Objectives: Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have an increased risk of osteoporosis and fractures, which rises morbidity and mortality rates and poses a high economic burden on healthcare systems. Bone loss in IBD is a process mostly controlled by the RANKL/RANK/OPG system and is aggravated by corticosteroid treatment. Bone morphogenetic protein 7 (BMP7) has a complex role in bone metabolism and inflammation but little is known about its anti-inflammatory and osteoprotective potential in chronic colitis. We investigated the effect of systemically administered BMP7 and corticosteroids on the severity of inflammation, macrophage differentiation, and bone regeneration in a colitis model. Material and methods: Acute and chronic colitis were induced in male Sprague Dawley rats via intrarectal administration of 2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS) following BMP7 or corticosteroid systemic treatment for five days. Acute colitis was induced by a single TNBS administration while chronic colitis was induced by weekly TNBS administration for 21 days. The levels of serum and colon tissue inflammatory cytokines, RANKL/OPG system components, as well as markers of macrophage polarization, were detected using RT-qPCR, ELISA, or immunohistochemistry. Long bone analyses were performed using microcomputed tomography (micro-CT). Results: BMP7 ameliorated inflammation and led to elevated OPG and RANK in the colon with a simultaneous decrease in TNF-α and an increase in IL-10 and TGF-β. Decreased expression of the M2 macrophage marker CD163 was found in the BMP7 treated rats compared with the colitis group, whereas the number of M1 marker iNOS positive cells did not differ between the groups. BMP7 also improved morphometric parameters of trabecular bone. Conclusions: We showed that BMP7 suppressed inflammatory response in IBD, in this study in Crohn colitis, mainly by shifting the cytokine balance and by triggering alterations in the RANKL/OPG system rather than through a macrophage polarization imbalance. In addition, considering the demonstrated effect of BMP7 on bone morphology and structure, it can be suggested that BMP7 plays a role in improving osteoporosis in IBD, and thus, its therapeutic potential in the treatment of IBD should be evaluated in further studies.