Justified, but not forgiven?
The difference between judicial anger and parents’ discontent
- How can we be justified by faith and still have to continue to confess our sins every day so that we can be forgiven?On the one hand.
- The New Testament teaches us that when we believe in Christ.
- Our faith is assigned as righteousness (Romans 4.
- 3:5-6); The righteousness of God is imputed to us (Philippians 3.
- 9).
- In Christ.
- We stand before God as righteous people.
- And accept.
- Yes.
- And “forgive.
- ” as Paul said.
- “Thus does David also declare [in Psalm 32.
- 1] that the man to whom God attributes righteousness works: Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered?(Romans 4.
- 6-7) Therefore.
- In Paul’s mind.
- Justification implies the reality of forgiveness.
On the other hand, however, the New Testament also teaches that our continued forgiveness depends on the confession of our sins. “If we confess our sins, is he faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and cleanse us of all injustice?(1 John 1. 9). Is confession of sins part of walking in the light, which we must practice, so that the blood of Christ can continue to cleans us of our sins?However, if we walk in the light, what is it like in the light?And does the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleans us from all sin?(1 John 1. 7). And Jesus taught us to pray every day: “Forgive us our debts, just as we forgive our debtors?(Matthew 6. 12). ).
So how should we consider ourselves in relation to God?Are all our sins already forgiven or are they forgiven day after day when we confess them?Does justification mean that all sins? Past, present and future?Is there another way to see our sins in relation to God?Let us first listen to pastor and theologian Thomas Watson, who lived 350 years ago.
When I realized that God forgives all my sins, I understood that this was a reference to past sins, for future sins are forgiven only when we repent of them, in fact, God has already decreed forgiveness of these sins and when He forgives a Sin, He will forgive, in due course, all others. But future sins are not truly forgiven until we repent. Is it absurd to think that sin is forgiven before committing it?
The view that future sins, as well as past sins, are forgiven removes and nullifies Christ’s intercession. He is a lawyer who intercedes for daily sins (1 John 2. 1). But if sin is forgiven before it is committed, is it necessary for daily intercession?What do I need from a lawyer if sin is forgiven before it is committed?Therefore, although God forgives, in the case of the believer, past sins, future sins are not forgiven until there is renewed repentance (Body of Divinity, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1979, p. 558).
Is Watson right? It depends. Yes, I believe that we can accept this vision of forgiveness, if we consider that the price, the foundation and the guarantee of all forgiveness (past, present and future sins) was the death of Christ, once and for all. The ambiguity arises with the question: when do we obtain forgiveness for all the sins we commit? This question means: when was forgiveness purchased and guaranteed for us? Or does it mean: when will forgiveness be applied to each transgression, so that it removes God’s discontent? The answer to the first question could be: in the death of Christ. The answer to the second question: renew our repentance.
This raises another question: is God unhappy with his justified children? If that’s true, what kind of unhappiness is it? Is it the same as God feels for the sins of unbelievers? How does God view our daily sins? He sees them as transgressing his will, which makes him sad and angry. However, this sadness and anger, while motivated by genuine responsibility and guilt, is not “judicial anger,” in Watson’s words. , can provoke the discontent of his Heavenly Father, the judicial wrath of God is repressed. Although God can use the rod, He has already removed the curse. Can correction happen to the saints, but not destruction? (Body of Divinity, p. 556)).
God also sees our sins as “covered” rather than “imputed” because of the blood of Christ (Romans 4. 7-8). Thus, paradoxically, He sees our sins as bearers of guilt (which provoke sadness and anger) and, at the same time, as sins that are already guaranteed forgiveness (though not yet forgiven, in the sense of God’s reaction to confession). and the suppression of his paternal discontent). What causes the distinction between God’s judicial wrath in the unbelievers’ disbelievers and his displeasure for the unforgived sins of believers?The difference is that the believer is united to God, in Christ, by a new covenant. of this covenant is that God will never stop doing us good and will never allow us to abandon Him, but will always lead us to confession and repentance. “I will make an eternal covenant with them, according to which I will not stop doing them good, and I will put my fear in your heart, that they may never depart from me (Jeremiah 32:40).
This commitment to the new covenant was bought by Christ for us (Luke 22:20) and applied by faith, so that although we incur God’s discontent, we who are justified by faith will never incur his judicial wrath, for all in other words, for the forgiveness of all our sins was bought and guaranteed by the death of Christ , God is fully committed to returning us to repentance and confession, as often as necessary, so that we can receive forgiveness and enjoy suppressing his paternal discontent. Our Father is glad to return to his satisfaction, until these restorations are no longer necessary.
Devotion of John Piper’s book Provai e Vede
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