On Divine Forgiveness

                                                             On Divine Forgiveness

A Meditation on Forgiveness in the Bible

 The Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

From the beginning Christians have experienced divine forgiveness of sin in and through Jesus Christ. We’ve had different ways of thinking about and expressing that forgiveness, but however we’ve understood it we’ve experienced it. We experience forgiveness in Jesus Christ. We find references to that forgiveness and our need for it in the New Testament. We may have thought that the New Testament speaks about forgiveness more than it really does, but never mind. We read texts like Romans 3:23, where St. Paul says, “Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” For many New Testament authors we humans are quite thoroughly sinful, but we also read of divine forgiveness in the New Testament. For example, St. Paul also says:

 

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, not things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39.

 

Paul also says that in Christ Jesus God was reconciling the world to Godself not counting our trespasses against us. 2 Corinthians 5:19. Today different Christians react differently to the notion that we’re all sinners in need of forgiveness and salvation. Some very liberal Christians deny that we need forgiveness at all. Most of us know better than that. Either way, there’s no denying that throughout its history Christianity has known forgiveness of sin in Jesus, and we find evidence of that forgiveness in the New Testament.

OK, but what about the Old Testament? A lot of Christians think (wrongly) that the God of the Old Testament is anything but forgiving of human sin. Yes, there are passages in the Old Testament in which God comes across as judgmental and vengeful, although none of them really holds a candle to the New Testament book of Revelation in that regard. There are however other parts of the Old Testament that deal with the question of human sin and God’s forgiveness in far more subtle and sophisticated ways. I want to look at some of those passages in the Psalms to see if we can get a clearer picture of just to the Old Testament deals with human sin.

At least one psalmist seems to think that he has no need for forgiveness whatsoever. Psalm 26 begins:

 

Vindicate me, O Lord,

       for I have walked in my integrity,

       and I have trusted in the Lord

              without wavering. Psalm 26:1.

 

This psalmist also says, “I hate the company of evildoers and will not sit with the wicked.” Psalm 26:5. He distinguishes himself from sinners, the bloodthirsty, and those who have evil devices and bribes in their hands. Psalm 26:9-10. This guy seems to think awfully highly of himself. Seems like he’d agree with our ultra-liberal Christians who think they have nothing to confess and there have no need of God’s forgiveness.

Not so for at least a couple of other psalmists. The psalmist of Psalm 51 sure sees himself differently that the psalmist of Psalm 26 sees himself. His psalm begins,

 

Have mercy on me, O God,

       according to your steadfast love,

according to your abundant mercy

       blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my

              iniquity,

       and cleanse me from my sin.

 

For I know my transgressions,

       and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you alone, have I sinned,

       and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you are justified in your

              sentence

       and blameless when you pass

              judgment. Psalm 51:1-4.

 

This psalm contains what is perhaps the only line in Hebrew scripture that sounds like the very un-Jewish doctrine of original sin:

 

Indeed, I was born guilty,

       a sinner when my mother conceived

              me. Psalm 51:5.

 

I don’t believe in original sin, but I have often used lines from this psalm in prayers of confession in the Christian worship services I have led. This ancient Jewish author knew full well that, as Paul would say centuries later, he has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

So did the psalmist of Psalm 130. He wrote,

 

If you, O Lord, should mark

              iniquities

       Lord, who could stand? Psalm 130:3.

 

This line is less personal than is the prayer of Psalm 51, but it leads to one of the great Old Testament acknowledgments that God is indeed a God of forgiveness. This Psalm says:

 

But there is forgiveness with you,

       so that you may be revered….

 

O Israel, hope in the Lord!

       for with the Lord there is

              steadfast love,

and with him is great power to

              redeem.

It is he who will redeem Israel

       from all its iniquities. Psalm 130:4, 7-8.

 

Here we have an ancient Hebrew confession that we cannot stand on our own before God’s judgment of our sin but that we also know that God is a God of steadfast love and forgiveness. So much for the hoary notion that the God of the Old Testament is only a God of wrath, judgment, and damnation.

We see then that both Testaments of the Christian Bible contain confessions of our need for God’s forgiveness of our sin and assurance that that forgiveness is there for us from a God of steadfast love. When I see these lines from the Old Testament about God’s forgiveness of our sin I sometimes wonder why so many of us think we need Jesus to forgive our sin or why we think God forgives sin only through him, but never mind. Both Testaments tell us that we need God’s forgiveness and that God does indeed forgive our sin.

I don’t mean to suggest that we humans are nothing but sinners. All of us are some kind of mixture of the good and the bad, the sin and the virtue. Former president Jimmy Carter is one of the best people of whom I have ever known. Yet even he admitted that he has looked on women with lust in his heart. All of us straight men have. We are after all sexual beings. All of us men and women have surely been angry with another, and Jesus says that’s a sin. Matthew 5:21-22. Yet we have surely also done good in our lives. We’ve loved and cared for others. We’ve done what we can to make God’s world a better place. I said recently somewhere that even Hitler loved his dog. Only Jesus was perfect. None of us is perfectly evil. Yet all of us need God’s forgiveness. Both Testaments of the Christian Bible confess that truth. People of different faith traditions know of God’s forgiveness in different ways. In Jesus Christ we Christians know that that forgiveness is already there before we even ask for it. Thanks be to God!

 

On Divine Forgiveness

A Meditation on Forgiveness in the Bible

 

From the beginning Christians have experienced divine forgiveness of sin in and through Jesus Christ. We’ve had different ways of thinking about and expressing that forgiveness, but however we’ve understood it we’ve experienced it. We experience forgiveness in Jesus Christ. We find references to that forgiveness and our need for it in the New Testament. We may have thought that the New Testament speaks about forgiveness more than it really does, but never mind. We read texts like Romans 3:23, where St. Paul says, “Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” For many New Testament authors we humans are quite thoroughly sinful, but we also read of divine forgiveness in the New Testament. For example, St. Paul also says:

 

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, not things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39.

 

Paul also says that in Christ Jesus God was reconciling the world to Godself not counting our trespasses against us. 2 Corinthians 5:19. Today different Christians react differently to the notion that we’re all sinners in need of forgiveness and salvation. Some very liberal Christians deny that we need forgiveness at all. Most of us know better than that. Either way, there’s no denying that throughout its history Christianity has known forgiveness of sin in Jesus, and we find evidence of that forgiveness in the New Testament.

OK, but what about the Old Testament? A lot of Christians think (wrongly) that the God of the Old Testament is anything but forgiving of human sin. Yes, there are passages in the Old Testament in which God comes across as judgmental and vengeful, although none of them really holds a candle to the New Testament book of Revelation in that regard. There are however other parts of the Old Testament that deal with the question of human sin and God’s forgiveness in far more subtle and sophisticated ways. I want to look at some of those passages in the Psalms to see if we can get a clearer picture of just to the Old Testament deals with human sin.

At least one psalmist seems to think that he has no need for forgiveness whatsoever. Psalm 26 begins:

 

Vindicate me, O Lord,

       for I have walked in my integrity,

       and I have trusted in the Lord

              without wavering. Psalm 26:1.

 

This psalmist also says, “I hate the company of evildoers and will not sit with the wicked.” Psalm 26:5. He distinguishes himself from sinners, the bloodthirsty, and those who have evil devices and bribes in their hands. Psalm 26:9-10. This guy seems to think awfully highly of himself. Seems like he’d agree with our ultra-liberal Christians who think they have nothing to confess and there have no need of God’s forgiveness.

Not so for at least a couple of other psalmists. The psalmist of Psalm 51 sure sees himself differently that the psalmist of Psalm 26 sees himself. His psalm begins,

 

Have mercy on me, O God,

       according to your steadfast love,

according to your abundant mercy

       blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my

              iniquity,

       and cleanse me from my sin.

 

For I know my transgressions,

       and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you alone, have I sinned,

       and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you are justified in your

              sentence

       and blameless when you pass

              judgment. Psalm 51:1-4.

 

This psalm contains what is perhaps the only line in Hebrew scripture that sounds like the very un-Jewish doctrine of original sin:

 

Indeed, I was born guilty,

       a sinner when my mother conceived

              me. Psalm 51:5.

 

I don’t believe in original sin, but I have often used lines from this psalm in prayers of confession in the Christian worship services I have led. This ancient Jewish author knew full well that, as Paul would say centuries later, he has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

So did the psalmist of Psalm 130. He wrote,

 

If you, O Lord, should mark

              iniquities

       Lord, who could stand? Psalm 130:3.

 

This line is less personal than is the prayer of Psalm 51, but it leads to one of the great Old Testament acknowledgments that God is indeed a God of forgiveness. This Psalm says:

 

But there is forgiveness with you,

       so that you may be revered….

 

O Israel, hope in the Lord!

       for with the Lord there is

              steadfast love,

and with him is great power to

              redeem.

It is he who will redeem Israel

       from all its iniquities. Psalm 130:4, 7-8.

 

Here we have an ancient Hebrew confession that we cannot stand on our own before God’s judgment of our sin but that we also know that God is a God of steadfast love and forgiveness. So much for the hoary notion that the God of the Old Testament is only a God of wrath, judgment, and damnation.

We see then that both Testaments of the Christian Bible contain confessions of our need for God’s forgiveness of our sin and assurance that that forgiveness is there for us from a God of steadfast love. When I see these lines from the Old Testament about God’s forgiveness of our sin I sometimes wonder why so many of us think we need Jesus to forgive our sin or why we think God forgives sin only through him, but never mind. Both Testaments tell us that we need God’s forgiveness and that God does indeed forgive our sin.

I don’t mean to suggest that we humans are nothing but sinners. All of us are some kind of mixture of the good and the bad, the sin and the virtue. Former president Jimmy Carter is one of the best people of whom I have ever known. Yet even he admitted that he has looked on women with lust in his heart. All of us straight men have. We are after all sexual beings. All of us men and women have surely been angry with another, and Jesus says that’s a sin. Matthew 5:21-22. Yet we have surely also done good in our lives. We’ve loved and cared for others. We’ve done what we can to make God’s world a better place. I said recently somewhere that even Hitler loved his dog. Only Jesus was perfect. None of us is perfectly evil. Yet all of us need God’s forgiveness. Both Testaments of the Christian Bible confess that truth. People of different faith traditions know of God’s forgiveness in different ways. In Jesus Christ we Christians know that that forgiveness is already there before we even ask for it. Thanks be to God!