| What is Forgiveness? |
| by David A. DePra |
| The forgiveness of God is the root of the gospel of Jesus |
| Christ. Our salvation depends upon it. But exactly what is |
| forgiveness? |
| The Greek word translated "forgive" in the New Testament |
| literally means "to dismiss, to send away." But what does |
| God "send away" when He forgives us? |
| Much traditional teaching would suggest to us that God sends |
| away from us the penalty for sin. We are told that because man |
| sinned, God punished him with death. But because Jesus |
| Christ died, God is able to justly send away from us that |
| punishment of death. This is called the "forgiveness" of God. |
| Gladly, this description of God's forgiveness is wrong. God |
| does not send away from us the penalty of death because of |
| Jesus Christ. Really? Yes. Think about it. If God merely sent |
| away from us the penalty of death, then what would that |
| do about sin itself? Nothing. We'd still be sinners, only now the |
| penalty for sin would be removed. That would mean man |
| could accept Christ, and continue in sin that grace might abound. |
| And it would make God worse than man, for He would have |
| created the possibility of sin without consequences. |
| Clearly, if we define "the forgiveness of God," as God merely |
| removing from us the penalty of sin, we are missing the point. There |
| has got to be more to forgiveness than that. |
| God does not "send away" the penalty of sin through Jesus |
| Christ. He sends away sin itself. This is seen in Romans 6.. There |
| we see that we don't escape death because of Christ. We meet |
| death in Him. We have died in Christ, in order that we might live |
| in Him. In that death, we are set free from sin: For he who has |
| died is freed from sin. (Rom. 6:7) |
| This helps us see the height and breadth of the forgiveness of |
| God. God forgives us, not by removing from us the death penalty, |
| but by setting us free from sin itself -- by planting us into the very |
| death His Son died for us. In Christ, our old man dies and forever |
| our sin is sent away. We are raised new creations in Christ Jesus. |
| That is the forgiveness of God. It is a forgiveness which |
| never leaves us as sinners. It doesn't simply cancel the debt. It |
| removes all trace that the debt (sin) ever existed. |
| The reason this is important to understand is that many |
| Christians have the idea that, yes, God does forgive them, but |
| nevertheless some kind of an "eternal subtraction" occurs |
| if they still sin. Either their eternal reward is reduced, or they |
| lose their capacity for God -- and none of these things can |
| ever be fully restored. |
| The Truth is, if God's forgiveness isn't able to fully restore you |
| and I, then it is no forgiveness at all. If there is one sin which the |
| redemption cannot completely send away, then it is no redemption |
| at all. God forgiveness is total -- despite the fact that we will |
| continue to be plagued by sin until we depart this life. |
| We can cause ourselves plenty of grief in this life |
| because of sin. Even if we repent, there may be certain |
| temporal consequences for sin. But through Jesus Christ, God is |
| able to completely, without conditions, bring a person to complete |
| spiritual restoration. And He can then even take the temporal |
| situations we have created through sin and use them in a highly |
| redemptive way. Our God is a redemptive God. And His |
| forgiveness is total. He "sends away" our sin through Jesus |
| Christ and makes all things new. |