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God's Forgiveness |
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Forgiveness
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Sin presents a crisis for all of mankind. We all have it and its stain has put us in great jeopardy before God. It is a problem, which affects us now and even more gravely in the future after this earthly existence. The wages of sin is death, separation from God, and the fate of Hell. The grievous fact about this condition is that man is entirely powerless to recover himself from this plight. Unless some external power or intervention is forth coming he is forever lost!
From the outset all sin is against God. Sins have placed upon man a debt, which must be paid or satisfied for violating God’s Law (it is called lawlessness). In this case the debt is an obligation of punishment. Man cannot atone or do penance, for his sins before God. Thus one of two things must happen; either men pay the debt themselves or have the debt forgiven. It is never the case of balancing the scales of good and bad. All that “good” works (which is an impossibility for those who reject God) can accomplish is to keep us from falling further into debt, they cannot expunge what has been previously committed. This negates the principle of penance. In the Old Testament penance, or restoration, existed only between men and not between man and God. It is a civil law.
Our Creator, through His manifold love, has made provision for this dilemma of man. For what man could not do God has made possible, by the sacrificial offering of His Son as Savior. In the Death of Christ is the offering of Life, salvation. To make the possible a reality man must respond to this grace of God and receive this unspeakable gift of God. This must be done by faith. Faith is the only condition of salvation. What lies at the heart of salvation is God’s forgiveness of sin. It is God and God alone who can forgive the trespasses against Him. The gospel of Jesus Christ is centered on forgiveness. This is what distinguishes the Christian religion from all others.
By examining the words used to express forgiveness we are able to see just how thorough God’s forgiveness is.
Forgiveness of Greek usage is generally “to send off.” From this it is “to release,” and “to let go.” It is used in legal instances to release someone from a legal relation, such as from an office, marriage, obligation or debt and punishment. The idea of forgiveness in a religious sense did not exist in the secular usage. Hence the principle of the forgiveness of sins had no precedent in the mind of natural man, nor did the idea initiate with men.
The doctrine of forgiveness in the Old Testament is set forth with words which designate a “release,” “leave in peace,” and “remission.” The object of remission is sin and guilt, with God as the one who forgives. The legal sense of the word is prevalent, being the removal of debt, or obligation incurred by sin, thus the removal of any punishment warranted by offenses. An interesting illustration of “release” is found in Esther 2:18, where it is easily applied as “amnesty,” or “exemption” for the debt of taxation. Old Testament terms such as blotting out, and casting away sins are also descriptive of God’s forgiveness.
An integral element of God’s forgiveness is His forgetting. In Isa. 43:25, and Jer. 31:34 it is made clear that God forgets what He has forgiven. This bears repeating: What God has forgiven He has forgotten. We may ponder over the act of forgetting and wonder how God, who is omniscience, could accomplish such a thing. God, our Father, is indeed all knowing, possessing all knowledge, so how is it He can forget? The most reasonable explanation is that He has put it out of His thoughts. He cannot delete it from His knowledge, but He can and does refuse to recall it. In His mind it is gone, never to be thought of again.
The New Testament meaning of forgiveness is consistent with that of the Old. In addition to those of the Old Testament it is used in such terms, “to remit,” “to leave in peace,” “to set aside,” and “to leave behind.” Other principles such as redemption, regeneration, propitiation, ransoming away, atonement, are bundled in the salvation of God. God, by His act of forgiveness, sets aside our sins; we are left in peace having our debts left behind, remitted. Our sins are removed and separated from us as far as the east is from the west, Ps 103:12.
The true act of forgiveness by men is something freely granted without payment, retribution, or requirements attached. Otherwise it is not truly forgiveness but rather the satisfying of that which is owed. With God, there is always a sacrifice accompanying His forgiveness. The sacrifice is always vicarious, whether animals under the law or Jesus Christ by Grace. The vicarious sacrifice of animals only temporarily suspended the offenses of those for whom it was applied. However the vicarious offering of Christ is a permanent, washing away of sin.
- Vicarious suffering is suffering endured by one person in the stead of another, i.e., in his place. It necessarily supposes the exemption of the party in whose place the suffering is endured. Hodge, II, 475.
It is explicit that God’s forgiveness is without payment, retribution, or executed justice on the part of/or against man. The substitution is God, Himself!
The blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7). At the point of salvation all committed, past sin, have been forgiven, sent off or released from us. Isaiah 53 declares that the iniquity of us all was laid upon the Messiah as a lamb brought to slaughter. But what of future sins? Are they also borne away by the same fashion, or is there now a co-participation on the part of man required for forgiveness? Are our future transgressions automatically included with the past action of cleansing? Are we expected by God to have a part in atoning for new violations against Him? The answer is a resounding No!
- Gal. 3:1. O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
(2) This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
(3) Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
All of our sins will eventually be forgiven. In this life, however, by our own misconduct we can and often do hinder God’s forgiveness. After our death this rebellion ceases and no longer is there obstruction to God’s grace. The thought of a purgatory, or of God ceasing to forgive and thus the loss of salvation is foreign to His Word and work.
- Phil. 1: 6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
What joy and happiness is ours to have our sins forgiven. No longer are we alienated from our Loving Creator. The great lonesomeness is over. The dread and fear of death has passed. Our futures have been made gloriously secure and safe. Life is ours. Oh the wonder of the peace and comfort God has brought. May we never forget or neglect our redemption, and be truly grateful by word and deed for what He has done.
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This page last updated April 30, 2005
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