Reconciliation language in 2 Maccabees and letters (5:10–11)

Says "If, when we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!" (5:10, BSB). Through Christ "we have now received reconciliation" (5:11): κατηλλάγημεν … καταλλαγέντες … τὴν καταλλαγήν.

The word group names the end of hostility. In the non-canonical 2 Maccabees, God is asked to be reconciled to his people: καὶ καταλλαγείη ὑμῖν, "and may he be reconciled to you" (1:5). The temple forsaken "in the wrath of the Almighty" was restored "in the reconciliation of the great Lord" (5:20). "Our living Lord is angry for a little while … and will again be reconciled to his own servants" (7:33); the people besought "the merciful Lord to be fully reconciled to his servants" (8:29). There God is the one reconciled. A second-century letter from Egypt shows the household use: Antonius Longus, a prodigal, begs his mother Nilus, "be reconciled to me" (διαλλάγηθί μοι, BGU III 846). Paul uses the verb of wife and husband (1 Cor 7:11) and calls apostles "ambassadors for Christ" who plead, "Be reconciled to God" (2 Cor 5:20).

Implies In Paul, God takes the initiative and reconciles his enemies to himself through Christ's death (5:8–10; 2 Cor 5:18–19).

Uncertain Whether "enemies" (ἐχθροί, 5:10) means only that we were hostile to God or also that we stood under his hostility is debated. This note leans to both (5:9, wrath; in 11:28 ἐχθροί stands opposite ἀγαπητοί, "loved"). The active-only reading stresses that our hostility ends (Col 1:21).