete my gift to God.

That the order of events must be reconciliation first, and only then completion of the gift, is made clear by the adverbs used in the construction:

[Reference Link: Strong’s Concordance, Greek No. 5119, on Biblehub.com.]

It is further clarified by the use of a participle rather than an inflected verb:

Only at that point may I return…

[Reference Links: Matthew 5:24e (WEB) & Matthew 5:24e  (SBL Greek New Testament)].

The verb in this phrase is, once again, a present imperative:

.

Next: Commentaries Discussing the Command to Go and Be Reconciled.

Email me: Ian Johnson.