Another consequence of the work of Christ is the perfect forgiveness of sins for those who believe in Him. Through our conduct, we have all become guilty before God, and we cannot free ourselves from this burden of guilt. Only God can meet the need for eternal forgiveness from the guilt of our sins, and He does it gladly. Everyone who recognizes himself as guilty and believes in the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross may know that God has forgiven him all his sins because of this work (Col. 1:14; 2:13; 1 John 2:12; cf. Luke 5:21).
God’s forgiveness is perfect, irrevocable and eternal. Even in the Old Testament these things were expressed – in rich figurative language. The clarity of these passages is impressive.
In Psalm 103:9, 12, David says of God:
“He will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger for ever. … As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
Something that would probably not have been known in David’s time is this: While the distance from the North to the South Pole of the Earth is fixed, there is no way to indicate a distance between the cardinal points East and West! It is, so to speak, infinite.
King Hezekiah sang in his hymn of praise in Isaiah 38:17:
“For you have cast all my sins behind your back”,
from where they would never come back into view again, and the prophet Micah could exclaim:
“You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea” (Mic. 7:19).
Again, another image is used in Isaiah:
“Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they will be as wool” (Isa. 1:18).
Jeremiah proclaimed to the people of Israel that the Lord would pardon their iniquities and would no longer remember their sins (Jer. 31:34; cf. ch. 50:20).
Now it could be objected that these passages are from the Old Testament and refer to the people of Israel. This is true, but should God have two different measures for His forgiveness? In other words, is the forgiveness of sins with Israel in the past or in the future more perfect than with those who believe in the work of redemption of the Lord Jesus in the present day? There is not the slightest indication of this in the Bible. On the contrary, in Hebrews 9:12 it says that Christ entered into the heavenly sanctuary “once for all” when He had found an eternal redemption. In chapter 10:14–18 it is added that His sacrifice “perfected forever”, and that “where there is remission of these [i.e. of sins], there is no longer a sacrifice for sin”. This means nothing else than that for sins that have been once forgiven, there is no need for a new sacrifice. Moreover, in verse 17, the words from Jeremiah 31:34 already quoted are applied to the present day: “their sins and their lawlessnesses I will never [or by no means] remember”. Everyone may take God at His infallible Word, and trust that if he has confessed his sins to Him sincerely and with true repentance, they are also completely and eternally forgiven.
What about unconfessed or ‘unknown’ sins?
There is certainly no person who at the time of his conversion confessed all the sins he had ever committed. This fact has brought some believers into inner distress, because it has made them doubt whether God has accepted their confession of sins. But wouldn’t God know and take into account the weakness of our memory? Therefore, conversion cannot depend on a complete and perfect confession of sins, but on the sincerity of the confession. A publican who once prayed to God in the temple said only one sentence:
“O God, have compassion on me, the sinner” (Luke 18:13).
But he could leave justified, because the Lord Jesus, looking into his heart, had seen that these words had been spoken in sincerity. And that is what matters with God. If someone makes a confession of sin before God, in which he consciously avoids certain sins, he is not sincere (cf. Acts 8:21). There is certainly no forgiveness for such a sham confession. But if the awareness of being a lost sinner leads to a genuine confession, then no sin need weigh on his conscience any more. God forgives according to His own principle laid down in 1 John 1:9:
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and clean us from all unrighteousness” (cf. Col. 2:13).
Sins before and after repentance
The perfection of forgiveness on God’s part is evident both in its eternal validity and in its thoroughness. Not only are the sins before our conversion forgiven, but also those we commit later. When the Lord died for us, not only the time of our conversion but our whole life with all our sins still lay in the distant future. If He “bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Pet. 2:24), then this can only mean all our sins, not only those we committed before our conversion. Everyone who believes in Him can trust that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin (1 John 1:7).
Therefore, “purging of his former sins” (2 Pet. 1:9) is not limited to the sins committed before conversion. Peter is speaking here of believers who have turned back to their old lives, thereby showing that they have forgotten what price Christ had to pay for the cleansing of their sins, and how detestable in God’s eyes are all the sins that they committed in the past. Compare here “the former conversation (way of life)” in Ephesians 4:22. A sincere and faithful disciple of Christ is ashamed of the things he did as an unbeliever and will shy away from falling back into them (Rom. 6:21).
These Bible passages, however, show us that it is by no means unimportant how we live after our conversion. Through the new birth, we have received a ‘new nature’ that has only one desire: to do God’s will. In contrast, the flesh, the ‘old nature’, is and remains incorrigibly evil. Unfortunately, even as believers we still sin too often because we are not vigilant enough to judge the impulses of the flesh.
However, when we have fallen into sin in thought, word or deed, our eternal salvation is not called into question, but the joy, blessing and strength of our communion with our Lord and our Father are clouded and weakened (cf. Ps. 32:3–4). However, if we confess these sins, God is faithful to Christ and righteous towards us, His children, when He forgives us our sins (1 John 1:9). Through this forgiveness, the lost joy and enjoyment of our fellowship with the Father is restored. We must therefore distinguish this repeated forgiveness of the Father towards His children from the unique eternal forgiveness received from God by those who have recognized themselves as lost sinners and have come to the Lord Jesus in repentance of their sins.
However, if we as Christians do not confess our sins, we fall into the sad state of spiritual blindness, short-sightedness and forgetfulness described by Peter (2 Pet. 1:9). If someone carelessly said: ‘I have been converted and can no longer be lost, therefore it is no harm if I sin’ – then there would indeed be reason to doubt the authenticity of such a ‘conversion’.
Saved as through the fire
On the other hand, it is an undeniable fact that even true believers can fall into terrible sins. We see such a case in 1 Corinthians 5. The assembly in Corinth had to exclude from its midst a person whom Paul no longer calls “brother”, but says is “called brother”. Yet he was clearly a true Christian! Otherwise Paul could not have written: “for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” The person in question came to repent, and the assembly was later required to therefore show love and forgive him (2 Cor. 2:6–10).
But what if a Christian lives and dies in sin without putting things right? Such a case is obviously found in 1 Corinthians 11:29–32. In the Corinthian assembly, various people had behaved very unworthily at the Lord’s supper, because they had not distinguished that the bread and cup were symbols of the death of their Lord. Several of them, through eating and drinking unworthily, had brought themselves under God’s judgment and had become ill. Others had even died because they had so disgraced the Lord that He no longer wanted to leave them on the earth. But their death has nothing to do with eternal damnation, as is clear from the second part of verse 32: “…that we may not be condemned with the world.” The people of this world who have rejected the Lord Jesus face eternal judgment – they will be condemned. But those who are saved by faith in the Saviour will not be condemned. However, the believer must know that the Lord chastises His own when they disobey His will (see 1 Pet. 1:15ff.). This chastisement can lead to death. It is similar with the “sin to death” in 1 John 5:16–17 (see the chapter, “Sin to death”) and also with Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. In all these cases it is a serious punishment by God for sins that dishonour Him, but without calling into question eternal salvation. In such a case, God says, as it were: ‘I do not want you to continue to dishonour me, therefore I am taking you away from the earth to myself!’
Further, the words in 1 Corinthians 3:15: “saved … but so as through the fire”, should not sow any doubts, as if there are also believers who will not pass this “trial by fire”. After all, it is said that even someone whose work burns up will be ultimately saved! This section of the letter is about service and about building the house of God, that is, the assembly. As human beings, we are often unable to judge the true character of a servant of Christ. But before the judgment seat of Christ, even the hidden things will be brought to light and tested and judged in the fire of God’s holiness.
“If the work of any one which he has built upon the foundation will abide, he will receive a reward. If the work of any one will be consumed, he will suffer loss, but he will be saved, but so as through the fire” (1 Cor. 3:15).
Paul looked forward to this day because he knew that the Lord, the righteous judge, would then bestow the crown of righteousness upon him (2 Tim. 4:8). But it may also be that someone’s work will not endure in the eyes of the Lord. He will then suffer loss in that he will not receive any reward from his Lord. This is not a question of whether he is saved or not, but of his reward as a servant of Christ. This is clearly stated in the words, “but he will be saved”.
Forgiveness
Another consequence of the work of Christ is the perfect forgiveness of sins for those who believe in Him. Through our conduct, we have all become guilty before God, and we cannot free ourselves from this burden of guilt. Only God can meet the need for eternal forgiveness from the guilt of our sins, and He does it gladly. Everyone who recognizes himself as guilty and believes in the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross may know that God has forgiven him all his sins because of this work (Col. 1:14; 2:13; 1 John 2:12; cf. Luke 5:21).
God’s forgiveness is perfect, irrevocable and eternal. Even in the Old Testament these things were expressed – in rich figurative language. The clarity of these passages is impressive.
“He will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger for ever. … As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
Something that would probably not have been known in David’s time is this: While the distance from the North to the South Pole of the Earth is fixed, there is no way to indicate a distance between the cardinal points East and West! It is, so to speak, infinite.
“For you have cast all my sins behind your back”,
from where they would never come back into view again, and the prophet Micah could exclaim:
“You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea” (Mic. 7:19).
“Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they will be as wool” (Isa. 1:18).
Now it could be objected that these passages are from the Old Testament and refer to the people of Israel. This is true, but should God have two different measures for His forgiveness? In other words, is the forgiveness of sins with Israel in the past or in the future more perfect than with those who believe in the work of redemption of the Lord Jesus in the present day? There is not the slightest indication of this in the Bible. On the contrary, in Hebrews 9:12 it says that Christ entered into the heavenly sanctuary “once for all” when He had found an eternal redemption. In chapter 10:14–18 it is added that His sacrifice “perfected forever”, and that “where there is remission of these [i.e. of sins], there is no longer a sacrifice for sin”. This means nothing else than that for sins that have been once forgiven, there is no need for a new sacrifice. Moreover, in verse 17, the words from Jeremiah 31:34 already quoted are applied to the present day: “their sins and their lawlessnesses I will never [or by no means] remember”. Everyone may take God at His infallible Word, and trust that if he has confessed his sins to Him sincerely and with true repentance, they are also completely and eternally forgiven.
What about unconfessed or ‘unknown’ sins?
There is certainly no person who at the time of his conversion confessed all the sins he had ever committed. This fact has brought some believers into inner distress, because it has made them doubt whether God has accepted their confession of sins. But wouldn’t God know and take into account the weakness of our memory? Therefore, conversion cannot depend on a complete and perfect confession of sins, but on the sincerity of the confession. A publican who once prayed to God in the temple said only one sentence:
“O God, have compassion on me, the sinner” (Luke 18:13).
But he could leave justified, because the Lord Jesus, looking into his heart, had seen that these words had been spoken in sincerity. And that is what matters with God. If someone makes a confession of sin before God, in which he consciously avoids certain sins, he is not sincere (cf. Acts 8:21). There is certainly no forgiveness for such a sham confession. But if the awareness of being a lost sinner leads to a genuine confession, then no sin need weigh on his conscience any more. God forgives according to His own principle laid down in 1 John 1:9:
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and clean us from all unrighteousness” (cf. Col. 2:13).
Sins before and after repentance
The perfection of forgiveness on God’s part is evident both in its eternal validity and in its thoroughness. Not only are the sins before our conversion forgiven, but also those we commit later. When the Lord died for us, not only the time of our conversion but our whole life with all our sins still lay in the distant future. If He “bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Pet. 2:24), then this can only mean all our sins, not only those we committed before our conversion. Everyone who believes in Him can trust that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin (1 John 1:7).
Therefore, “purging of his former sins” (2 Pet. 1:9) is not limited to the sins committed before conversion. Peter is speaking here of believers who have turned back to their old lives, thereby showing that they have forgotten what price Christ had to pay for the cleansing of their sins, and how detestable in God’s eyes are all the sins that they committed in the past. Compare here “the former conversation (way of life)” in Ephesians 4:22. A sincere and faithful disciple of Christ is ashamed of the things he did as an unbeliever and will shy away from falling back into them (Rom. 6:21).
These Bible passages, however, show us that it is by no means unimportant how we live after our conversion. Through the new birth, we have received a ‘new nature’ that has only one desire: to do God’s will. In contrast, the flesh, the ‘old nature’, is and remains incorrigibly evil. Unfortunately, even as believers we still sin too often because we are not vigilant enough to judge the impulses of the flesh.
However, when we have fallen into sin in thought, word or deed, our eternal salvation is not called into question, but the joy, blessing and strength of our communion with our Lord and our Father are clouded and weakened (cf. Ps. 32:3–4). However, if we confess these sins, God is faithful to Christ and righteous towards us, His children, when He forgives us our sins (1 John 1:9). Through this forgiveness, the lost joy and enjoyment of our fellowship with the Father is restored. We must therefore distinguish this repeated forgiveness of the Father towards His children from the unique eternal forgiveness received from God by those who have recognized themselves as lost sinners and have come to the Lord Jesus in repentance of their sins.
However, if we as Christians do not confess our sins, we fall into the sad state of spiritual blindness, short-sightedness and forgetfulness described by Peter (2 Pet. 1:9). If someone carelessly said: ‘I have been converted and can no longer be lost, therefore it is no harm if I sin’ – then there would indeed be reason to doubt the authenticity of such a ‘conversion’.
Saved as through the fire
On the other hand, it is an undeniable fact that even true believers can fall into terrible sins. We see such a case in 1 Corinthians 5. The assembly in Corinth had to exclude from its midst a person whom Paul no longer calls “brother”, but says is “called brother”. Yet he was clearly a true Christian! Otherwise Paul could not have written: “for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” The person in question came to repent, and the assembly was later required to therefore show love and forgive him (2 Cor. 2:6–10).
But what if a Christian lives and dies in sin without putting things right? Such a case is obviously found in 1 Corinthians 11:29–32. In the Corinthian assembly, various people had behaved very unworthily at the Lord’s supper, because they had not distinguished that the bread and cup were symbols of the death of their Lord. Several of them, through eating and drinking unworthily, had brought themselves under God’s judgment and had become ill. Others had even died because they had so disgraced the Lord that He no longer wanted to leave them on the earth. But their death has nothing to do with eternal damnation, as is clear from the second part of verse 32: “…that we may not be condemned with the world.” The people of this world who have rejected the Lord Jesus face eternal judgment – they will be condemned. But those who are saved by faith in the Saviour will not be condemned. However, the believer must know that the Lord chastises His own when they disobey His will (see 1 Pet. 1:15ff.). This chastisement can lead to death. It is similar with the “sin to death” in 1 John 5:16–17 (see the chapter, “Sin to death”) and also with Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. In all these cases it is a serious punishment by God for sins that dishonour Him, but without calling into question eternal salvation. In such a case, God says, as it were: ‘I do not want you to continue to dishonour me, therefore I am taking you away from the earth to myself!’
Further, the words in 1 Corinthians 3:15: “saved … but so as through the fire”, should not sow any doubts, as if there are also believers who will not pass this “trial by fire”. After all, it is said that even someone whose work burns up will be ultimately saved! This section of the letter is about service and about building the house of God, that is, the assembly. As human beings, we are often unable to judge the true character of a servant of Christ. But before the judgment seat of Christ, even the hidden things will be brought to light and tested and judged in the fire of God’s holiness.
“If the work of any one which he has built upon the foundation will abide, he will receive a reward. If the work of any one will be consumed, he will suffer loss, but he will be saved, but so as through the fire” (1 Cor. 3:15).
Paul looked forward to this day because he knew that the Lord, the righteous judge, would then bestow the crown of righteousness upon him (2 Tim. 4:8). But it may also be that someone’s work will not endure in the eyes of the Lord. He will then suffer loss in that he will not receive any reward from his Lord. This is not a question of whether he is saved or not, but of his reward as a servant of Christ. This is clearly stated in the words, “but he will be saved”.
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