Forgiveness through faith, resulting in changed lives

Thd idea that Paul preached a gospel of grace regardless of our actions, is not quite correct.

According to Paul, we can be saved by faith in Jesus, and this is a gift from God, not the result of any work we may have accomplished or be in the process of accomplishing. We place our confidence in the sacrifice of Jesus, because he told us to trust him, to believe in him. We trust that he will vouch for us before God, that he took our place on the cross, that he died instead of us, so we can know God, be reconciled and enter into an eternal relationship with him.

All of this by faith, dependant on God's grace. We can't earn nor affect this salvation, this gift of God.

However, Paul makes it quite clear virtually every time he talks about the fact that God has saved us by his grace, when he place our faith and confidence in him; that following on from this intervention of God in our lives, our behaviour and general living reveals what has taken place.

So he says in Acts 26 while talking to Agrippa :

"I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds." (Acts 26:20)

For Paul, the deeds do not save, they don't gain us any merit with God, they don't earn us credit in heaven, they are merely the proof that we have repented of our former lives and turned to God.

Repent: Our deeds reveal that we have recognised that our way of living, our way of choosing for ourselves apart from God, believing that we knew better than God, that we could do without God; in this we were wrong.

Turn to God: Which is why we turned to God. We recognise that we need him, that he knows best how we might live best, for our own good and for his glory, for our peace, for our joy. We are created to be in relationship with him, living apart from this relationship is existing, at best it is living only a part of what we were created for. So we turn to God, we trust in his wisdom, his grace. We seek to listen to his instruction, his teaching, his voice.

Thus our deeds reveal this ; that we recognise that we cannot live to our best when we live apart from God, so we have turned to God in order to truly live, so we are goverened by God, not by ourselves.

But no-where does Paul indicate that our way of living is what gains our salvation, our peace with God. It is upon our faith in Jesus, our trust in God, that God enters into our lives and fills us with his grace and peace and joy and light. Which itself results in changed lives, acts, deeds and behaviour.

What if there is no change in a person? What if there behaviour sees no significant modification? Perhaps the question is better asked of oneself. If I see no change in me, if I continue to behave selfishly, proudly, without compassion, without love I must ask myself the question: am I really trusting in Jesus ? Am I really putting my confidence in him and his teaching? Do I realy recognise that basing my life and choices on my own opinions instead of the opinions of Jesus is a negative way of living?

By the same score, we need to remember too that living our lives according to God's will, is sometimes a struggle. Somewhere, a part of us continues to rebel against God's rule, and that provokes an inner struggle, between that part of us that wants to live according to God's design and that part that wants no part of God's plan. The struggle is real, and sometimes the results that we see in our behaviour are not those which make us most proud. But that does not negate what God has done and is doing in our lives.

Salvation is given by God's grace, when we place our faith in him, and faith hopes and looks forward to the accomplishment of God's work. For now we continue on the road, sometimes stumbling, but with God at our side to help us back up and to continue the way.

Forgiveness through faith in Jesus

. . . nous avons compris que l'on est déclaré juste devant Dieu, non parce que l'on accomplit les oeuvres que commande la Loi, mais uniquement par la foi en Jésus-Christ. C'est pourquoi nous avons, nous aussi, placé notre confiance en Jésus-Christ pour être déclarés justes par la foi et non parce que nous aurions accompli ce qu'ordonne la Loi. Car, comme le dite l'Ecriture : Personne ne sera déclaré juste devant Dieu parce qu'il aura accompli ce qu'ordonne la Loi. . . Ainsi, je ne rejette par la grâce de Dieu en revenant à la Loi. En effet, si c'est l'obéissance à la Loi qui permet d'être déclaré juste, alors le Christ est mort pour rien!

(Galates 2:16,21)

Or, nous le savons, ce que l'Ecriture dit dans la Loi, elle l'adresse à ceux qui vivent sous le régime de la Loi. Il en est ainsi pour que personne n'ait rien à répliquer et que le monde entier soit reconnu coupable devant Dieu. Car personne ne sera déclaré juste devant lui parce qu'il aura accompli les oeuvres demandées par la Loi. En effet, la Loi donne seulement la connaissance du péché. . . Dieu déclare les hommes juste par leur foi en Jésus-Christ . . .

(Romains 3:19-20,22)

Forgiveness through Jesus

I read this today, and it seemed pertinent to post it on this blog concerning what different confessions might suggest for forgiveness.

"Therefore my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses."

(Acts 13:38-39 NIV)

"Sachez-le donc, mes frères: c'est grâce à lui que nous pouvons vous annoncer le pardon de vos péchés. Par la Loi de Moïse, vous n'avez jamais pu être acquittés de toutes vos fautes. Par contre, tous ceux qui croient en Jésus sont acquittés et considérés comme des justes aux yeux de Dieu."

(Actes 13:38-39 Parole Vivante)

"Frères, vous devez le savoir: c'est par Jésus que le pardon des péchés vous est annoncé; c'est par lui que quiconque croit est libéré de tous les péchés dont la loi de Moïse ne pouvait vous délivrer."

(Actes 13:38-39 Bible Français Courant)

"Sachez-le donc, mes frères, c'est grâce à lui que le pardon des péchés vous est annoncé ; c'est par lui que tout homme qui croit est acquitté de toutes les fautes dont vous ne pouviez pas être acquittés par la Loi de Moïse."

(Actes 13:38-39 Bible du Semeur)

What's interesting here is that the text demonstrates that the Law of Moses was not able to justify believers of everything. Yes it was God's Law, but it had limits. We find echoes here of Romains and also Hebrews. (For example Hebrews 10:1-4 regarding the limits of the Law)

However, Jesus has no limits in terms of offering forgiveness and justifying those who believe. The text says that we can be forgiven and justified of everything, including that for which the Law was unable to justify us, through believing in Jesus.

Which leads to perhaps the most important point, for this blog anyway, that forgiveness and justification come through believing in Jesus-Christ. Not through accomplishing anything, not through sacrifice, not through anything apart from believing in Jesus.

Obviously, the term "believing in Jesus" implies more than just believing that Jesus exisited once upon a time. Paul was talking to people who could even have seen or heard Jesus speak. Proving the existence of a man named Jesus is never a concern of the Biblical writers, it was an evidence. So whenever they talk about believing in Jesus, it means more than acknowledging that he existed. It implies believing what he taught, what he said, what he did. It implies believing and trusting that he told the truth. It means placing ones faith in the person of Jesus.

This verse is actually quite specific, it says "Through him, everyone who believes is justified". If we want to be forvigen of all the wrong we have done, against God and others; if we want to be purged of the feelings of guilt and shame resulting from our past, and maybe even our present; we need to believe. We need to believe that God can and will give us these things, because of Jesus, his life, his death, his ressurection.

We don't have to go on a pilgrimage.
We don't have to take the bread and wine of communion.
We don't have to live a perfect life.
We don't have to go to church.
WE HAVE TO BELIEVE JESUS AND TRUST HIM, which does of course imply that we will act on what he says.

Not that any of these other things are necessarilly bad. Some of them are even asked of us by Jesus himself. But it is not in doing any of them that we can be forgiven and justified. Only by believing him, and putting our faith in him.