God’s Mission and the Nations: What

is Biblical Reconciliation?

Group Six: Josh Choi, Jia Lewis, Curtis Baum, Alexandra Mendizabal, Dominick
Jenkins
Acts 26:15-23
15 “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’
“ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. 16 ‘Now get up and
stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a
witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 17 I will rescue you from your
own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their
eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God,
so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are
sanctified by faith in me.’
Acts 26:15-23
19 “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. 20
First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then
to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and
demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. 21 That is why some Jews seized
me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. 22 But God has helped me to this
very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing
beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— 23 that the Messiah
would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of
light to his own people and to the Gentiles.”
The Message of Dr. King’s Civic Sermon
● Thesis: “We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults
of opportunity of this nation. And so we’ve come to cash this check, a check that
will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice”
(Quoted in Evans 64).
● This was about more than just equality and apology but about economic
restitution
● What does Evans means when he says that “America has given the negro
people; a check which has come back marked ‘Insufficient funds?’” (68)
Question:

Dr. King mentioned how it is our cultural beliefs that are barring America from
accomplishing true economic reconciliation. How should we respond to the cultural
belief that some Americans have worked hard for their money and therefore should
not and will not take part in economic reconciliation? How has the American Dream
contributed to this way of thinking?
What is the Evil Empire??

What are the people Jesus heals oppressed by in Matthew?

● Demons
● Sicknesses

Is Jesus a radical revolutionary?

● Yes and No
What Jesus says about Rome

● Luke 20:25 NLT “Well then,” he said, “give to Caesar what belongs to
Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”
● Matthew 8: the Roman Centurion. “I have found no one in Israel with
such faith!” Where is the usual exhortation to repent or to follow or
change?
● Matthew 5:41 (Sermon on the Mount)
○ ESV “And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two
miles.”
○ NLT “If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry
it two miles.”
The King of God

● “And when they would make him King by force” John 6:15
● INRI “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”
● “My Kingdom is not of this world”
Racism in the Bible??

Jeremiah 13:23 NIV

Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard its spots? Neither can you do
good who are accustomed to doing evil.

● Is it racism if it’s not written by white authors?

● A leopard’s spots are not inherently bad, as compared with skin, but
both are used as a comparison with doing evil.
Reconciliation in the Bible
II Corinthians 5:16-20

16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once
knew Christ from a human point of view,[b] we know him no longer in that way. 17 So if anyone is
in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become
new! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the
ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, [c] not
counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20 So
we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on
behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
Reconciliation in the Bible
● Many interpretations of this text simplify reconciliation to God reconciling us to Himself
● Evans explains it further to mean that we should “find ways to reconcile with brothers and sisters
in community” (Evans 71).
● But what is true Reconciliation? It must be transactional
● He relates this back to the topic of justice where “the defendant is found guilty and therefore
must ‘change or exchange’ to be reconciled” (Evans 71).

Question: Has racial reconciliation been transactional? What would this actually look like?
Question:

Is racism a conscious or subconscious decision that people make?

Is racism something that is passed down (implicitly), or something that is

taught? If it is taught, what (constitutes) being taught to hate another race/
culture?
Question:

Does Jesus' Sermon on the Mount correlate to Dr. King's "I have a dream"
speech?
Question:

How is justice related to race in today’s society?

Question:

What practical things can we do to practice reconciliation?

Question:

How do we work to stop white privilege in America?

Question:

How does the Holy Spirit change the way we look at inequalities?