restitution

Dictionary of Biblical Words:

is Christ’s present grace in bringing back those of His sheep that have strayed from Himself or His paths; for a person may have departed in heart from Christ before his feet have begun to leave the right path. Restoration may thus be public or private. The first step in the path back is when the will ceases to go with the sin, and begins to take part with God against it; in short, when self-judgment begins. This is caused by the active love of Christ (though perhaps as yet unknown to the backslider), who nest applies, either directly or through some fellow disciple, the water to the feet (see John 13), which is the word bringing home to the heart the sense of sin against the love and work of Christ. The affections are thus reached and restored to Christ, and the soul then sets to work to set the ways right; but the work always begins where the point of departure began—with the heart. Thus the soul fully confesses its sin to God, and obtains the sense of forgiveness (which is not known apart from confession) (1 John 1), and is practically cleansed from the evil. The Lord then wipes the feet, by which is meant that the soul gets perfectly restored, and ceases to feel any distance or estrangement, though the fall must necessarily have taught a fresh lesson of the evil of the heart.

Concise Bible Dictionary:

This expression, which is found in Acts 3:21²¹Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. (Acts 3:21), has been taken out of its connection and used in the attempt to prove Universalism, namely, that all mankind will be eventually saved. The restitution mentioned in scripture is of all things “which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets.” The thought is thus limited to what had been stated in the prophets. In Matthew 17:1¹And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, (Matthew 17:1)1 Christ speaks of Elias coming and “restoring” all things. All such expressions clearly have reference to God’s dispensational dealings on earth, to which the term “all things” refers, and do not touch one way or another the idea of universal salvation. See also RECONCILIATION.

Strong’s Dictionary of Greek Words:

Number:

605 (find all occurrences in KJV Bible)

Greek:

ἀποκατάστασις

Transliteration:

apokatastasis

Phonic:

ap-ok-at-as’-tas-is

Meaning:

from 600; reconstitution

KJV Usage:

restitutio n