forgiveness of sins Archives

This study on forgiveness looks at the topic of forgiveness in the Book of Acts. Forgiveness is a key theme in Acts, and we see how Peter and Paul teach about Acts as the spread the gospel message throughout the world.

Note that this study is an excerpt from my Gospel Dictionary online course. This course considers 52 key words of the Gospel and thousands of biblical texts. The course contains over 100 hours Bible teaching. You can take the course by joining my online discipleship group.

The Book of Acts is a book of transitions. It shows the transition from the ministry of Jesus to the ministry of the Apostles, and how the Apostles continued to carry on the ministry of Jesus, following His instructions to take it to the end of the world. The Apostles begin in Jerusalem, and then take the Gospel message to the Samaritans, and finally to the world. The appearance of the gift of tongues helps verify that God has accepted these other people groups into His family, but another way that the Book of Acts shows these transitions is through the preaching of Peter to the various people groups about the forgiveness of sins. A later transition occurs when Paul takes up the same message and spreads it even further.

Let us consider several of the texts that discuss forgiveness in Acts.

NOTE: Before you read this post, it might also be helpful to read my article on the Two Types of Forgiveness.

Forgiveness in Acts 2:38

Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

The Book of Acts begins similarly to the Gospels. In the Gospels, John came preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Here it is Peter who preaches a nearly identical message. Peter preaches to the Jewish people who were gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost that although Jesus was the promised Messiah, He had been condemned and crucified (Acts 2:22-36). Nevertheless, God raised Jesus from the dead, thereby proving that Jesus was who He said He was and had not committed the crimes for which He was killed (Acts 2:24, 32, 36).

When the truth about what they had done is revealed to them, those who heard Peter asked what they should do in response (Acts 2:37). Peter tells them to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins. This is not a message about how to go to heaven when they die, but is instead a message about how to be released (Gk., aphēsis) from the sin which was revealed in the death of Jesus. To repent is to recognize the sin they are committing and turn away from it. To be baptized refers not only to the symbolic death, burial, and resurrection through water, but to also be immersed into the teachings and instructions of the apostles about Jesus Christ (see Baptism).

Therefore, Acts 2:38 reveals that when the people realized the magnitude and significance of their sin in killing Jesus, they asked Peter what they should do in response. Peter tells them to turn away from committing this sin in the future and to commit themselves instead to learning about Jesus and following His ways. If they did this, they would be released from the sin which had led to the killing of Jesus.

Since Jesus instructed His disciples to begin in Jerusalem with the truth of His life, death, and resurrection (Luke 24:47; Acts 1:8), it is appropriate that the first time this message is preached in the Book of Acts, it is in Jerusalem. The reader should expect, therefore, that as the Book of Acts progresses, the message about how the death of Jesus releases humanity from sin continues to spread to the rest of the world as well. This is indeed what we see.

Forgiveness in Acts 5:31

Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

After the message was taught in and around Jerusalem, the truth about how the death of Jesus next spreads to the rest of Israel. In Acts 5, Peter tells the Jewish religious leaders that although they killed Jesus by hanging Him on a tree (Acts 5:30; cf. Deut 21:23; Gal 3:13), thus indicating His identity as a cursed scapegoat victim, God exalted Jesus and calls all Israel to repent of their sin so that they might be forgiven or released (aphēsis) from it.

Forgiveness in Acts 10:43

To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.

When the message about Jesus spread further outward, this time to the God-fearing Gentiles, the Book of Acts once again makes mention of the fact that they were told about how to receive remission, or release (aphēsis), from their sin. Peter declares this message to Cornelius and his household. Cornelius, of course, was a Roman centurion (Acts 10:1). Since military forces often make use of scapegoating tactics to defeat an enemy and create peace in a conquered region, Peter is effectively telling Cornelius that Jesus calls us away from such practices.

As with his message to the religious leaders, Peter also tells Cornelius, as a Roman military leader, that Jesus was hung on a tree (Acts 10:39), which is a reference to the crucifixion of Jesus and the implied curse that came with such a death (cf. Deut 21:23; Gal 3:13).

And while a person receives eternal life when they believe in Jesus for it, this is not what Peter is saying to Cornelius in Acts 10:43. Peter does invite Cornelius and his household to believe in Jesus, but not for eternal life. Instead, Peter invites him to believe in Jesus for the remission of sins.

This means that if Cornelius believes in what Jesus has revealed about sin through His death on the cross, then this will lead Cornelius to follow the example of Jesus, and live free from this type of sin. Just as Peter’s message about Jesus called the Israelites to live in peace with others (Acts 10:36), so also, Peter calls Cornelius and all Gentiles to learn from Jesus and live in ways that leads to peace.

Forgiveness in Acts 13:38

Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins.

As the Book of Acts transitions from the ministry of Peter to the ministry of Paul, the story shows that Paul follows in similar steps as did Peter. During Paul’s first missionary journey, he begins by visiting a Jewish synagogue and declaring to them the revelation of Jesus about sin and how to be released from it (Acts 13:14). The forgiveness of sins that Paul refers to is aphēsis. Paul also includes the truth about justification by faith (Acts 13:39), which is a truth that Paul emphasized everywhere he traveled and in many of the letters he wrote.

Silhouette of bird flying and broken chains at beautiful mountain and sky autumn sunset background

Forgiveness in Acts 26:18

“… to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.”

After Paul is arrested and imprisoned, and as he turns his eyes toward Rome (Acts 25:11-12), he has an opportunity to share with the Roman Procurator Festus and King Agrippa what he plans on saying to Caesar (Acts 25:24-27). So once again, this text reveals that Paul’s message to the Roman officials is nearly identical to the message of Peter to the Roman Centurion Cornelius. Paul, like Peter, is telling both Jews and Gentiles, both religious leaders and political officials, that Jesus reveals the way to peace.

The words that Paul quotes in Acts 26:18 are the words which Jesus said to Paul on the road to Damascus. Jesus told Paul that he was being sent to help turn people from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to the power of God. The darkness that the world lived under is the darkness of the power of Satan, which is the power of accusation (see Satan). Jesus wanted Paul, just as He wanted Peter and all of His followers, to show people how to receive forgiveness (aphēsis), or to be released, from this sin.

Paul goes on to say that when he tried to call both Jews and Gentiles to turn from their violent ways, but was threatened with death instead (Acts 26:20-21). Just as Jesus revealed, and is seen throughout the Bible, when a person does not repent of their sin, the result is religious violence performed in the name of God. The Book of Acts ends with similar themes (cf. Acts 28:17-31), but does not provide any information about Paul’s trial before Caesar.

One reason for this abrupt ending to the Book of Acts, is that just as both Peter and Paul called both Jews and Gentiles, both religious leaders and political officials, to turn from their ways of violence based on accusation, and live free from such sin by following Jesus into the way of love and peace, each person who reads Acts is supposed to pick up the mantle of Peter and Paul for themselves, and continue to spread this message to the utter most parts of the earth.

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What is the unforgivable sin in Matthew 12:31-32

By Jeremy Myers

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Matthew 12:31-32 teaches about forgiveness and the unforgivable sin. What is this sin? How is it committed? And how can you know you have not committed it? These are the sorts of questions I attempt to answer in this study of Matthew 12:31-32.

The Unpardonable Sin in Matthew 12:31-32

Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

(#AmazonAdLink) This passage contains information about the most-feared sin in all of Scripture: the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. I have written an entire book on this passage called (#AmazonAdLink) Why You Have Not Committed the Unforgivable Sin, and so will try to keep my comments about this text relatively brief.

The Most Common View about the Unforgivable Sin

Most discussions about the unforgivable sin focus on the nature of what this sin is, and how it can be avoided.

The difficulty with this approach is that while Jesus does talk about speaking against the Holy Spirit, He doesn’t explicitly state what words constitute blasphemy. Since the religious leaders in the preceding context accuse Jesus of casting out demons by Beelzebub (Matt 12:24), many assume that the sin of blasphemy against the Spirit is when someone attributes the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan (cf. Mark 3:28-30).

There are numerous problems with such a view, not least of which is the fact that Jesus is clearly providing a warning to the Pharisees that they were about to commit this sin.

In other words, they had not yet committed it, but if they continued on the path they were on, they might. So if they had not yet committed this sin, then this means that attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan is not blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

Besides, if it were, we would never be able to “test the spirits” as John calls us to do (1 John 4:1), for we would be too fearful of blaspheming the Spirit to ever say that a certain work was not from God.

The Bible Doesn’t State what the Unforgivable Sin Actually IS

So the truth of the matter is that the Bible does not explicitly state what constitutes blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

This is actually a good thing. Just as a sign that says, “Do not walk on the grass” causes people to walk on the grass, if the Bible clearly stated what words constituted blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, this would only encourage people to say the words even more. So we don’t precisely know what this sin is.

Nevertheless, we do know a few things about the nature of this sin. One of the tasks of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:7-11). If a person says something vile and mean to the Holy Spirit or about the Holy Spirit, and then feels guilty or ashamed of what they have said, this is clear evidence that the Holy Spirit is still at work in their life convicting them of sin, righteousness, and judgment.

The fact that the Holy Spirit is still at work in their life indicates that the Spirit has not left or abandoned them, and therefore, they have not committed the unforgivable sin. In other words, those who fear that they have committed the unforgivable sin, thereby have evidence that they have not committed it. It is only those who have no shame or guilt about their words or actions who might possibly have committed this sin, yet they would never even know they have, because the Spirit is not at work in their life to convict them of sin.

All of this is discussed further in my book on the unforgivable sin.

Key Insight on the Unforgivable Sin: The TYPE of Forgiveness Jesus is Talking About

One of the things I also write about in that book, however, is something that is rarely discussed elsewhere in other books about the unforgivable sin. While most books focus only on what this sin is, few books discuss what type of forgiveness Jesus is talking about in this passage. Yet this is the crucial key which helps explain what Jesus is saying.

The word that is used for “forgiveness” throughout this passage is aphēsis. This means that whatever the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is, it also is under the charizomai forgiveness of God. In other words, whatever this sin is, it too is a sin that God has forgiven from eternity past (See the two types of forgiveness).

Remember, God’s free charizomai forgiveness is based on His grace, and covers all sins of all people for all time, including the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. When this truth is recognized, we are then free to see that the text says nothing about God not forgiving those who commit this sin, but only that they will not receive aphēsis, that is, they will not be released from this sin.

But since God has already freely forgiven (charizomai) them for this sin, then why do they not receive aphēsis? Why are those people who commit this sin unable to find a release from it?

The answer is found in recalling that aphēsis often has conditions attached to it, and if a person does not meet these conditions, then they are not released. While God wants the people who commit this sin to be released from it, they refuse or are unable to meet the conditions for the release of this sin, and so do not find any release from it. In other words, it is not God who is refusing to release them from this sin, but the people themselves who refuse to be released.

As explained by multiple texts elsewhere in the Bible, the release of aphēsis begins within each individual person as they own up to what they did, repent of it, and forgive themselves for it. Finding release from sin is based on understanding that we have been freely forgiven by God, and so we too can freely forgive ourselves and others, and as a result of this free forgiveness, begin admit our failures and work to change the patterns that led to this sin in the first place.

But the person who never recognizes the truth about God’s free forgiveness and how to break free from the bondage of sin in their life, will never find or experience forgiveness for themselves. They will remain “unreleased.”

This passage is not talking about an “unforgivable sin” but an “unreleasable sin.” It occurs when a person does not release themselves.

All sins are forgiven by God, but if a person does not forgive and release themselves, there is nothing more God can do.

Why is It called Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit?

This sin is called blasphemy against the Holy Spirit because it is refusing to believe what the Holy Spirit says to us about our sin, and instead believes the lies of Satan. The Holy Spirit is saying to each and every person, “You have been freely forgiven! So live in light of that and be released from your enslavement to sin, shame, and guilt.”

But the person who refuses to accept forgiveness and release is denying the testimony of the Holy Spirit, and is instead believing the testimony of Satan, the accuser. While the Holy Spirit says, “You are forgiven!” Satan constantly says, “You are condemned!”

As long as a person believes Satan over the Spirit, they will remain under condemnation (Mark 3:29). As long as a person believes the lies of condemnation, they will live unforgiven lives. They will continue to be enslaved to the deceptions of the devil and in bondage to the corruption of sin. They will never experience the release from the bondage of sin, shame, and guilt.

So What is the Unforgivable Sin?

To put it simply, the unforgivable sin is the sin of unforgiveness … directed at ourselves.

A person commits this sin by refusing to believe the testimony of the Holy Spirit that they are completely accepted and forgiven by God. They remain unforgiven, or unreleased, because they don’t forgive themselves. The unforgivable sin is the sin for which a person denies and rejects that God has forgiven them, and thus, they continue to beat themselves up about it and suffer the consequences.

The point of Jesus in Matthew 12:31-32 is that you can’t hang on to unforgiveness without paying a price. The only sin you are not forgiven for is the sin you don’t forgive yourself for. This state of refusing to accept the Spirit’s testimony about forgiveness only leads deeper into bondage and slavery to sin.

Jesus reveals that God has forgiven all people for all sins throughout all time. But if we believe the lie of the accuser and deny that we have been forgiven, then we will not believe we have been forgiven, and will continue to live a state of unforgiveness, as if we were eternally condemned.

So recognize that you have been forgiven for everything! Only when you do this will you be released from sin, shame, guilt, and fear, and will find true life in the Spirit that God wants for you.

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Do you need to confess your sins before God forgives you? (1 John 1:9)

By Jeremy Myers

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In 1 John 1:9, we are invited to confess our sins so that God will forgive us. The verse says this:

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

But does this mean that if we do not confess our sins to God, He will not forgive us? No, the truth is that God has already forgiven you for all your sins, past, present, and future.

So what did the Apostle John mean when he wrote 1 John 1:9? To understand this verse, we need to understand three things. We need to understand the meaning of the word “confess,” the meaning of the word “forgive” and the overall message and theme of 1 John.

Let us look at these three key ideas.

The Meaning of the Word “Confess”

The word confess comes from the Greek word homologeō, and it literally means “to say the same thing.” The word means more than just to admit, proclaim, or declare something. Instead, it has in view a conversation with God or others about what is true, and we agree with them about what they are saying.

The opposite of confession is denial (arneomai). When God makes a statement about some truth, we can either agree with God or disagree (John 1:20; 1 John 2:23). Therefore, the word “agree” might be the best translation of homologeō.

To confess is to align with what God is saying, or to agree with Him about something.

Obviously, there are lots of truths we can agree with God about. Almost every statement in Scripture requires us to either agree or disagree. Yet when we study the word confess in Scrip-ture, we discover that confession, or agreement with God, has nothing whatsoever to do with gaining or keeping our eternal life, but rather with aligning ourselves with God’s perspective on things.

Never forget that we gain the free gift of eternal life simply by believing in Jesus for it. No confession or agreement is necessary. No turning from sin. No submission to Jesus as Lord and Master. No public declaration about being part of the family of God.

All such things are good works that are important for the life of the Christian, but which are not requirements for receiving eternal life.

Yet after we believe in Jesus for eternal life, God begins to work with us as His children to mold us and conform us into who He created us to be. When we are born again into the family of God, we begin our life as one of His children.

But God does not stop with just giving us new life in Jesus. No, once we have life, He wants us to grow and mature and become productive members of His family. So through Scripture, the church, and the Holy Spirit, God begins to teach us things about Himself, about ourselves, and about how to follow Jesus. And when we see these truths, we can either agree with God or disagree.

If we agree with what God teaches us, then we align ourselves with what God has said, and we begin to make the necessary changes in our lives that come from this agreement.

But if we disagree, if we deny the truth of what God has said, then we continue to live in ignorance and self-deception, and we will not make progress in our lives as Christians. We will remain part of the family of God, but we will remain immature and fruitless.

So the word confess means to agree with about the things He teaches, especially regarding those things that help us live up to our identity as children of God.

This definition of “confess” will help us understand 1 John 1:9, but before we consider the verse, let us look at the word “forgive.”

The Meaning of the Word “Forgive”

I have gone over the meaning of the word “forgive” multiple times on this website, so I won’t go through it in depth again.

The main point to remember is that there are two kinds of forgiveness in the Bible. There is charizomai forgiveness, which is free and unconditional. God freely extends charizomai forgiveness to all people throughout all time for all sins, no matter what. Believers and unbelievers alike have charizomai forgiveness. It does not require confession or repentance. All sins–past, present, and future-are freely forgiven by God with this type of forgiveness.

The second type of forgiveness is aphesis forgiveness. It is always conditional, and is for our benefit; not God’s. Though God has freely forgiven us for all our sins, if we want to experience the release from the bondage of sin, then there are things we need to do … such as confess, repent, and purify our lives.

You can probably already guess which type of forgiveness is mentioned in 1 John 1:9. Yes, since confession is mentioned, then it makes sense that the second type of forgiveness, aphesis forgiveness, is in view.

See this article on forgiveness for more or you can also take the lesson on “Forgiveness” in my Gospel Dictionary Online Course.

And while this key helps our understanding of 1 John 1:9 the most, let us turn to the third key, which is the overall theme of 1 John.

The Overall Theme of 1 John

Some people think that the letter of 1 John is about how to know whether or not you have eternal life. Some people teach that 1 John contains “Tests of Life” and if you pass these tests, then you can know that you have life.

But this is not at all why John wrote this letter. Instead, as if evident from the opening verses, John wrote this letter because He had fellowship with Jesus, and wanted to share this fellowship with others.

“Fellowship” is just a biblical word for “friendship.” (This word also will be covered in the Gospel Dictionary Online Course).

You can have a relationship with somebody, but not fellowship. For example, if you had a fight with one of your parents several years back, you are still related to them and are still part of the family, but you might not call them on the phone or get together for holidays. You are related, but do not have fellowship. You are not abiding or remaining with them in an ongoing friendship.

So John is writing his letter to Christians, to people who are in a relationship with God and with each other, as members of the family of God, and is telling them how to have fellowship with God and with each other. John wants His readers to be friends with God and friends with one another.

This also helps us understand 1 John 1:9.

Confession in 1 John 1:9

So let us take the three keys we have learned and put them all together as we seek to understand 1 John 1:9. Once again, the verse says this:

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If you are in a relationship with someone, such as a spouse, a parent, or a child, and you want to maintain a friendship with them, then one of the things you will need to do is regularly own up to the things you have done wrong in that relationship.

Similarly, if someone wrongs or hurts you, this pain and betrayal causes a rift between the two of you, so that you probably don’t want to talk to them or hang out with them again. Oh yes, you are still related to them by the bonds of blood or marriage, but you might not want to spend much time in their presence.

But that rift, that pain, that sense of betrayal can be healed, right? And how can it be healed. By the other person owning up to what they did wrong, and by agreeing with you that what they said or did was hurtful to you. In other words, they need to confess their sin.

It is the same when you have wronged someone else. If you wronged somebody, you can’t just move on in the relationship acting as if nothing happened. The other person was hurt, and they need to know that you are sorry for what you did, and will work to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

All of this is also true in our relationship with God. When we sin, God is saddened by our behavior. As a result, our fellowship with God is broken. Just like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, when we sin, we often go hide in the bushes because we do not feel like God wants to see us.

The first step in healing this brokenness is by confessing our sin and agreeing with God that what we did was wrong.

So while God unconditionally extends forgiveness (charizomai) to all people, and so we are all forgiven for all our sins, if we want to actually experience a release (aphesis) from our bondage to sin, the first step is to agree (confess) with God that we have sinned.

If we do this, we will gain release from our slavery to sin, and He will work to cleanse us and purify us from all our unrighteous practices, and in this way, our fellowship with God will develop and grow.

So do you want to be friends with God? One of things that will help is letting Him point out your sin to you, so that you can agree (confess) with Him where you have indeed done wrong. Then, once you agree, let Him further guide you into breaking free from this sin so that you can no longer be addicted and enslaved to it.

This is the message of 1 John 1:9. If you agree with God when He points out your sin to you, He is faithful and just and will help release you from this sin, and will help guide you into all the ways of righteousness. This way of living will help you grow in friendship with God and others.

Does this help you understand 1 John 1:9 and the role of confession? If you still have questions or comments, leave them in the comment are below!

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How the blood of Jesus Redeems and Rescues Humanity (Ephesians 1:7; 2:13)

By Jeremy Myers

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In Ephesians 1:7, Paul writes that “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.”

I have written previously that the blood of Jesus does not purchase forgiveness of sins for us from God. But does Ephesians 1:7 refute this idea? No. In fact, it supports it. Let me show you why.

Ephesians is a book that has been widely misunderstood, especially in light of what it teaches about salvation. Some of my sermon manuscripts on Ephesians might help clarify the book as a whole, but most of the main ideas can also be found in various entries in my Gospel dictionary.

The Basic Summary of Ephesians

The basic message of Ephesians is that due to religion, humans have lived in rivalry and violence with each other since the foundation of the world, but now, in Jesus Christ, we have been shown a new way of living life so that all the hostilities can now cease.

There is still a struggle, but it is not against each other, but against the forces which seek to drag us back into rivalry, accusation, and scapegoating violence.

The Introduction to Ephesians

Paul introduces some of these themes with one long sentence in Ephesians 1:3-14.

Leading up to Ephesians 1:7 where Paul refers to redemption through the blood of Jesus, it is important to also understand what Paul means when he writes about adoption and election as these words also form a foundation for Paul’s ideas about the blood of Jesus. These words are also carefully defined in my Gospel Dictionary online course.

The basic idea in Ephesians 1:3-14 is that God made us His heirs so that we can have the resources necessary to fulfill our purpose and role within His family.

So what is Paul teaching in Ephesians 1:7?

It is in the context of these ideas that Paul mentions redemption through the blood of Jesus (Ephesians 1:7).

Redemption is when God takes something that is already His, and buys it so that it is twice His. So redeemed us, or bought us back, through His blood.

When Paul writes about Jesus redeeming us through His blood, however, we must not think that Jesus was paying off God or Satan with His blood. It is not as though there was a debt of sin to God or to Satan which could only be paid with the blood of Jesus. This is not a biblical idea. (We’ll look at Hebrews 9:22 next week.)

So what did Jesus redeem us from? What did He buy us back from?

The redemption that Jesus accomplished through His blood was a rescue or deliverance of humanity from humanity.

We had enslaved ourselves to an endless cycle of sacred violence and the spilling of blood in God’s name.

By dying as He did, Jesus exposed the myth of redemptive violence and the lies of sacred violence for what they were so that we can be redeemed, bought back, or rescued from this endless cycle of violence and bloodshed once and for all.

We know that this is what Paul means because he explains the phrase “redemption through His blood” with the phrase “the forgiveness of sins.”

The two phrases explain each other, so let’s look at the forgiveness of sins first.

The Forgiveness of Sins

As we discussed previously, there are two main types of forgiveness sin the Bible, one that is free and one that is conditional. The type of forgiveness Paul mentions here is the conditional forgiveness (aphēsis). A good synonym for this type of forgiveness is “release.”

Furthermore, the term “sin” in the Bible primarily refers to the sacred violence that has enslaved all of humanity in a never-ending cycle of rivalry, accusation, and scapegoating sacrifice. I defend this idea in my book, (#AmazonAdLink) Nothing but the Blood of Jesus.

So when Paul writes about “the forgiveness of sins,” he is referring to our release from the cycle of sacred violence.

And since this phrase explains or defines the first phrase about the redemption through the blood of Jesus, it too can be understood similarly.

Redemption through His blood

Jesus redeemed us, bought us back, rescued us, released us from the never-ending cycle of sacred violence and sin by subjecting Himself to it. He went to the cross and shed His blood for us, not as a payment to God or to Satan, but as a revelation to humanity about the sin which had enslaved humanity since the foundation of the world.

Now that we have this redemptive revelation through the sacrificial death of Jesus, we are able to live in a new way with other human beings.

We can now live at peace, no longer subjecting ourselves to the ways of death and violence founded upon religion, but instead follow Jesus by faith into the ways of love and grace.

If some of this sounds similar to what Paul writes in Ephesians 2, that’s because it is. Paul takes this theme of how humanity has been delivered from violence and death through the blood of Jesus and expands upon it in Ephesians 2.

How Paul Elaborates on this Theme in Ephesians 2:13

Here is what Paul writes in Ephesians 2:13: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

Ephesians 2 is a powerful chapter, but it has been terribly misunderstood and misapplied by the church today. The traditional understanding of Ephesians 2 goes something like this:

We humans are evil sinners, under the control of the devil and our sin nature. We were dead and unable to do anything to change. Worse yet, because of sin, God’s wrath burns against us, and He wants to send us all to hell (Ephesians 2:1-3).

But God also loved us, and so wanted to do something to fix what had gone wrong. Someone had to pay the price for our sin, and God knew we couldn’t, so He sent His Son Jesus to die in our place and pay for our sin. Now, if we believe in Jesus, we get eternal life. But this still doesn’t get us off the hook. God still wants us to obey Him and do the good works He prepared for us to do (Ephesians 2:4-10).

But these good works don’t involve keeping the law and commandments, because those have been done away with. Instead, let’s just live in peace and unity with each other (Ephesians 2:11-22).

Yet this sort of summary of Ephesians 2 does not logically follow what Paul wrote in Ephesians 1, nor does it fit well with the rest of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.

Furthermore, it does great injustice to the expanded discussion about peace in Ephesians 2:11-22. Most Christian sermons and messages on this chapter focus an inordinate amount of time and space on Ephesians 2:8-9, and very little on Ephesians 2:11-22, which is where Paul focuses his time.

The best way to approach Ephesians 2 is to “reverse engineer” it. By beginning where Paul concludes, we can better understand how Paul starts.

Reverse Engineering Ephesians 2

Paul has a clear progression in Ephesians 2, following the “Problem (Ephesians 2:1-3)—Solution (Ephesians 2:4-10)—Application (Ephesians 2:11-22)” format. By starting with the application, we can better understand the solution and the problem.

The Application (Ephesians 2:11-22)

In Ephesians 2:11-22, Paul explains how groups of people who formerly were hostile enemies can now live together in peace and unity because of what Jesus Christ has done. Feuding groups throughout history have used race, religion, and politics (the Jew-Gentile division was a toxic combination of all three) to look down upon each other and accuse one another of being less than human and less-loved by God.

But now Jesus has broken down the walls of hostility and brought everybody into one family where we live by new rules. This new way of living was revealed and explained through the life and death of Jesus Christ.

When we build upon the foundation He laid, we grow into the people that God has always wanted and desired, and it is then that God is truly manifested in us, just as He was in Jesus.

The Solution (Ephesians 2:4-10)

So if Paul’s concluding “Application” is that people who were formerly at odds with one another (in an accusatory violent way) can now live at peace by following the example of Jesus, it only makes sense that in the “Solution” section, Paul talks about how Jesus brought the warring groups together and showed us how to live in peace.

Not surprisingly, this is exactly what Paul explains in Ephesians 2:4-10. These verses, though quite popular as texts about how to receive eternal life by grace alone through faith alone, are actually about what God has done to rescue us from the condition described in Ephesians 2:1-3 (see below), so that we can become what is described in Ephesians 2:11-22.

Paul’s point in these verses is that even though we humans accusation, blame, condemn and kill others in God’s name (Ephesians 2:1-3), God Himself does not behave that way toward us.

God does not bring an end to life, but raises us up to new life in Jesus Christ. Beyond that, He also raised us up with Jesus Christ and seated us with Him in the heavens so that we can live according to the heavenly rules, rather than the ways of this world.

God acted this way toward us by grace. And by grace, we can act this way toward others since we now are seated with Christ in heavenly places.

But we can only live this way if we follow Jesus by faith. Ephesians 2:4-10 is not talking about how to receive eternal life, but is instead talking about how God rescued us from our enslavement to the sin of death and showed us a new way of life in Jesus Christ.

This new way of life is what we were made for originally, and what God has always modeled for us, and what we are now to walk in, as we follow Jesus by faith. In other words, this text is not about how to go to heaven when you die, but rather about how to go from slavery to death in this world as we war against others (Ephesians 2:1-3), to unity and peace with others as we live in the family of God (Ephesians 2:11-22).

The Problem (Ephesians 2:1-3)

This brings us back to the beginning of the argument in Ephesians 2:1-3 where Paul presents the human “Problem.”

A proper understanding of this passage requires us to accurately define the words “dead,” “flesh,” “sin,” and “wrath” (which I will do in the Gospel Dictionary course), and to understand what Paul means when he refers to the ruler of the kingdom of the air.

When all of these concepts are understood, we see that Paul begins Ephesians 2 by teaching that we humans live in a world of sin and death, which we inflict upon ourselves by accusing, condemning, and killing one another, and justifying it all by doing these things in God’s name. We do these things because in our flesh, we know of no other way to live.

Even we religious people kill and are killed, just like everyone else (Ephesians 2:1-3). This is the human problem, and we are enslaved to it because we know of no other way to live (though such life is ruled by death).

So the overall summary of Ephesians 2 is that while we humans tend to live in hatred and violence toward one another (thinking that this was also God’s way), now Jesus has revealed a better way, and we can follow Him in this way by faith.

If we do, we will live at peace with one another and in so doing, truly reflect God to a watching world.

What is Paul teaching in Ephesians 2:13?

So then, with all this in mind, the explanation of Ephesians 2:13 is quite simple.

The violent death of Jesus on the cross revealed the truth about religious-political violence: that it is we humans who want and desire it; not God.

The blood of Jesus reveals that God never wanted or needed blood sacrifice or sacred violence of any kind in order for people to draw near to Him. All people were always welcome.

As a result, Gentiles are just as near to God as anyone else. Gentiles are not to be kept at a distance from God, nor are they more sinful or less pure in God’s eyes. There is no dividing wall of separation or religious commandments and ordinances which keep some people cut off from God’s love and grace.

No, all are invited in. All are welcome.

The blood of Jesus has brought everyone near, by proving that no one was ever kept at a distance.

All divisions of men are nothing more than man-made divisions, and now Jesus has torn them all down.

So how does the blood of Jesus Redeem us?

By looking at Ephesians 1:7 and Ephesians 2:13, we now understand how the blood of Jesus redeems us.

Jesus did not buy off God or pay the debt of our sin to God. After all, if God had been “paid for our sins” then He would not be able to forgive us. (When someone owes you a debt, you can either get re-paid or forgive their debt, but you cannot do both. Payment of debt and forgiveness of debt are mutually exclusive.)

But Jesus did need to die, and He needed to die in a bloody, violent, sacrificial way. Why? To redeem, rescue, and deliver humanity from the sin and violence that we have always committed against each other (but blamed God for doing).

Jesus wanted us to be released from our sin, and so He died to reveal our sin to us.

Now that our eyes have been opened, we can live in a new way with God and with others. We can live in peace, without the dividing walls of hostility, and without the blame, violence, and scapegoating that we perform in God’s name.

Jesus came to show us a new way to live, which is exactly what He did through His life, death, and resurrection.

We have redemption through His blood because He redeemed us from our sinful and violent way of living and revealed to us God’s way of living. His bloody death released us from addiction to sin and scapegoating, and showed us how to live in the way of love and forgiveness.

Here is how to understand Ephesians 1:7 and Ephesians 2:13:

Through the blood of Jesus, we have been bought back from our slavery to sin and violence. We have been released from our addiction to scapegoating others in God’s name. He did this out of His great love and grace for us. Therefore, now we who were once far off from God have been brought near to God through the blood of Jesus. Through Him we see a new way to live, a way which leads to peace with God and peace with one another.

If you want to learn more about this entire idea, read my book (#AmazonAdLink) Nothing but the Blood of Jesus.

This course costs $297, but when you join the Discipleship group, you can to take the entire course for free.

No, the blood of Jesus did not buy forgiveness of sins from God (Matthew 26:28)

By Jeremy Myers

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In Matthew 26:28, Jesus says, “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Does this mean that the blood of Jesus had to be shed so that He could buy forgiveness of sins for us from God?

Let’s see … what is the best way to answer this question? … Let me try this:

NO!

Ha!

But I bet you want a better explanation …

I know that there are several verses in the Bible that some use to argue for the idea that Jesus had to shed His blood to purchase forgiveness of sins from God, but when carefully studied in their contexts, none of these Bible passages are teaching this idea.

God has always forgiven all people of all their sins simply because this is who God is. He did not need to be paid off or bought before He could forgive us. (That wouldn’t be forgiveness anyway…. you can either forgive a debt or be repaid, but not both.)

Matthew 26:28 is one of the passages that sometimes is quoted in defense of this idea that Jesus paid for our sins with His blood.

During the Last Supper on the night before His arrest, trial, and crucifixion, Jesus shared the Passover Meal with His disciples and imbued new symbolism into the bread and wine.

He said that the bread represented His body broken for them and the wine represented His blood shed for them. He then said that these things point to the new covenant in His blood, which is for the forgiveness of sins.

Some seem to assume through this description of events that Jesus was teaching His disciples that His blood would purchase the New Covenant and the forgiveness of sins from God.

But there are two keys which provide a better understanding of this text. A careful look at the context and what the rest of the New Testament teaches about the New Covenant and forgiveness reveals something different.

Let us briefly consider both concepts and how they relate to Matthew 26:28.

Matthew 26:28 and the New Covenant

Jesus was not teaching that His blood was the purchase price for forgiveness and the New Covenant, but that His blood was the sign of such things.

In reference the New Covenant, the blood of Jesus signaled that this New Covenant was now in effect. In essence, Jesus died to inaugurate or enact the New Covenant.

It is important to think of the New Covenant, not as a new system of laws and regulations to keep, but instead as a Last Will & Testament. And indeed, the term Jesus uses here does have this idea in view. Jesus is not sharing a new legal Contract, but new legal Will.

When we think of the Covenant as a “Last Will & Testament” rather than as a legal contract (as the Greek words used seem to indicate), it becomes clear that a Last Will & Testament is not put into effect as long as the one who made it still lives (cf. Hebrews 9:15-17).

For a Last Will & Testament to be enacted, the one who made it must die. Yet since this is God’s Last Will & Testament, and since God cannot die, it was impossible for the Will to come into effect unless God became human and died as a human, which is what He did in Jesus Christ.

So when Jesus speaks of His blood representing the New Covenant, He is pointing out the fact that the New Covenant which had been promised through the Old Testament prophets (cf. Jeremiah 31:31-34) would now be put into effect because the one who made this Last Will & Testament was now here and was about to die.

All of this is explained in more detail in Hebrews 9–10.

So when we understand that Jesus is talking a Last Will instead of a legal contract in Matthew 26:28, we then understand that the blood of Jesus was for the purpose of enacting the legal terms of this new Last Will & Testament. The death of Jesus was not needed to buy forgiveness, but to enact a new Will.

But what about the statement in Matthew 26:28 about the forgiveness of sins? Doesn’t that prove that Jesus did, in fact, die to purchase forgiveness of sins from God?

Matthew 26:28 and the Forgiveness of Sins

When it comes to the forgiveness that Jesus mentions in Matthew 26:28, it is critical to recognize that there are two types of forgiveness in the Bible.

There is charizomai forgiveness and aphēsis forgiveness. Charizomai forgiveness is based on the free grace (charis) of God and is freely extended to all people throughout all time for all sins, with no strings or conditions attached.

Aphēsis forgiveness, however, does have conditions, such as repentance and turning from sin. But aphēsis forgiveness has nothing to with our standing with God or what He thinks about us. Aphēsis forgiveness is not about our relationship with God.

Instead, aphēsis forgiveness is about our relationship with sin. Aphēsis forgiveness is only about one thing, and that is whether or not we are addicted to sin or break free from sin. This is why a better English translation for aphēsis is “release” or “remission.”

Aphēsis forgiveness is not about getting forgiveness from God, but is instead about breaking free from the addictive and destructive power of sin in our lives.

If you are addicted to a certain type or pattern of sin in your life, God has 100% forgiven you for this sin. This is charizomai forgiveness. But God’s charizomai forgiveness doesn’t help you much in breaking free from sin. For this, you need to repent, confess, and take steps to turn away from this sin, and start following God instead. When you do this, you will gain aphēsis, release, from the power of sin in your life.

So what kind of forgiveness is Jesus talking about in Matthew 26:28? It is aphēsis, release. This is why many Bible translations use the word “remission” here instead of “forgiveness.”

Jesus is not talking about how He is going to get God to forgive our sins. No, Jesus is talking about how His life and death, about how His shed blood, is going to help us break free from the power of sin in our lives.

Jesus is telling His disciples that through His blood, that is, through His violent death as a sacrificial scapegoat, they will gain deliverance and release from the sin that has enslaved humanity since the foundation of the world.

And this is exactly what happened. The violent death of Jesus on the cross exposed the lie of scapegoating and sacrificial violence for what it was. Those who see this lie are then able to live their lives in freedom from it.

How to Understand Matthew 26:28

So Jesus’ words at the Last Supper closely mirror what we have seen about blood in Genesis 4:10 and Hebrews 12:24 above. The murder of Abel by Cain represents the fratricidal, murderous violence upon which all human civilization is built. In unveiling this sin, the author of Hebrews compared the word spoken by the blood of Abel with the Old Covenant, and then contrasts this with the word spoken by the blood of Jesus and the New Covenant.

Whereas the Old Covenant and the blood of Abel was concerned with sacrifice, vengeance, and retaliation, the New Covenant based upon the blood of Jesus speaks of grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

And this is what Jesus says to His disciples during their Last Supper.

He brings them to the table and says, “I’m going to inaugurate a New Covenant, a new way of doing things, a new Last Will & Testament. And it’s going to be put into effect through my death. And when you see what I am revealing through my death, you will gain release from the addictive and destructive power of sin that has enslaved humanity since the foundation of the world.”

Do you see? There is no mention in here of buying forgiveness from God. Quite the opposite in fact. Jesus is not saying, “I am going to die so God can forgive you.”

No, Jesus is saying, “I’m going to die so that you can learn that God has ALWAYS forgiven you, and my death will show you how to live in a similar way toward others. My death is going to show you how to extend unconditional love and free forgiveness toward others, as God has always extended toward you. And when you live this way, you will break free from the sin of violent, bloody, sacrificial scapegoating that has plagued humanity since the very beginning.”

So do you see?

The Old Covenant, the Mosaic Covenant, enslaved us to sin, and thus, to sacrificial and scapegoating violence.

But the New Covenant in Jesus, introduced to us and inaugurated for us through His own violent death on the cross, shows that we are completely forgiven and have always been forgiven, and that there is nothing for which God will not forgive us.

The New Covenant enacted through the death of Jesus which brings release from our bondage to sin.

Therefore, we too can forgive. Rather than lash out in violence against those who wrong us, we can, like God, simply extend love and forgiveness.

By seeing God’s loving, forgiving, non-retaliatory character through the death of Jesus, we are shown the way to live in loving, forgiving, non-retaliatory community with other people. Observing the Lord’s Supper serves as a reminder of the way we are to live with one another.

In the Last Supper, Jesus used the cup of wine to symbolize how He was making a new Last Will & Testament with humanity. This time, the Testament will be put into effect by His own blood.

When we see Him do this, it is then that our eyes are opened to the truth about sin. What we see in the death of Jesus helps us finally break free from the destructive power of sin that has plagued humanity since the foundation of the world.

This is how the death of Jesus reveals our sin to us, and releases us from the bondage of sin in our lives.

Jesus did not buy forgiveness of sins for us from God, but instead revealed that God has always loved and only forgiven, and we can live this way as well.

This course costs $297, but when you join the Discipleship group, you can to take the entire course for free.

Forgiveness in Acts 2:38

Forgiveness in Acts 5:31

Forgiveness in Acts 10:43

Forgiveness in Acts 13:38

Forgiveness in Acts 26:18

The Unpardonable Sin in Matthew 12:31-32

The Most Common View about the Unforgivable Sin

The Bible Doesn’t State what the Unforgivable Sin Actually IS

Key Insight on the Unforgivable Sin: The TYPE of Forgiveness Jesus is Talking About

Why is It called Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit?

So What is the Unforgivable Sin?

The Meaning of the Word “Confess”

The Meaning of the Word “Forgive”

The Overall Theme of 1 John

Confession in 1 John 1:9

The Basic Summary of Ephesians

The Introduction to Ephesians

So what is Paul teaching in Ephesians 1:7?

The Forgiveness of Sins

Redemption through His blood

How Paul Elaborates on this Theme in Ephesians 2:13

Reverse Engineering Ephesians 2

The Application (Ephesians 2:11-22)

The Solution (Ephesians 2:4-10)

The Problem (Ephesians 2:1-3)

What is Paul teaching in Ephesians 2:13?

So how does the blood of Jesus Redeem us?

NO!

Matthew 26:28 and the New Covenant

Matthew 26:28 and the Forgiveness of Sins

How to Understand Matthew 26:28

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