“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses.” (Colossians 2:13 (ESV)
Our forgiveness of other’s sins is based upon God’s greater forgiveness of our sin. Since we love Him because He first loved us (I John 4:19), then it stands to reason we forgive others because He has first forgiven us (Matt. 6:14-15; Eph. 4:31-32). Today’s text indicates God the Father, through God the Son Jesus Christ, has forgiven us all our trespasses or sins: past, present and future. This raises the question of how does the Bible define and describe sin? The Scriptures define and describe sin in three primary ways.
First, the Bible states sin is a crime. Sin is breaking God’s law and failure to do His will. The Scriptures use words like transgression, trespass, and iniquity. The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “What is sin?” The answer is, “Sin is any want of conformity to, or transgression of, the law of God.”
Second, The Bible calls sin a debt. A debt is an obligation which has not been paid. The sinner becomes increasingly indebted to God with each sin. In this case, sin is a moral debt and an offense to the living and holy God. The sinner is incapable of paying their indebtedness to God except by spending an eternity in hell.
Third, the Bible calls sin an enmity. Enmity refers to hostility, hatred, ill will and animosity. It is because of this enmity between God and sinners that a mediator in necessary. Man is the enemy, God is violated One, while Jesus Christ is the mediator (I Tim. 2:5-6).
“We do not disobey God because we love Him deeply. We disobey God because we have an inborn hostility toward Him. The Bible says that we are by nature enemies of God. We have a natural antipathy in our fallenness toward God’s reign over us,” explains Dr. R. C. Sproul.
“So with respect to enmity, God is the injured or offended party. It is not that God has manifested enmity toward us. We are the ones who have violated Him. God has never broken a promise. He has never violated a covenant. He has never sworn a vow to us that He failed to pay. He has never treated a human being unjustly. He has never violated me as a creature. He has never violated you. He has kept His side of the relationship perfectly. But we have violated Him. He is the injured party, not us.”
This aspect of sin may be the most offensive to people. Many individuals, even some believers in Christ, dismiss and reject the idea the sinner is God’s enemy. The opinion expressed is “It is okay to not be okay.” After all, “God forgives, that’s His job,” the saying goes. While God’s love is affirmed (John 3:16), His righteous wrath is ignored (Rom. 1:18-21). However, the Word of God does not ignore this truth.
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” Romans 5:6–11 (ESV)
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” (Ephesians 2:1–3 (ESV)
21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,” (Colossians 1:21–22 (ESV)
“Though many deny the reality of God’s wrath, it is taught so plainly in Scripture that others are loath to deny it. But they often fall off the other side of the horse. They substitute one distortion for the other. This error occurs when God the Father is seen as being so consumed with wrath toward us that it requires the benevolent and kind intervention of the Son to bring the Father around—God the Father is mad as a hornet at man, but God the Son identifies so closely with our fallenness and our need that in His love, patience, and compassion He sides with us and acts as our Mediator to calm down the angry Father,” continues Dr. Sproul.
“This view posits a tension or split within the Godhead itself, as if the Father had one agenda and the Son persuaded Him to change His mind. The Father is angry and intends to mete out punishment and send everyone to hell, until the Son intervenes to talk Him out of it. This view sees Jesus as saying: “Punish Me instead. Let Me stand in their place. Let Me not only mediate the discussion but absorb the anger. Pile it on Me, not on them. Let Me be the lightning rod, and You can take Your wrath out on Me.”
“The good news of the Gospel is God reconciles the sinner by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. God makes things right between Him and sinners. What was broken is now mended.
25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” (Romans 3:25 (ESV)
18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:18–21 (ESV)
“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:1–2 (ESV)
7 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (1 John 4:7–11 (ESV)
“Propitiation is crucial to the significance of Christ’s sacrifice. This word carries the idea of appeasement or satisfaction—in this case Christ’s violent death satisfied the offended holiness and wrath of God against those for whom Christ died (Isa. 53:11; Col. 2:11–14),” states Dr. John MacArthur.
“The Hebrew equivalent of this word was used to describe the mercy seat—the cover to the ark of the covenant—where the high priest sprinkled the blood of the slaughtered animal on the Day of Atonement to make atonement for the sins of the people. In pagan religions, it is the worshiper not the god who is responsible to appease the wrath of the offended deity. But in reality, man is incapable of satisfying God’s justice apart from Christ, except by spending eternity in hell. Cf. 1 John 2:2.
Do you consciously understand your sin to create enmity with God? Are you in agreement with this assessment? Do you sense the prompting of the Holy Spirit to trust Jesus Christ alone as the only One who could, and did, reconcile you to God?
May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.
Soli deo Gloria!
His Word Today 