Theological Term of the Week

reconciliation
The restoration of peaceful relations between parties who are in conflict with each other. Used in regards to of the work of Christ on the cross, it points to the removal God’s enmity toward the sinner and the sinner’s enmity toward God and the establishment of blessed and abundant fellowship through the death of Christ

• From scripture:

  All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:18-20 ESV)
  

• From The 1689 London Baptist Confession, Chapter 8, Of Christ the Mediator:

  The Lord Jesus, by his perfect obedience and sacrifice of himself, which he through the eternal Spirit once offered up unto God, hath fully satisfied the justice of God, procured reconciliation, and purchased an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the Father hath given unto Him.

• From The Atonement: It’s Meaning and Significance by Leon Morris:

  There is never the slightest hint in the New Testament that reconciliation can be brought about by what we do. We created the barrier that separates us from God (and from one another), but we cannot break it down. There are theologians who stress the element of human responsibility in such a way as to indicate that man brought about the alienation from God and that man can and should end it. On this view God’s attitude was always the same. He has always loved us and he is simply waiting for us to return to him. As soon as we do, reconciliation is effected.
  
  But this is not what the New Testament is saying. The New Testament insists that something must be done about sin. It is not possible simply to ignore it, to count it as something that never happened. It did happen. Its results are with us. It has established a continuing enmity. For reconciliation to take place that enmity must be dealt with. And Paul emphasizes that this is what Christ did. Under this figure it is not said how the death of Christ put away sin, but it is said emphatically that is does. In redemption this is seen by way of paying the price, in justification by the bearing of penalty, and so on. There is no equivalent in reconciliation. But this way of looking at the atonement takes it that whatever had to be done was done. The important thing was the removal of the cause of the enmity and when Christ died on the cross he removed it.
  
  This is something that he alone could do. Man is so immersed in sin that he does not even make the motion of wanting to leave it, let alone to do away with it. And even if he wanted to it is so big a task that it is more than he can accomplish. It is beyond him. But it is not beyond Christ. It is the measure of his greatness that he was able to accomplish this great task and he did. ‘He is our peace.’

Learn more:

1. GotQuestions.org: What Is Christian Reconciliation? Why Do We Need to Be Reconciled to God?
2. John Gill: Of Propitation, Atonement, and Reconciliation, as Ascribed to Christ
   
3. Herman Ridderbos: Reconciliation
   

1 The Atonement: It’s Meaning and Significance, Leon Morris, pages 148-149.

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order

The Passions and Pluck of Beatrix Potter

Ann guessed correctly that the microscopic studies of a ground beetle in last Friday’s mystery artist post were drawn by the author-illustrator of The Tale of Peter Rabbit (and thirty or so other children’s stories), Beatrix Potter. As you may have guessed from the sketches of beetles, Beatrix Potter was a rather unconventional woman.

Although her upbringing might sound a bit odd to us, for her time and social class, it was probably fairly typical. Her mother and father both inherited a fortune, and her father was a lawyer, but he didn’t have to earn an income, so he didn’t work much. Beatrix lived a rather isolated life, playing only with her younger brother. She had no formal schooling, but was educated at home by governesses, which meant, in Beatrix’s case, that she was mostly left alone to pursue her own interests.

And it’s in her interests that she shows us that she wasn’t an ordinary girl. She and her brother grew up surrounded by animals and plants—dogs, rabbits, frogs, salamanders and more as pets, and large gardens and moors for roaming. They spent their time together studying, sketching (and even dissecting) the birds and animals and insects they found. (Beatrix was only eight years old when she drew the caterpillars on the left.) When I was younger, I didn’t enjoy many of the typical girl activities, either, but little Beatrix Potter took things a lot further than I thought to go. I can’t help but admire her for that.

As she grew into young adulthood, Beatrix’s passion became mycology, the study of fungi. She collected fungi, dissecting, painting, and drawing them. Her hope was that her detailed illustrations would be used in a textbook, but that didn’t happen. She also developed a theory about the germination of mold spores, and her uncle Henry, who was a noted chemist, presented a paper she wrote on this to the Linnaean Society of London. Her theory was rejected out of hand by the all-male society, because, according to every biography I’ve read, she was an amateur and a woman.

But when one door closes, women-of-pluck look for other doors to try. And Beatrix Potter needed to find at least one door that would open and provide her with a little income and some independence from her parents. So she turned an illustrated story she had written in a letter to the child of a former governess (see right) into The Tale of Peter Rabbit. When she couldn’t get her strory published, she published it herself.

It was only after he saw one of her self-published books that Frederick Warne decided to go ahead and publish Peter Rabbit, and you know how that worked out for him. Beatrix continued to publish books with Warne’s, using the money she earned to buy her own place, Hill Top Farm, where she set about learning the ins and outs of farming while she sketched the countryside around her (see below) and put together a children’s book or two per year.

Sketch of a Path in Snow (1909)

But that isn’t what you really want to know, is it? You want to know whether Beatrix Potter, solitary, unconventional girl ever found love, true love. Well, she didn’t have an easy road to it. She was engaged to her editor when she was thirty-nine, but he died after a short illness one month later. Beatrix bravely carried on (you knew she would, didn’t you?), writing her little books and adding to her farm properties. That’s no way, you might think, to meet eligible men, but it worked for Beatrix. It was while she was buying up a couple of pieces of land that she met the local solicitor whom she would later marry. Forty-seven years old, she was, but they still had thirty years of happy married life together.

After Beatrix Potter married, she became less author-illustrator and more farm manager. She did one more of her little books, and a few more books were put together from previous sketches and published in the United States. Her new passion was breeding and showing sheep—Herdwicks, to be precise—and she came to be considered an expert in that field, too. She also enjoyed the other pets and animals she kept, and did many of the physical tasks required on the farm, mucking about, making hay and fixing things.

As she grew older, she became known by the local children as a bit of a curmudgeon, hitting two little girls, so they said, for swinging on one of her gates. Do you suppose, having grown up isolated from other children and without children of her own, that she liked them more in theory than practice?

When she died at 77 in 1943, Beatrix Potter had 14 farms which she left to the National Trust, so all her land, even now, remains the countryside that she loved.

Let me show you a little more of Beatrix Potter’s work.

Sketch of a Chair and Window

She loved furniture, too. And gardening.

Sketch of an Onion Patch

And we must have at least one picture of Peter Rabbit.

Sunday's Hymn

Until I grow tired of it, I’m posting some of my own favorite hymns each Sunday. Today I’ve decided to post one of the contemporary hymn by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend, two hymnodists I like for the weightiness of the words in their songs. I like to be reminded of (or learn) truths as I sing.

O Church Arise

O church, arise and put your armor on;
Hear the call of Christ our captain;
For now the weak can say that they are strong
In the strength that God has given.
With shield of faith and belt of truth
We’ll stand against the devil’s lies;
An army bold whose battle cry is “Love!”
Reaching out to those in darkness.

Our call to war, to love the captive soul,
But to rage against the captor;
And with the sword that makes the wounded whole
We will fight with faith and valor.
When faced with trials on ev’ry side,
We know the outcome is secure,
And Christ will have the prize for which He died—
An inheritance of nations.

Come, see the cross where love and mercy meet,
As the Son of God is stricken;
Then see His foes lie crushed beneath His feet,
For the Conqueror has risen!
And as the stone is rolled away,
And Christ emerges from the grave,
This vict’ry march continues till the day
Ev’ry eye and heart shall see Him.

So Spirit, come, put strength in ev’ry stride,
Give grace for ev’ry hurdle,
That we may run with faith to win the prize
Of a servant good and faithful.
As saints of old still line the way,
Retelling triumphs of His grace,
We hear their calls and hunger for the day
When, with Christ, we stand in glory.

“O Church, Arise”
Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend
Copyright © 2005 Thankyou Music

You can hear it sung by Krysten Getty, but it’s much more appropriate for group singing, don’t you think? Here it’s done (along with In Christ Alone) by the choir and orchestra of First Baptist Church, Eastman, GA. (If you’re in a hurry, skip the readings and drag that little play button right across to 1:30, where the singing starts.)

Other hymns, worship songs, sermons etc. posted today:

• Shout, for the Blessed Jesus Reigns at Hiraeth
• Hail, Thou Once Despised Jesus at Field Stone Cottage
• Lord’s Day 1, 2009 at The Thirsty Theologian
• I’ll Count My Blessings at The Happy Wonderer
• As with Gladness, Men of Old at Nova Scotia Scott
• Golden Harps Are Sounding at Whatever Things
• Brightest and Best at Conjubilant With Song
• Your Weekly Dose of Spurgeon at Pyromaniacs: Human Philosophy and Scientific Hypotheses Cannot Deliver “Truth”

Have you posted a hymn today and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by emailing me at the address in the sidebar and I’ll add your post to the list.