Even as redeemed ones, we often cannot forget our past sins. Whether we committed them before our conversion or afterwards, they can always come up in our memory. And they can trouble us if we do not have a firm faith in our Savior Jesus Christ. This can become a heavy burden.
Complete Forgiveness
But does it have to be like this? Is it even allowed? The answer from the Word of God is a clear no. Even in the Old Testament, believers could say: “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” (Ps. 103:12). King Hezekiah wrote in his record: “For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.” (Isa. 38:17). An equally well-known sentence from Jeremiah 31:34 is even repeated twice in the New Testament: “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” (Heb. 8:12; 10:17; cf. Isa. 43:25). This saying of God does indeed refer to the future re-acceptance of the believing part of the people of Israel. But the principle expressed here is the perfection of God’s forgiveness of guilt. He will and will never again recall the sins of His own. That is true divine forgiveness!
In principle, therefore, these statements apply to all believers, both in the Old and New Testaments. Even though the complete forgiveness of sins was only revealed after the Lord Jesus’ completed work on the cross, God already granted forgiveness to the believers of the Old Testament era, and did so with a view to the work of atonement that was still to come. This is evident from the words: “Whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Rom. 3:25-26).
Here we are told:
- That God gave the Lord Jesus in His work on the cross as a means of atonement for our sins,
- That He allowed the sins of believers in the Old Testament period to pass away in His forbearance (or: patience, see Rom. 2:4) and in view of the atonement on the cross that was yet to come, instead of judging them,
- That the work of atonement has provided the proof of His righteousness,
- And that in the present, i.e. after the work of atonement, God’s righteousness is proven in that He justifies everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus.
When we have this in mind, we can understand the perfection of God’s forgiveness and rejoice in it. The Lord Jesus “Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree,” “the chastisement for our peace was upon Him.” (1 Pet. 2:24; Isa. 53:5). He bore all our sins on the cross and at the same time God’s just punishment for them. For this He is eternally praised and thanked!
Every person who follows the call of the Gospel: “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out,” receives forgiveness (Acts 3:19). This applies to all those who are sorry for their sins and confess them to the Lord. All sins are then “blotted out,” that is, completely removed from God’s sight. And if God no longer sees them and no longer remembers them, how can we do the opposite?
Sins Before and After Conversion
God has forgiven us not only the sins we committed before our conversion, but also all sins, including those committed after our conversion and those we may unfortunately still commit in the future. After all, the Lord Jesus did not make His sacrifice at our conversion, but long before we even came into the world. God already saw our entire life before Him at that time. Christ took the punishment of God on the cross for all our sins, whether committed before or after our conversion.
But what about the sins we have committed after our conversion? They are also all forgiven for eternity. We are and remain children of God. If children sin against their father or mother, they still remain their children. This relationship is not ended by the children’s bad behavior. But in practice, it is strained and disturbed. However, if the children confess their evil behavior, the parents will forgive them and the relationship will be as before.
It is the same with regard to God. The principle of confession of sins therefore applies not only to our conversion, but also to our lives as Christians. We can see this from 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This statement applies both at our conversion for the eternal forgiveness of all our sins and in every case when we sin in practice as children of God. The difference, however, is that the former forgiveness is for eternity, whereas the latter is for the restoration of practical fellowship as children with the Father.
If God no longer recalls our sins that we have sincerely confessed to Him, why should we do so? Is this not a lack of trust in the grace and justice of God?
Two Examples
One could object: Even the apostle Paul never forgot his sin of persecuting the assembly of God. That is true. Not only in 1 Corinthians 15:9 does he say of himself: “For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God,” but he also mentions this fact in other places in his writings (cf. Gal. 1:13; Phil. 3:6; 1 Tim. 1:13).
But he was in no way disturbed by this or even shaken in his faith. No, on the contrary – he was able to counter this reminder with a “but.” In 1 Corinthians 15:10 he writes: “But by the grace of God I am what I am.” He stands firm in his faith in the work of Christ on the cross. In 1 Timothy 1:13 he says: “Although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.” Finally, in Philippians 3:7-8, following his self-accusation of having been “a persecutor of the church,” he says: “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.”
So Paul had not forgotten how grievously he had sinned against the Savior and His own. But he did not think about it with fear or a guilty conscience. His conscience had been cleansed by faith in the Lord Jesus – even from this sin. By remembering this, he certainly also wants to express that if he, the “chief of sinners,” received forgiveness, no one else had the right to say that grace was not sufficient for him. Paul never speaks of a single one of his sins.
Peter did not either. He had denied the Lord Jesus, whom he loved so much, in one of his most difficult hours and said: “I do not know the man!” (Mt. 26:69-75; cf. Lk. 22:56-62). Peter will not have forgotten this terrible denial of his Lord either. But he never mentions it again.
The two apostles and models of faith knew about the perfection of forgiveness. Their example should encourage all children of God who doubt or suffer from past but unforgotten sins to trust in God and His word. We cannot erase the memory of our sins, but we need not be frightened or plagued by doubts. We can then remember the word of God, which tells us that “He has forgiven us all our trespasses.” (Col. 2:13)
“For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and their sins and their lawlessness I will remember no more.” (Heb. 8:12)
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