If you were to ask evangelicals, "Why should God forgive your sins?," you would probably receive several answers. Most would probably say, "God forgives me because he loves me." But others might reply, "God forgives me because I repented of all known sins." And still others might answer, "God forgives me because I prayed the sinner's prayer." These are nice pieties, but they do not answer our question accurately.
Perhaps if you were to push the issue, these Christians might come up with better answers but, as it is, they probably don't understand the "why" and "how" of the forgiveness of sins.
Should this concern us? Within the whole scope of Christianity, how important is it for us to understand the forgiveness of sins?
Martin Luther understood this issue better than most. The truth of the gospel was rediscovered and the Reformation occurred because Luther went through deep pangs in seeking peace of conscience and the assurance of God's love and forgiveness. He was seeking a loving God; and he finally found one in the forgiveness of sins through Christ Jesus. Regarding the importance of this issue, Luther wrote:
If the great, sublime article called the forgiveness of sins is correctly understood, it makes one a genuine Christian and gives one eternal life. This is the very reason why it must be taught … with unflagging diligence and without ceasing, so that people may learn to understand it plainly, clearly, and discriminately. For to do so is the one, supreme, and most difficult task of Christians. As long as we live here below, we shall have enough to do to learn this article. No one need look for anything new, anything higher and better.
If Luther is correct, then we must conclude that someone's failure to comprehend the "how" and "why" of the forgiveness of sins raises questions as to whether or not he or she is really saved. That's serious!
Forgiveness and Sacrifice in the Old Testament
The primary focus of the Bible, Old and New Testaments alike, is upon the forgiveness of sins. In the Book of Leviticus there is an elaborate system of sacrifice whereby the sins of the people of Israel, sins of every variety except brazenly defiant ones (see Num. 15:30-31) would be forgiven. If we could ask the Old Testament Israelites, "Why should God forgive your sins?," I am sure we would get a very clear and precise answer. If we could put ourselves in their place and experience what they experienced, then we would have no doubts about why God forgives our sins. To see this, put yourself in this story:
It is a Sabbath morning in the wilderness. One Israelite family-father, mother, brother, and sister-is preparing to go to the Tabernacle. As they are preparing to leave, the father says to his little boy, "Go out into the sheepfold and get a lamb." The little boy knows very well what that means. When you go to the Tabernacle on a Sabbath morning with a lamb, you will be returning home without it, because that lamb is going to die. So the little boy enters the sheepfold to pick out a lamb, perhaps with his sister in tow. Perhaps these lambs are their pets. For the little boy it may be a very sad and disturbing moment. With great regret he picks up a little lamb and takes it to his father. On the way to the Tabernacle, the little boy asks his father, "Dad, why does this little innocent lamb have to die?" "Well," his father explains, "didn't you disobey your mother this week when she told you to clean up your part of the tent? Remember how many times you and your sister got into squabbles? Mom and I also didn't love each other this week the way the Lord wants us to and do you remember when I hit my finger with the hammer? I took the Lord's name in vain. These are sins against the Lord God, but they are only a few. If we would remember very carefully how we lived this last week and everything that we did and said, we would know that we have sinned greatly against God." "I know that," the little boy replies. "I know that I do some bad things, but why must this little lamb die?" "Would you rather have the Lord God punish you and our entire family because of our sins? The Lord God is holy and sin offends him. Because the Lord loves us he has provided for our forgiveness by allowing us to put our sins upon this little lamb so that the lamb can die in our place. If you don't want the lamb to die, then don't do anything wrong. Stop sinning!" "Dad!" the son exclaims, "I always do things wrong! I can't help it!" "So, my son," the father replies compassionately, "that is why this little lamb must die." When the family arrives at the Tabernacle, they are met by a priest who takes the lamb from the father. The father lays his hands upon the lamb's head, thus transferring the sins and guilt of his family to the lamb. Then the priest takes out a knife and slits the lamb's throat, gathering its blood in a basin. The blood is then sprinkled on the altar and the lamb becomes a burnt offering. On the way back home, the little boy asks his father, "Dad, can I be sure that the Lord God has forgiven my sins?" "Did you see the lamb die?" the father asks. "If the lamb died, then your sins are forgiven."
For the children of Israel, this sacrificial system was the heart and core of their relationship with Yahweh. Without sacrifice, they could not stand before him. God was holy and righteous, and so every sin demanded a payment. The lid on the Ark of the Covenant was called "the atonement cover," the place where God met human beings and forgave sins because the blood of the sacrificial animals was shed. Every sin demanded a specific sacrifice.
Can you imagine the effect of this system on the Israelite psyche? God had declared, "If you sin, then an animal must die!" Greater sins demanded greater sacrifices. Imagine how the killing of these animals must have influenced the children who knew that their misdeeds required the bloody sacrifice of a little lamb! The people of Israel must have had a very real sensitivity to sin and a definite understanding of what forgiveness required. If we asked them, "Why should God forgive your sins?," the answer would be, "Because the lamb died!"
Can you imagine the uproar there would be in our supersensitive, "kinder," and "gentler" culture if animal sacrifices were still required for the forgiveness of sins? The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals would be picketing the temple! When we put ourselves in the place of these Old Testament people, we must conclude that the Old Testament's sacrificial system was horrendous. Imagine the sounds and smells in the temple when all the lambs were being slaughtered for the Passover celebration! Yet, from living in that system, we would develop an understanding of the seriousness of sin. Sin requires sacrifice! If being forgiven by God required no more than saying the Lord's Prayer three times or shouting "Hallelujah!" or getting "slain in the spirit," then we could conclude that God did not take sin very seriously. But sin is a serious matter. The writer to the Hebrews declares, "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins" (Heb. 9:22).
The Lamb of God in the New Testament
The New Testament understands the forgiveness of sins no differently than the Old Testament. Forgiveness is produced by blood sacrifice. The forgiveness of sins is not given freely. It must be earned. There is a price that must be paid for sin. Martin Luther wrote: "If God's wrath is to be taken from me and I am to attain grace and forgiveness, this blessing must be earned from Him by someone. For God cannot be kind and gracious to sin, and cannot remove punishment and wrath, unless sin has been paid for and satisfaction has been rendered."
Of course, the Old Testament sacrificial system merely foreshadowed the great sacrifice for sin offered once and for all to the Father through the death of his beloved Son, Jesus Christ. This was the Messiah's work. The angel told Joseph that he would be called Jesus-that is, the Greek form of the Hebrew name "Joshua," which means "the Lord saves"-"for he will save his people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21). Isaiah prophesied the Messiah's coming, describing his ministry in terms of the sacrificial system:
Surely 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 crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and by his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before her shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. (Isa. 53:3-7)
Then the writer to the Hebrews declares: "For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God" (Heb. 9:13-14).
When Jesus began his earthly ministry, he came to John the Baptist to be baptized. When John saw Jesus coming, he declared, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). So how do we, as New Testament Christians, know that our sins are forgiven? The answer is quite simple: the Lamb of God took away our sins and the sins of the whole world by offering himself as a sacrifice for sin by dying on the cross.
In explaining the second article of the Apostles' Creed, Martin Luther wrote:
I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father in eternity, and also a true human being, born of the virgin Mary, is my Lord. He has redeemed me, a lost and condemned human being. He has purchased and freed me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver but with his holy, precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death. He has done all this in order that I may belong to him, live under him in his kingdom, and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as he is risen from the dead and lives and rules eternally. This is most certainly true.
Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he told his disciples, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem" (Luke 24:46-47). The essence of Christianity is the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the essence of the gospel is the forgiveness of sins. Being a Christian means that your sins are forgiven by God on account of Christ. Although it is that simple, the truth of the forgiveness of sins is profound.
Since it is God's very purpose to bring the Good News of the forgiveness of sins to all people, it is not strange that Satan, the gospel's enemy, uses every means at his disposal to cause Christians to focus on other issues or to doubt the truth that God graciously forgives their sins for Jesus' sake. It is not strange that in a "kinder and gentler" culture the seeker-sensitive church avoids concentrating upon the bloody cross where the forgiveness of sins was earned. It is not strange that human beings are naturally more eager to learn principles for improving their lives than to submit to the truth that the death of God's Son was required as a payment to forgive their sins. Such a truth does not produce self-esteem. It is not strange that some churches infected with "church growth" mania won't display a cross in their buildings. It is consequently also not strange that many Christians today are unable to answer correctly the question, "Why should God forgive your sins?" This is the fault of preachers who get into their pulpits each Sunday to preach their little principles-for-living sermons or to commend conservative politics or to tell people what they should do to be really good Christians. They do not declare with John the Baptist, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"
Proclaiming the Cross in Our Time
Some years ago I did a radio interview with a noted evangelical author who had written a book about the cross of Christ. It was Good Friday. My final question to him was, "If there are people listening to us today who are not certain of their forgiveness, what would you say to them?"
"Well," he replied somewhat hesitantly, "I would want to know if they had truly repented of all their known sins."
I was taken aback and highly disturbed by this foolish response. Since there were only a few minutes left in the program, I hastily thanked the man for being my guest and disconnected the phone line. I had a mess to clean up. In the remaining minutes I told my listeners, "Listen very carefully. The forgiveness of sins is not about you and what you have or haven't done. If you are not sure that your sins are forgiven, look to the cross of Jesus Christ. Did the Lamb of God die or didn't he? If the Lamb died, your sins are forgiven."
The forgiveness of sins through the shed blood of God's Lamb is a finished reality. Our faith does not accomplish our forgiveness nor does faith add anything to it. Rather, our faith grasps and clings to the truth that God has forgiven us for Jesus' sake. Once I said to an evangelical Christian that my sins were forgiven because Jesus died. He quickly responded by saying, "Yes, but you must believe it." "What did I just say?" I replied. "My sins are forgiven because Jesus died on the cross. Is that or is that not a statement of faith? This is not about me. It is about Jesus!"
Our sins are forgiven propter Christum-that is, on account of or because of Christ. Faith is the instrument that grasps the finished work of the cross. If someone preaches the convicting law of God so that hearers clearly apprehend that they have sinned against God and are thus brought to contrition, the gospel can be preached without any mention of faith (see, for example, Peter's Pentecost sermon as it is recorded in Acts 2:14-41). The heart that is burdened by the reality of sin is prepared to hear the gospel, the Good News that sins are forgiven. As Luther put it, "Hunger is the best cook."
Many years ago I spoke with a young woman who, having had an abortion as a teenager, was certain that she was going to hell because God would not and could not forgive her. As far as she was concerned, what she had done was so bad that it was beyond forgiveness. She did not understand the basis for the forgiveness of sins or why it is that God did forgive her. My response to her was very simple and adamant, "Are you saying that your sin is greater than the redeeming power of the blood of Christ, the very Son of God? If that is what you are saying, you either have a very high estimate of yourself and your ability to sin or a very low estimate of the power of God. To deny that your sins are forgiven is to say that God is a liar."
She went home that day clinging to the forgiveness of sins.
The forgiveness of sins is not about you. You are not forgiven because you prayed the sinner's prayer or because you went forward to get saved. You are not forgiven because you have faith or because you have repented of all your known sins. You are not forgiven because you have pleaded with God to forgive you or have been sincere in your contrition and sorrow over sin. Your sins are forgiven for just one reason-the Lamb has died!
In one of the parishes I served there was a young girl who attended an evangelical summer camp. Before heading for camp, she wanted to speak with me. She was concerned because in the evening the campers would gather around the campfire and sing songs. One of the songs was titled, "Name the Day When You Were Saved."
"Pastor," she said, "After they sing that song they point their finger at someone and that person has to name the day when they were saved. If they point at me, I wouldn't know what to say. On what day was I saved?"
"Well," I responded, "If they point at you and want to know on which day you were saved, tell them Friday. If they want to know which Friday, tell them Good Friday, the day the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, shed his precious blood on the cross for your forgiveness and salvation!"
