Changes

==History==

==History==

In the Hebrew Bible, the term kiffer (from the verb kaffar: covering over, atonement, propitiation, reconciliation) was used in the context of [[animal]] [[ritual]] [[sacrifice]]. Propitiation of God was the objective. Saint Paul, especially in 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 and in Romans 5:10, raises this concept to the level of a restoration to the favor of God for sinners who repent and put their trust in the expiatory death of Christ. But the term refers not only to such reconciliation with God but also to the task of reconciliation with other [[persons]] as a primary requirement for the followers of Christ. In Matthew 5:23-24: “If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.”

In the Hebrew Bible, the term kiffer (from the verb kaffar: covering over, atonement, propitiation, reconciliation) was used in the context of [[animal]] [[ritual]] [[sacrifice]]. Propitiation of God was the objective. Saint Paul, especially in 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 and in Romans 5:10, raises this concept to the level of a restoration to the favor of God for sinners who repent and put their trust in the expiatory death of Christ. But the term refers not only to such reconciliation with God but also to the task of reconciliation with other [[persons]] as a primary requirement for the followers of Christ. In Matthew 5:23-24: “If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.”

 

In [[the Gospels]], as in much later [[discussion]], reconciliation came to be paired with the concept of [[forgiveness]], the forgiveness freely given by [[God]] and to be imitated by all. In this, the New Testament’s reconciliation with God and with others took on the full [[character]] of the Hebrew Bible’s [[shalom]]: completeness, soundness, welfare, [[peace]]. Yet in [[practice]], the concept long tended to be confined to the [[private]] sphere, the [[individual]]’s forgiveness by God, as in the Catholic practice of confession to a priest and the absolution of sins, now called the sacrament of reconciliation rather than, as in the past, of penance.

In [[the Gospels]], as in much later [[discussion]], reconciliation came to be paired with the concept of [[forgiveness]], the forgiveness freely given by [[God]] and to be imitated by all. In this, the New Testament’s reconciliation with God and with others took on the full [[character]] of the Hebrew Bible’s [[shalom]]: completeness, soundness, welfare, [[peace]]. Yet in [[practice]], the concept long tended to be confined to the [[private]] sphere, the [[individual]]’s forgiveness by God, as in the Catholic practice of confession to a priest and the absolution of sins, now called the sacrament of reconciliation rather than, as in the past, of penance.

==Current Applications==

==Current Applications==