How does God forgive our sins?
Dec 3, 2010
The Base for Grace - part twenty in a study of the book of Hebrews
By Mike Gaudet
How does God forgive our sins?
Jesus died for us so that He could offer the New Covenant to us. “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.” Luke 22:20 We can neither understand nor appreciate Jesus’ death until we understand the three New Covenant promises His death purchased for us. This article deals with the third of these three promises.
“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord . . . I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Hebrews 8:10,11
We commonly hear that God the Father punished His Son in order to forgive our sins.
It is true that Jesus Christ died for our sins.
It is not true that Jesus was punished for our sins.
Our understanding of God’s forgiveness comes from the Old Testament of the Bible.
“For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.” Leviticus 17:11
To “make atonement” means to wipe away or remove something. God provided the blood of animals to wipe away sin. Purification, not punishment is the purpose behind these animal sacrifices. God didn’t take the animal’s life. He gave it.
This helps us understand why God sent His Son into the world. Jesus was called the Lamb of God. He willingly poured out His blood in order to wipe away our sins. His blood is not to be understood as life taken in anger. His blood is to be understood as life given in love.
So then, if forgiveness doesn’t require punishment how does God forgive sins?
God does not forgive our sins by punishing the “Lamb of God.”
God forgives our sins by cancelling the “Law of God.”
Imagine that you’ve broken the law in a foreign country. Because their law is extremely harsh you are sentenced to die. How can you be pardoned?
One way is for someone to die in your place. In this case, you would be released because the law was satisfied.
There is another option. Your home country could declare war on the country you’re imprisoned in and conquer it. By overthrowing their government you’d be released because their law would be canceled.
Which of these scenarios best represents Jesus’ death for our sins? What happened on the cross?
“He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” Colossians 2:13-15
God “disarmed the power and authorities” and defeated them “by the cross.” He “forgave our sins” by taking “the written code” and “nailing it to the cross.” The second of the two scenarios is a better representation of how God forgives sins.
God forgives our sins by cancelling the law our sins are based upon. Transgressions are forgiven because “where there is no law, there is no transgression.” Romans 4:15 God remembers sins no more because “sin is not taken into account when there is no law.” Romans 5:13
God does not tell believers in Jesus Christ to trust Him to forgive sins.
God tells believers in Jesus Christ to trust that “sin is not taken into account” in the first place.
God wants His children to believe that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:1-2
God does not condemn His children . . .
. . . He has already condemned the law.