Your sins are forgiven
Monday, October 6, 2008 at 8:15AM What did Jesus mean by this statement? He set no condition on it. He hadn't died at this point, so it couldn't be part of any atonement (in fact, he seems not to have been much of a theologian). He didn't ask people to believe much at all. He seemed to gently invite people to change rather than hold them to a set of doctrines. So which way round is it? Does repentance precede forgiveness, or is it the other way round?
If it's the former, then life will be a long hard grind, as we wait on everyone else to fulfil conditions before we relent. But if it's the latter, we can all look forward to having a really good day. Our sins are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven. And so are the other guy's.
Here's a little experiment. Try treating everyone you meet as though their sins were forgiven too. When you come to the point of knowing that even God forgives the sins that you won't, take a five-minute sanity break. Then realise that even this sin is forgiven, and get on with the rest of the day. We're all in this together.
Reader Comments (2)
Doesn't a person have to ask for forgiveness before they can be forgiven by anyone -- either the Christ or the victim? If not, why not?
Hi dragonslayer
Sorry for not responding sooner. Couldn't see comments till recently. I think I messed up my config.
My take on forgiveness is simply that Jesus forgave sinners before they repented - the forgiveness came first and the repentance second. It's not so complex really - I can forgive someone for wronging me without them having to ask.
Best