To the Lord belongs mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him (Daniel 9:9).
Commentary and explanation. Forgiveness is one of the most beautiful subjects, as well as fecund and comforting, of the whole Bible. What would have happened to humankind if God would not have forgiven man? We are not capable of imagining it.
For Christians, forgiveness is one of the most encouraging messages in the Scripture. We have, not just forgiveness, but that this is done by the most marvelous means, namely, the imputation of the justice of Christ. Once we are forgiven, forgiveness is so perfect that we are restored as if we had never sinned. As this subject of forgiveness is so extensive, we'll deal with it through several Steps.
God forgives because of His goodness and mercy. We find the basis for the forgiveness of sins in God himself: His goodness and great mercy; and, although the justice of God demands punishment for sin, in this "fight" between justice and mercy, the latter always claims victory.
Nehemiah says: You are God, ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abundant in kindness, and did not forsake them (9:17). Perhaps we could say that God is the opposite of man who is inclined to vengeance, while God is inclined to mercy and pardon.
What would have happened to us if God wouldn't have had such patience with us and forgiven us? Psalm 130 asks this question when it says: If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, o Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you (Psalm 130:3,4). As we read in the quotation for this Step: To the Lord belongs mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.
The New Testament confirms and amplifies the doctrine of forgiveness. The quotations we have made, so far, are from the Old Testament, but we will see in the next Steps the teachings of the New Testament which, not just confirm the Old Testament, but enrich it.
Forgiveness is closer for Christians in the New Testament than it was in the Old Testament for Jews; and what God does when He forgives us, which is the justice of His Son, is much more than what is written in the Old Testament.
We should notice, however, that even those who were expecting redemption in Israel, attained forgiveness in anticipation of the merits of Jesus Christ. All forgiveness of God for men has been on account of the blood of His Son, as we are going to see.
We will talk also about the need for repentance to obtain pardon, when we talk about the dispositions to attain forgiveness.
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David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin" (Romans 4:6, 7).
Commentary and explanation. How does the forgiveness of sin work? In other words: how does the unclean become clean? How can he who is deprived of the grace and justice of God attain justice? The answer to these questions is: through the imputation of the justice of Christ. This statement needs explanation. Let us see:
a) What is imputation? What does it mean to impute something to somebody? Good or bad things could be imputed. It can be said of a man who has killed a person, that: the crime of murder is imputed to him. This means that he is accused of murder; he is blamed with murder. The word impute is used, most of the time, to blame somebody for something wrong, or bad; but we can impute good things too, as when we attribute some merit to another.
Imputation in the New Testament refers to the sinner accused of sin, and we say that when the sinner repents, the justice of Christ is imputed to him; that is, the sins of the believer are covered; sin is ousted, and the justice of Christ is credited to him. He is not unclean any more, nor he is under punishment, because the justice of Christ has been awarded to him. This is imputation: the justice of Christ is credited to the believer.
b) What does the New Testament say regarding imputation? Imputation in the New Testament is the fact by which the sinner is made righteous, because the debt from sin (the guilt as well as the punishment) has been deleted, and the justice of Christ has been credited to him; one is canceled (the debt) to credit the other.
The New Testament talks about this (imputation) very often, although it uses other words instead, and not imputation all the time.
Paul says, in the text of this Step, that David also proclaims blessed whomever God imputes justice apart of his deeds, and, with this purpose, he quotes Psalm 32, where we read (verse 1):
David as well as Paul affirms that the man whom the Lord does not impute sin but His justice, is blessed. And God does this, not by the good deeds of the believer, but independently of his works, through faith, when Paul says: But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness (Romans 4:5).
God's plan of reconciliation with humankind included two steps: to cancel the old account, and to credit the new one. Paul says: God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them (Corinthians 5:19); He cancels the old account and credits the new one.
When Paul says that the righteousness of God is revealed through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe (Romans 3:21, 22), as we saw on Step 13, Paul is telling us that the justice of God is imputed to us through faith.
c) Some examples which illustrate the meaning of imputation. In the New Testament we find several examples that illustrate imputation.
1. Whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you (Luke 10:35). These were the words that the Good Samaritan told the innkeeper, when he left under his care the wounded man who had fallen among thieves; whatever he owes you, I will repay you. Thus the debt of sin is put in Christ's account; He pays for us, and our debt is canceled. Even more, His justice is credited to us.
2. If he has wronged you or owes you anything, put that on my account (Philemon 18). This was the message of Paul to Philemon when Onesimus, his slave, stole some money and got away. Paul says to Philemon: what he owes you, put it on my account, and if he has wronged you, I will pay you. Here is Jesus Christ who takes upon Him all the debt for our sins, all our wrongdoings, and He pays for us with His blood and death. The "bill" against us is canceled and His justice is credited or imputed to us.
3. Abraham believed God, and is was accounted to him for righteousness (Romans 4:3). We find this quotation of the Old Testament (Genesis 15:16) in Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6 and James 2:3; and all three times the Scripture is telling us that the justice of God was imputed to Abraham because of his faith. This was explained in Step 12.
Imputation, which is ignored many times by many so called Christians, is one of the most comforting facts of this restoration made by Jesus Christ.
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He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.... My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities (Isaiah 53:4-5, 11).
Commentary and explanation. We are explaining in this Chapter, how the forgiveness of sin of the believer is carried out. In the previous Step we saw that forgiveness is given by imputation of the justice of Christ to the believer. In this Step we are going to see, in particular, how the Scripture teaches that Christ has borne upon Himself the guilt and penalty deserved by our sins, to make possible that our guilt and punishment might be forgiven.
Guilt and penalty are practically inseparable, because whenever there is guilt, a punishment is also warranted. The biblical texts refer to both the guilt and the penalty.
The quotation for this Step is from Isaiah in chapter 53, and, although this is a text from the Old Testament, it is also the best one describing Christ, the Servant of Yahveh, carrying our sins upon Him.
Peter repeats in the New Testament the words of the prophet Isaiah almost literally in his first letter, when he says: Himself (Christ) bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness —by whose stripes you were healed (1 Peter 2:24).
These words of Peter authorize us to see in Isaiah's words a direct reference to Jesus Christ. Both coincide affirming that Jesus bore upon Himself the guilt as well as the penalty of our sins, that we might be healed.
Wounded for our transgressions, Isaiah says; this is Jesus suffering for us the penalty of sin. Bruised for our iniquities; the same affirmation. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him; He suffers the chastisement that we might receive peace, that is, reconciliation with God. By His stripes we are healed; this is the imputation: the justice of Christ is credited to us. Shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities; a synthesis of the whole process of forgiveness.
We find the same teachings in other places of the New Testament. Thus Hebrews 9:28 says that Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. Christ is the victim that dies for our sins. He substitutes the sinner, the one who should die, that we might receive His justice.
Galatians is very strong and descriptive when it says, that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree" (Galatians 3:13). All the weight of sin falls upon Christ nailed to the cross, as a victim, that we might receive forgiveness and justice.
What the Scripture is saying in 2 Corinthians 5:21, is that God made Christ sin, that we might be righteous. He made Him (Christ), who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. The expression "to be sin for us" shows Jesus Christ assuming the guilt of sin, and paying the whole penalty, that we might receive His justice.
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Of Him (God) you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30).
Commentary and explanation. This text confirms what we said before talking about imputation: that the justice of God is imputed or credited to the believer (Step 58, The forgiveness of sins is through imputation).
What is special in this text is that it says that Christ Jesus became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, which means that the justice by which we are righteous is the same righteousness of Christ; this is a transference of the justice and sanctity of Christ to us.
Paul recognized this transference of the justice of Christ to him, when he wrote: Indeed I also count all things loss... that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness... but that which is through faith in Christ (Philippians 3:8, 9).
When sin is erased by repentance and faith, then we do not have a justice arising from ourselves in any way; no, the sin is deleted and the justice of Christ is imputed to us, so that we are righteous by the very justice of Christ: He is our righteousness.
Paul talked about that righteousness of God present now in the world, when he eloquently said in Romans 3:21, 22: The righteousness of God is revealed... through faith in Jesus Christ!
When Paul was preaching in Antioch, he said: Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses (Acts 13:38,39). Paul says that the believer is justified in Him, that is, with His justice, the justice of Christ. We do not have a justice from ourselves; we have the justice of Christ.
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These times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30).
Commentary and explanation. The whole work of salvation is grace, not by works neither by personal merits. But the Scripture says also that some conditions are required to attain forgiveness. There must be a movement from man to God. This movement toward God receives several names, although all of them, in essence, mean the same; they are called: repentance, conversion, faith. The most mentioned in the New Testament is faith. Let us see in this Step:
a) the necessity of repentance to obtain pardon. To obtain the forgiveness of sins and receive the righteousness of Christ, the sinner must move toward God, must seek God. This movement is faith, which the Step names repentance.
The letter to Hebrews says: Without faith it is impossible to please Him (God) (11:6). There is then something which is fundamental to approach God; this is faith. According to Scriptures the one who is saved is not the man but the believer, the one who believes and has turned toward God.
What is faith? We explained it before, starting in Step 11. Let us repeat now only that Christian faith is an act of conversion and repentance; it is a change of life; it is to abandon evil and sin, and turn back to justice, to Jesus Christ. Faith is an unconditional surrender to Jesus Christ.
We all are called to repentance, we read in the quotation for this Step: God commands all men everywhere to repent; and adds: He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead (Acts 17:31). This means that the resurrection of Christ is the assurance or guarantee that Jesus will judge all mankind, under the principle that men have repented or not.
Repentance, this was the first call from the apostles to the Jews, once they received the Holy Spirit: Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, Peter said in Pentecost day (Acts 2:38); and he repeated the thought again in the temple, saying: Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out (Acts 3:19).
The apostles were very clear teaching the necessity of repentance, because that was the commission that the Lord trusted to them before His ascension: that in His name they might preach repentance. It was necessary for the Christ to suffer... and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name (Luke 24:46, 47).
Forgiveness is preceded by repentance. Sin breaks the friendship and communion with God, but sincere repentance and confession of sin will restore communion with Him: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
b) The first step of repentance is to recognize that we are sinners. Throughout the whole Bible we find examples of repentance, and all of them talk about the confession of sin by the sinner.
David. When Nathan the prophet confronted David for his sin, he exclaimed: I have sinned against the Lord (2 Samuel 12:13). And in his penance Psalm, he says: My sin is ever before me (Psalm 51:3).
The prodigal son. When he realized the mistake he had made, he was thinking what he should say to his father, on returning: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you (Luke 15:18).
The publican. We saw already in Step 52, "c", that the prayer of the tax collector was: God be merciful to me a sinner (Luke 18:13). Man's condition is to be a sinner, and God wants that we recognize it.
Paul, the Church persecutor. Paul's conversion and repentance is expressed in a dynamic form, when he answered the Lord, saying: Lord, what do You want me to do? (Acts 9:6).
We have to look for the Lord, if we want to obtain pardon. Isaiah says: Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near (Isaiah 55:6).
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The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant... I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more (Hebrews 8:8,12).
Commentary and explanation. Jesus declares at the last supper that His blood is the blood of the new covenant (Matthew 26:28). One of the most important aspects of the new covenant, sealed by the blood of Christ, is that Jeremiah's prophesy is accomplished: This is the covenant that I will make... I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more (Jeremiah 31:33, 34).
We are under a new covenant, called also New Testament; under this covenant God promised not to remember any more the sin of the sinner who repents.
God is not a vindictive God, neither a rancorous person, who never "forgets" our sins. If we repent with all our heart, we can be sure that God will not throw our sins in our face. The blood of the covenant —Christ's blood,— has gained this grace for us: once our sins are forgiven, God won't "remember" them any more.
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Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us (Luke 11:4).
Commentary and explanation. These words of the Lord might seem to suggest that God forgives us, because we also forgive others; this is not the teaching of the New Testament.
According to the law of Moses, you should forgive your neighbor for God to forgive you; it was like a condition to the forgiveness of God.
In the New Testament, forgiveness is bestowed on the sinner who repents, only by grace, by the merits of Jesus Christ. Forgiveness is not conditional as in the Old Testament. In the New Testament it is commanded however that, as we have received the forgiveness of God freely, we should also forgive our brothers and sisters.
That is the meaning of the words of the Lord, when He teaches us to pray, saying: Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors (Matthew 6:12).
In the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:23-35), Jesus teaches that as we have received forgiveness, we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us (Luke 11:4). And in Colossians 3:13, Paul says: As Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
And, how many times should we forgive? That was the question that Peter asked the Lord: Up to seven times? —I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven (Matthew 18:21, 22).
The forgiveness of the neighbor is not then a condition to receive forgiveness in the New Testament, but it is a consequence from the forgiveness that we have received.
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Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation (Mark 3:28, 29).
Commentary and explanation. The biblical quotation says: All sins will be forgiven the sons of men; there is no limit in number neither in qualifications; all sins are forgiven with only one exception: the sin against the Holy Spirit.
The question we should ask, then, is: which is the blasphemy or the sin against the Holy Spirit?
The sin against the Holy Spirit is incredulity or impenitence. Incredulity, that is, the lack of faith; impenitence, the lack of repentance.
Whoever does not believe because he rejects the Holy Spirit —by whom we receive faith,— can not be forgiven, because he refuses the access of God to his life; he closes the door to God. And whoever does not repent can not be forgiven either, not because God does not want it, but because he does not want to be forgiven. The incredulous as well as the impenitent put an invincible obstacle to God's forgiveness. It is their own fault.
In Step 61, we talked about the need of faith and repentance to approach God and obtain His pardon. Let us learn here that it is by rejecting the Holy Spirit that man falls in incredulity and impenitence.
We the believers could also grieve the Holy Spirit. Paul admonishes us: Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God (Ephesians 4:30); but these weaknesses of the believer do not fall into the category of the unforgivable sin.
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