Reconciliation
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katallage means reconciliation, the restored relationship brought about by God's saving action. In the New Testament the noun appears in four direct witnesses: believers rejoice in God because they have received reconciliation through Christ, Israel's rejection is described in relation to the reconciliation of the world, and Paul twice speaks of the ministry and message of reconciliation entrusted to him because God.
Reader summary
Full entry for καταλλαγή (G2643) · Open the biblical lexicon
katallage means reconciliation, the restored relationship brought about by God's saving action. In the New Testament the noun appears in four direct witnesses: believers rejoice in God because they have received reconciliation through Christ, Israel's rejection is described in relation to the reconciliation of the world, and Paul twice speaks of the.
The BSB source-word alignment has 4 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include of reconciliation (2), [is the] reconciliation (1), reconciliation (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Romans 5:11. Its strongest book concentrations include 2 Corinthians (2), Romans (2).
Katallage means reconciliation, the restored relationship brought about by God's saving action. In the New Testament the noun appears in four direct witnesses: believers rejoice in God because they have received reconciliation through Christ, Israel's rejection is described in relation to the reconciliation of the world, and Paul twice speaks of the ministry and message of reconciliation entrusted to him because God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ.
The word must not be reduced to vague peacemaking or interpersonal niceness. It names God's gracious action toward sinners through Christ, with proclamation flowing from that accomplished work. Pastorally, katallage proclaims that reconciliation is received before it is announced, and announced because God Himself has acted.
Katallage appears in four direct New Testament witnesses. Romans 5 celebrates reconciliation received through Christ, Romans 11 places reconciliation of the world in Paul's Israel-and-nations argument, and 2 Corinthians 5 names the ministry and message of reconciliation grounded in God's work in Christ.
Not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Believers rejoice in God because reconciliation has now been received through Christ.
For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
Paul places reconciliation of the world within the mystery of Israel, Gentiles, rejection, and future acceptance.
All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
Reconciliation comes from God through Christ and becomes the basis for ministry entrusted to Paul and his co-workers.
That God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s trespasses against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
God reconciles in Christ and commits the message of reconciliation. The word is gospel proclamation, not generic harmony.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. Reconciliation as restored relationship through divine exchange, central to Pauline atonement theology.
Reconciliation as restored relationship through divine exchange, central to Pauline atonement theology.
(καταλλάσσω), [in LXX: Isa.9:5(4), 2Ma.5:20 * ;]
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
4 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
reconciliation
Read versereconciliation
Read versereconciliation
Read versereconciliation
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 3 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 4 lexical occurrence verses.
καταλλαγή is built from this root:
It captures the relational restoration accomplished through Christ. Romans 5:1-11
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Katallage is a gospel word before it is a social slogan. Romans 5 says believers rejoice in God through Jesus Christ because they have now received reconciliation. Romans 11 sets the reconciliation of the world within Paul's sober and hopeful argument about Israel and the nations. In 2 Corinthians 5, reconciliation is from God, through Christ, and committed to Christ's ambassadors as ministry and message.
The preacher should therefore start with God's initiative: sinners do not negotiate peace with God on equal terms, and churches do not manufacture reconciliation by tone alone. God reconciles in Christ, does not count trespasses against His people, and sends them to announce that accomplished mercy with urgent faithfulness.
2Cor.5.18
Katallage is a noun for reconciliation or restored relationship. In these witnesses it is tied to God's saving action in Christ and should not be thinned into mere conflict management.
The Old Testament sacrificial and covenant patterns expose alienation from God and the need for peace. The New Testament announces reconciliation through Christ as the fulfillment of God's saving initiative.
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