The Truth In Print, March 2007 Vol. 13 Issue 2
A Publication of the Valley
church of Christ
2375
“Who Can
Forgive Sins But God Alone?”
Mark records the
commission given to the Apostles after Jesus’ resurrection and before His
ascension into heaven.
Mark 16:15-20
And he said
unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
[16] He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth
not shall be damned. [17] And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my
name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; [18] They
shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt
them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
[19] So then
after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on
the right hand of God. [20] And they went forth, and preached every where, the
Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
From the foregoing it is obvious that Jesus
required belief and obedience in baptism in order for one to have the
forgiveness of their sins. With this in mind sincere people will often ask,
“Well, what about the thief on the cross that Jesus saved? Why can’t I be saved
like he was?”
“Who Can
Forgive Sins But God Alone?”
The various accounts of Jesus’ power to
forgive sins during His personal ministry testified to Him being God. He
forgave sins for both men and women. His being God was the answer to the
Pharisee’s question, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Lk. 5:20-21, 7:48, etc.). In Matt. 9:1-8
when Jesus healed the paralytic He wanted them to know that the Son of Man had
authority to forgive sins. The simple point is He had the authority do so
because He was God. We must accept that and keep it in the “time” period in
which it occurred. The purpose of John preaching a baptism for the remission of
sins was to give the Jews knowledge of salvation consisting in the forgiveness
of sins (Lk. 2:77; Mk. 1:4-5). John’s baptism required repentance and thus he
prepared the way for their receiving Christ, the Savior (Mk. 1:1-5). Jesus came
for their good to heal and benefit them spiritually but most rejected Him. He
said that He came to seek and to save the lost (Lk. 19:10). Thus He forgave
sins as one of blessings of His presence among men.
Jesus forgiving certain of their sins at
particular times did not mean that He intended they be exempt from the Law. The
woman taken in adultery was told to go and sin no more (John 8). Her accusers
had acted contrary to the Law in not condemning the man along with her. The Law
required both the adulterer and adulteress be put to death (Lev. 20:10; De.
22:22). They did not keep the Law and were ashamed when He said, “He who is
without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” The older men
seeking to entrap Him knew they were hypocrites and were in violation of the
Law. And they sensed that He knew their violations! Under different
circumstances should she be caught and the Law followed she would be put to
death. Thus Jesus warned her saying “...go, and sin no more.”
The Thief Who Was Saved By Jesus
One of the thieves crucified with Jesus was
saved. While being crucified Jesus forgave the thief on the cross and told him,
“…today you shall be with Me in paradise” (Lk. 23:43). This thief had acknowledged that Christ was
innocent (Lk. 23:41) though he and the other thief crucified were deserving of
their punishment. Jesus was innocent because He was the Lord, the Son of God.
And this thief addresses Him as such when asking to be remembered when He comes
into His kingdom: “And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. [43] And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day
shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:42-43). We are not told how much this man had been
taught, but it is obvious he knew about Christ’s kingdom. We do know that those who knew about the
Kingdom heard through both John and Christ that the kingdom was near (Matt.
3:2, John 1:15). Also many did repent and were baptized by both John’s and
Jesus’ disciples (John 3:21-23; 4:1-2).
It appears that having at the first reviled
Jesus along with the other thief that the one saved came to realize due to
Jesus presence and actions, and possibly the actions of others present, that
Jesus was the Lord. Many things were being fulfilled from the Old Testament
Psalms at that very time. We do know that Jesus knew whether he repented or
not, for He knew what was in man (Jo. 2:25). He is the last to be forgiven by
Jesus during His ministry here on earth.
Jesus Spoke Of The New Testament And Forgiveness Through His Blood
We must remember that during that period of
the earthly ministry Jesus spoke of the New Testament and forgiveness through
His blood. In the Lord’s Supper the
fruit of the vine, He said, would represent “the blood of the New Covenant,
which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matt. 26:28). Following the
account of the thief and after Jesus’ resurrection He told His apostles “…that
repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations,
beginning at Jerusalem” (Lk. 24:47). “In His name” means by His authority. The
confession that Jesus is Lord in Rom. 10:9 goes with the belief that God raised
Him from the dead. No can be saved like the “thief” today because he was saved
before Jesus died and was raised!
Jesus Lived And Died Under The Mosaic Law
When Jesus came to the world and took the
body the Holy Spirit had miraculously prepared He lived under the Mosaic Law
(Gal. 4:4). There is a distinct difference between the ordinances and commands
under the Old Testament and those of the New Covenant. The book of Hebrews goes
into great detail on the differences. We know the blood of animals offered
under the Law, which was only given to the Jews, did not take away sin (Heb.
10:4). His point is there is one sacrifice for all time that God would accept
as the propitiation for sin (Heb. 10:10; I Jo. 2:2). Having offered his body
and blood as one sacrifice for sins for all time Christ sat down at the right
hand of God (Heb. 10:12). That one offering for sin applied to all through the
ages who served God acceptably, both Gentiles and Jews (Heb. 9:15;
10:14;12:23). The New Covenant is witnessed to by the Spirit in the old
covenant (Heb. 10:15-17; Jer. 31:31-34, Heb. 8:8-13). Jesus became the one and
eternal High Priest (Heb. 8:1-2; 10:11-12, 21-22). And the Hebrew writers says
that the change in the priesthood necessitated a change in the law also (Heb.
7:12). When Jesus died the old covenant was taken out of the way and nailed to
the cross (Col. 2:14).
One can see that any forgiveness offered to
man prior to Jesus’ death would be before the New Covenant which was for all
men came into effect. Gentiles were forgiven by God through the centuries
having never answered to the law God gave the Jews at Sinai (Heb. 1:1-2; De.
5:2-3). Jethro, Moses’ own father in law was a gentile who was a priest of God
for his own people who were not under the Mosaic Law (Ex. 2:16).
From eternity God’s plan was that His Son’s
death would be for all men and the New Testament for those of all nations
(Matt. 26:26-28; 28:18-20). Thus beginning with Pentecost the salvation God
offers man is “in the name of Jesus Christ.” We are taught to look to the New
Covenant and the beginning of the church that we might know what God requires
for initial obedience to have the forgiveness of our sins (Acts 2:37-41).