Author: Jay Lehman

Embracing Our Complete Forgiveness

A big hurdle in understanding our complete forgiveness in Jesus and no need for continuing confession and forgiveness is two thousand years of church history, predominantly coming from the Catholic church.  If you have ever watched Father Brown on PBS, you have heard the well-known start of any good confession, “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned.  It has been four days since my last confession …”  A true Catholic confession includes asking for forgiveness and agreeing to acts of penance and vowing to not sin again.

Somehow, a version of this practice has extended to the Protestant Sunday morning experience.  Maybe it is a sense of fairness that suggests that we should still pay for our sins even post-salvation.  After all, there is no such thing as a free lunch.  You cannot be let off scot-free when it comes to your sin.  Someone needs to pay and it better be you, the perpetrator.  And one way you can pay, even the score, and settle your debt with God is through confession, repentance, and seeking forgiveness.  But that completely misses the point and the result of God’s incredible grace.

And the point it misses is that God’s grace is exactly that; beautifully unfair.  That is what makes it grace.  God’s grace is incredibly free to you and me.  It cost us nothing.  At the cross, Christ took your place as an act of infinite love and grace, and when you believe in Jesus, your guilt is erased for all time.

Another challenge is I John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  Many believe this is describing an ongoing need for confession and forgiveness.  I believe that in the context of John’s letter as a whole, this verse is an invitation to unbelievers.  It describes what happens when we first acknowledge our sin and embrace Jesus as our Savior.  And God’s promise, in response to our belief in Jesus, is complete forgiveness and cleansing the hour we first believed.  I have written extensively in other places about why I believe this.  Here is a link if you are interested.

It is interesting that later in this same letter when John is clearly speaking to believers with the use of the phrase, “little children”, he emphasizes that we are already forgiven based on the finished work of Jesus.  “I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake” (I John 2:12).

Another stumbling block that I briefly addressed in our introduction a few days ago is seeing our relationship with Jesus as similar to our human experience.  The human relationship is by its very nature often transactional.  I hurt you.  I acknowledge to you what I have done.  You choose to forgive me.  We confess to each other when we have sinned against our brother or sister.  A distance grows between us when we fail to do these things.  But our connection to Christ is NOT transactional; it is not “I confess and He forgives” in an ongoing nature.  No, we have already been completely forgiven.  You cannot look at our human relationships as a pattern for our new life with Jesus.

Like many things of grace, it is hard to accept a complete forgiveness because it sounds too good to be true.  We have all been taught to be suspicious of something that sounds too good to be true.  But this time, it is true.  God’s incredible grace is just that good.  But it does behoove us to ask, “Is that really so?  Is Jay just on some kind of complete forgiveness soapbox?  What does the Bible actually say about our sin?”  Let’s look at the Scriptures behind these ideas next time.

“Repent”:  a Word Study

Our first hurdle in believing our complete forgiveness in Christ is understanding the word “repent” and its use in the gospels.  Two thousand years of church history have distorted the word “repent” to mean some kind of sorrow or penance or ongoing confession of our sin.  But its use in the New Testament is much more straightforward and may not be what you have been taught.  So what exactly is meant by the word “repent” in the New Testament?

If we turn to our Blue Letter Bible app, we find the word “repent” used 26 times in the New American Standard version of the New Testament.  Every one of those times, it is translated from the Greek word “metanoeō”.  You might recognize “meta” means “change” as in our English word metamorphosis.  And “noeō” refers to how we think or perceive.  Strong’s Concordance defines “metanoeō” as “to change one’s mind or purpose.”

To repent is to change one’s mind or purpose.  What kind of change of mind is John the Baptist, Jesus, Peter, and Paul referring to in the New Testament?

“Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ “ (Matthew 3:1-2).  What is John’s message?  As a preparer of the way for the Messiah, John is proclaiming, “The kingdom of heaven is coming.”  And if you read the rest of what John had to say in the gospels, you learn that he is referring to the kingdom coming in the form of a person, Jesus.  And because of the coming of Jesus, there is something to change your mind about.

In Matthew chapter 4, we are introduced to Jesus’ first proclamation of the gospel and it is a repeat of John’s message.  “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’ “ (Matthew 4:17).  There is something Jesus wants us to change our mind about and it is related to Him now being here – “the kingdom of heaven at hand.”

Mark expands on this message when he introduces us to Jesus in the first chapter of his gospel.  “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel’ “ (Mark 1:14-15).  Now we have our first clue regarding what we are called to change our mind about.  Here Jesus says that changing one’s mind involves believing in the gospel.  As Jesus continues to preach a message of repentance throughout the gospels, it boils down to changing our mind about how one is made right with God.

Jumping to the book of Acts, we see the context for how the apostles used the word repent.  In his famous sermon recorded in Acts chapter 2, Peter proclaims, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit“ (Acts 2:38).  The context of “repent” in this verse is the need for unbelievers to receive the gospel message and be forgiven.

Peter’s next recorded sermon includes the same call to repent.  “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19).  Peter is again preaching a gospel message to those who have not yet received Christ.  “Repent and return” sounds like changing directions.  “You were believing one thing.  Now believe something new.  Believe the gospel message of Jesus Christ and your sins will be wiped away, your sins will be forgiven.”

The apostle Paul adds, “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent” (Acts 17:30).  Paul declares that the gospel message of repentance, the need to change your mind and believe in Jesus, is for all people everywhere.

Later in Paul’s testimony we read, “But I kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God” (Acts 26:20).  Repent and turn.  Again, a gospel message of salvation.  Change your mind.  Do a one-eighty.  Turn from whatever you were believing and turn to God.

Finally we come full circle back to John the Baptist.  Paul reminds us of what John’s call to repentance was about.  “Paul said, ‘John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus’ “ (Acts 19:4).  John’s message of repentance and all those after him was the same; change your mind and believe in Jesus.

Now admittedly, this is a very brief overview of “repent”.  But I think it captures the flavor of its use in the New Testament.  When you put the use and context of “repent” together, “repent” has to do with basically one thing.  Change your mind about how you are made right with God.  Repentance is about salvation.  I believe it is that simple.  An expanded definition that I would give for the word “repent” as used in the New Testament is “change your mind about whatever you are trusting in now and believe the gospel message of Jesus Christ.”

So why have we added all these layers to repentance in our Christian experience?  I have some ideas that I will share next time.

Introduction

In churches across America this week, there will be a time set aside to repent of your sins.  A time to confess your sins.  A time to seek God’s forgiveness.  But is this the pattern for addressing sin in the New Testament?

Before we answer that question, let’s talk about why this matters.  If you believe that you are completely forgiven, if you believe that there is no separation between you and the Father, and if you believe that you cannot stop the flow of love and grace that God is extending to His children, then any suggestion that God is holding your sins against you goes against all that we believe about our right standing with God.  Complete forgiveness, no distance or separation, no stopping the love of God are clear teachings of the New Testament.

When we suggest that confession, repentance, and seeking forgiveness from God are necessary for believers to get close to or stay close to God, we undermine all of these promises.  The cross worked, and any teaching of our current or besetting sins separating us from the Father is taking us back to an old covenant system of condemnation and separation; an old covenant system of sin management.

I have heard it preached this way.  Think about your human relationships.  When we sin against each other and don’t own up to that, there is a distance created in our connection.  (This is absolutely true, by the way.)  But the preaching illustration continues that it is the same with God.  Just like in human relationships, our fellowship with God is damaged by our sin.  A distance from God is created by our sin.

But this illustration completely misses a critical point.  Our life with Jesus is NOT like any human relationship.  It is founded completely upon His grace.  He is beyond gracious to us in every way.  Why?  Because our sin was taken care of at the cross.  Christ paid the price for us.  There is no more sacrifice, offering, repentance, or penance required of us once we have believed the gospel message of Jesus.  And teaching that there is more required adds a heaviness to our walk with Jesus that steals our joy.

Jesus said in many places that He came to make our joy full.  How can we be joyful, how can we live at peace, how can we experience His rest when we are taught to always be looking over our shoulder for where we are messing up?  Jesus taught what He taught, Jesus said what He said, and Jesus promised what He promised to bring us joy, peace, and rest.  He did not come to bring us angst, sorrow, or condemnation.

Do believers commit sins?  Yes.  Do I sin?  Yes.  And when I do, I agree with God that it is a sin.  This post isn’t about sweeping sin under the rug.  I am sorry when I sin.  I am sorry that I did not live into my new identity in Jesus.  And I am thankful that I have an Advocate in Jesus Christ who has paid the price and that sin is already forgiven.  There is no hand-wringing or promise of deeper commitment required.  Growing in grace is what helps us mature and grow into walking more and more in line with who we are in Christ.  Growing in grace helps us cooperate in godly ways with Christ living His life through us.

If anything in this introduction has cause a “uh?” or quizzical reaction, please stick with us for all five parts to this series.  There is a lot to unfold and maybe a few things to unlearn.  But I believe it will illuminate one more beautiful aspect of our freedom in Christ.  So back to our topic at the top; why do church leaders embrace this confession, repent, and seek forgiveness practice?  We will talk about it next time.

Animal sacrifices provided a temporary forgiveness and cleansing under the old covenant system.  The old covenant system required repeated confession and forgiveness.

But what about us today?  Is confession and seeking God’s forgiveness an over and over process for us?  What if all your sins – past, present, and future – have been forgiven the minute you believed the gospel of Jesus Christ?  It is an important question to ponder.

Hidden within the pages of the Old Testament is a promise of something better; the promise of a new covenant.  And the promise of this new covenant, this new arrangement between God and His people, has been completely fulfilled in Jesus.  And this is its fulfillment:  when we believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are immediately and forever forgiven and cleansed by the blood of Jesus.  The minute we believed, Christ’s forgiveness and cleansing – accomplished on the cross – was granted to us; was credited to us.  Not because of anything we had done, but because of what Christ had done for us.

This is such an important promise to grasp.  Many of us have been taught that some process of continual confession of sin is necessary to be in right standing with God.  Friend, the blood of Jesus Christ has eternally forgiven and internally cleansed you from your sin.  Once and done.

1. What is your reaction to this once and done idea of being forgiven and cleansed? What questions remain about your new purity?

 

Now let’s visit a passage of Scripture from the New Testament that has led to some confusion in this area, I John 1:9.  It reads, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  Many Bible teachers hold this verse up as an example of repeated confession, forgiveness, and cleansing being required of us as believers.  I don’t believe this fits the context of John’s letter.

In the first letter of John’s epistles, the apostle is addressing infiltrators in the church who came in preaching a Gnostic-type message.  The Gnostics of John’s era placed a great deal of value on what they saw as a secret knowledge.  It was a knowledge that combined ideas derived from Greek philosophy, Oriental mysticism, and Christianity.

One of its tenets was a separation between the spiritual and material world.  The spiritual world is good.  The material world is evil.  So the Gnostics refused to acknowledge Jesus as God in the flesh.  Since the material world is evil, God the Divine One could not have appeared in a human body.  That is why John repeatedly emphasized in his letter this core belief of ours; Jesus Christ came as God in the flesh.

One of the outcomes of this spiritual/material divide is that the Gnostics treated sin with indifference. Since sin took place in the material world which was already looked at as evil, sin was viewed as a natural outcome of our material lives.  There was no guilt involved here.  A person could be very spiritual while doing something sinful with their mortal body because the body is evil anyway and divorced from our spirituality.

With this cultural background in mind, John seeks to make clear that prior to our conversion, we were all guilty of sin; sin was our very nature.  So let’s look at the context of I John 1 in light of this Gnostic challenge to true Christian belief.

“This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all” (I John 1:5).

The contrast between God as light and evil as darkness is a prominent theme in the Bible.  The “no darkness in Him” suggests that those who walk in darkness are unbelievers with no connection to God.

“If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” (I John 1:6).

If we say we are joined with God in His family and yet our true identity is one walking in darkness, we are lying.  Because the one walking in darkness is an unbeliever who has never come into the Light.

“But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (I John 1:7).

In contrast to the lost, believers walk in the Light, not the darkness.  Believers have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus provides a one-time cleansing from all sin.  (See Hebrews 9:14)

Now we switch back to the unbeliever.

“If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us” (I John 1:8).

This is another direct response to the Gnostics of John’s day who believed they had no need of Jesus as Savior because they were not guilty of sin.  John again calls them liars who are deceiving themselves because we all are guilty of sin.  But Christ has provided an answer for our sin in verse 9.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9).

This incredible promise was written as a choice offered those who are walking in darkness (I John 1:6); those who have yet to believe the gospel.

And the promise of I John 1:9 is this:  If we confess our sins – if we agree with God that here, prior to our conversion, we are sinners, and we need a savior, and that savior is Jesus – then Jesus will come to us, He will forgive us of all our sins, and He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  The blood of Jesus eternally forgives and internally cleanses from all sin at the time of our conversion.  This confession is a one-time agreement with God about our sin and when we agree with God in this way, He forgives, cleanses, and saves us forever.

Excerpt from Welcome to the New !!! A Study of What Christ Did FOR Us and TO Us