Dare to Believe that God is No Longer Counting Your Sins

I have yet to encounter a single person who disagrees with my views on sin & God's love legitimately confront what 2 Corinthians 5:19 says,
"God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, no longer charging to them their sins."

Not a one of them are willing to believe it or tell me that it doesn't mean what it says. They just go on choosing to believe that God charges them with sin & that He will shame them on judgment day with a video of every bad thing they've ever done. They claim to believe in the authority of scripture, that is unless it disagrees with what they've been indoctrinated to believe, then they just ignore it.

By saying this some might think I'm puffed up with knowledge but the fact is I am built up in love, built up in Jesus's love for me. And I want others to see His love for them. I used to believe that I should confess sins & repent of them but I found out I was wrong, that repent does not mean "turn from sin" in the New Testament Greek & that 1 John 1:9, the only scripture about confession, refers only to salvation, not to day to day Christian living.

People are saved by trusting Jesus to know Him. The barrier of sin was taken care of on the cross & that is what 2 Corinthians 5:19 is about. Your victory over sin & freedom from the power of sin because of Christ is beyond anything you've ever imagined. When I believed that I needed to repent & confess I literally could not have imagined if I tried the truth of what it means to be dead to sin. "He is able to do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine" (Ephesians 3:20).

I don't feel, in any stretch of the imagination that I lack God. My need of Him is constantly fulfilled. Jesus said "whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst again." He came to give us abundant life, not on-again off-again forgiveness, on-again off-again presence, on-again off-again grace. Of course we do reap what we sow. I am not sowing to a mind set on the flesh & its sinful deeds. My mind is set on the spirit & the perfection thereof.

I have dared to believe that God took my sins away, He does not charge me with sin as His child, He remembers my sins & lawless deeds no more, He takes none of my sins into account, He freed me from sin, sin's power over me has been ended by Jesus, I am no longer in my sins, no longer in my flesh, He made me die to sin with Him, He rescued me from the domain of darkness, forgiven everything there ever has been or ever will be needed to be forgiven, He cleansed me & purified me from all sin, sin has no power to separate me from Him, He released me from my sins by His blood.

And yeah every one of those things are in scripture. Compare that to the ONE place in scripture that talks about God convicting of sin & ONE place where it talks about people confessing their sins. It should be obvious then that both of those places have been misapplied to pertain to Christians.

"Let us throw off the sin that so easily entangles us. Jesus despises shame. So instead of shame let us instead fix our eyes upon Jesus. His trustworthiness creates & completes our trust in Him."

The Gospel Without Repentance

It seems to me that Christians publicly speaking against what they consider to be sin actually makes people less likely to come to trust in God. The gospel, the good news is that God isn't holding the world's sins against them (2 Corinthians 5:19).

Many Christians say, "God hates you because of your sin. You need to turn from your sin so He will forgive you."
The gospel says, "God holds nothing against you, just trust in Him to receive His love & His life."

Repent does not mean "turn from sin" in the New Testament, it is a mistranslation. The word repent does not belong in the New Testament. Instead of repent it should be translated as "change your mind."

When the bible says, "the sins of the world are taken away" that means the spiritual barrier of sin has been removed, the law is over, & God holds nothing you've done against you.

Forgive is also a mistranslation, for God to "forgive you" does not mean "God stops holding your sins against you." He stopped doing that at the cross when He "took away the sins of the world." What the bible actually means when you see the word forgive is "God takes away the burden of your sin off of you & He takes away the spiritual condition of your sin."

LIE:  Sin is a problem between you & God. You need Him to forgive you (meaning stop holding your sin against you).
TRUTH:  Sin is not a problem between you & God. God wants you to trust Him so He can remove your burdens & give you eternal life.

I am sick of the performance based "turn from sin" false gospel. We've been taught by almost every evangelist out there that, "You must let go of sin to be saved." But the truth is salvation isn't about you letting go of sin, it is about God making sin let go of you. To be saved you must trust God to remove sin's grip on you. When He does this it is permanently removed. You may grip onto it with your flesh at times but sin will never have a hold on you again!

God forgave us all at the cross. There He stopped charging all of mankind with sins & charged those sins to Himself so He could destroy them. But God cannot remove sin's condition without your permission, you have to willingly trust Him to become your Father by rebirth. The only way to stop death is by resurrection & rebirth.

Nearly all of these truths have been kept from the world & Christianity as a whole. Instead people are told, "God wants to torture & kill you but he'll call off his dogs if you agree to be his slave."

Good news! The King of Love is here! Change your minds to trust in Him. Do this & He will remove the guilt, shame, & burden of your sins. He will give you the gift of Himself, His very own Spirit to pour His love into your heart. He will make you into a new creation by causing your spirit to be reborn & united with His forever.

Related Posts
Jesus Did Not Come To Call The Righteous to Repentance?
Thoughts on Evangelism

Salvation: Grace, Forgiveness, & Life

Saved by Grace
"It is by grace you have been saved, through trust and this is not from yourselves it is the gift of God. You are not saved by works" (Ephesians 2:8-9). Grace implies graciousness which implies giving which implies gifts. Grace literally means "favor." I like to define favor as "God's disposition of loving-kindness."

Because God was predisposed to loving you and being kind to you, in His graciousness, He gave the gift of His Son. When you trust Him by receiving His gift, His Son, you are saved. You are not saved by works. You are not saved by turning from sin (a work). You are not saved by asking forgiveness (a work). You are saved by trusting Jesus. You change your mind from disbelief and doubt to trust, that is biblical repentance.

Forgiveness
"He has forgave us all our sins” (Colossians 2:13).
If someone accused me of something I hadn’t done and I forgave them, they would be forgiven. Forgiveness is all my side. Because of the cross, you are forgiven. You were not forgiven in accordance with anything you do, but in accordance with the riches of His grace (Ephesians 1:7). Forgiveness is all on God's side. It is something you receive as a gift. Gifts are already paid for. Forgiveness as a gift is something you receive by trust when you become aware of it. It is not something you have to ask for. When you trust the forgiveness Jesus bought at the cross you are saved. You cannot enjoy the benefit of the gift if you refuse to receive it. A gift refused is still a gift purchased & offered.

 

Changing Our Mind About Dead Works
Hebrews 6:1 calls one foundation of salvation "repentance from dead works." Repentance means "a change of mind." All works are dead if not done by Christ or through Christ. Repentance from dead works means you change your mind about dead works working. Hebrews 6:1 calls another foundation of salvation "trust in God." You change your mind about your works bringing life and realize, from hearing the good news, that only the work of Christ brings life so you choose to trust Jesus.

 

There is no law that can give life. (Galatians 3:21)
Jesus said, "You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!" (John 5:39)
Jesus said, "It is the Spirit that gives life. Human effort accomplishes nothing." (John 6:63)
Jesus said, "Truly, truly I say to you, He who trusts in me has eternal life." (John 6:47)
Jesus said, "This is eternal life, to know You Father, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." (John 17:3)

Forgiven and Loving

Jesus said, "He who is forgiven little, loves little” (Luke 7:47).
Most take this to mean, "The worse of a sinner you were before you came to Christ the more you will love God because he forgave you of so much sin." That may be true but let us look at this another way.

The truth is we have all been totally forgiven of all our sins, past, present, and future. If you think you must continue to ask for forgiveness (confess your sins, repent, etc.) then you will love little. You will love little because you will see God's love and forgiveness as conditional to your recounting of sins (how most incorrectly view confession) or promise to try hard to not do particular sins again (how most incorrectly view repentance). Whether you realize it or not those are conditions many put on forgiveness and fellowship which are in reality two things Jesus earned for you eternally. If you think God's perfect love is conditional then you will only love conditionally also. You will judge people harshly based on their behavior and I'm sure all of you know some religious person who does so.

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins" (1 John 1:9).
The word "confess" in 1 John 1:9 does not mean recount (recall & recite in prayer) but it actually means "to agree." It is to agree with God about your sins, that you had them and Christ took care of them. If you agree with God that Christ took your sins away, which He did, then you have no reason to recount them. Doing so would actually be the opposite of what John intended when writing this scripture. 1 John 1:9 simply means, "You receive His forgiveness by believing His forgiveness." It is not a rule for daily relationship. It is praising God that Christ finished the work of forgiveness on the cross and saying, "I want in on this!" And it is continuing to agree with and rejoice over Christ's finished work on our behalf!

The word "repent" by itself has nothing to do with sin. It does not mean "turn from sin" in the New Testament. It is a mistranslation that really means "to change your mind about something." We find no commands for Christians to frequently repent. No one was ever even asked to do it twice! Contextually repent almost always means "to change your mind from mistrust/unbelief to trust/faith in Jesus," in other words "get saved." Jesus also specifically says not to make promises to God (Matthew 5:33-37). Jesus recommends we respond to God in time with an honest ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ We aren't to live by the promises we make to God but the promises He has made to us.

Sadly Christians everywhere have been taught to live the opposite of what God desires, that which is best for them. To ask for what they already have, earn what has already been paid for, and promise to try harder to do better. All of this devalues the love of Christ because it says He didn't do or completely do the things He did for us. If we think we have to do something to continue to get God's favor, forgiveness, and fellowship then we will make others earn ours as well. We will live in the imprisonment of believing one of the worst lies ever told.

No one was forgiven little on the cross. Everyone was forgiven of all sin for all time. He who understands God's forgiveness little understands God's love little and loves little. He who understands God's total forgiveness is free to love totally; heart, mind, soul, and strength.

Jesus Did Not Come To Call The Righteous to Repentance?

The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at Jesus's disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:30-32)

The only definition of repentance in the New Testament is "a change of mind." I could change my mind about eating shrimp or I could change my mind about walking to the park. Both are a change of mind but they concern different things. Jesus was speaking of the specific change of mind that leads to someone trusting Jesus. We Christians have already made this change of mind.

Another translation for "saved" is "cured" or "made well." If you are "saved" you are no longer sick because Jesus "makes you well" thus you have no need to repent, that is to change your mind to trust Jesus to be saved, cured, or made well. You've already done it. I don't think Jesus was saying "I never call the righteous to change their mind about anything."

Jesus said, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance" (Luke 5:31-32). When Jesus was saying this everyone was sick because He had not yet gone to the cross to cure people of sin with His blood. Jesus "ate and drank with the tax collectors and sinners” (Luke 5:30) because those who know they need a physician will accept treatment.

Those who are too proud to believe that they are sick or those who think they can cure themselves (in this case with their own good works) will reject the physician. Jesus didn't want to waste time with those who would reject Him. Jesus preferred to go to the spiritual hospitals of the humble rather than the houses of the self-righteous who refused treatment because they denied their sinful condition.

If you take repentance to mean "change of mind" which it does:

• Righteous people don't need to change their mind from unbelief to trust in Jesus to be saved because they have already trusted in Christ and are already saved.
• Righteous people don't need to change their mind as a whole because they have the mind of Christ. Who would want to get rid of that?
• Righteous people do need to change their mind when they discover something they believe to be false.
• Righteous people do need to change their mind about performing unloving actions. A change of mindset is much more effective and longer lasting than a mere change of action or behavior.
• Righteous people do need to change their mind as God leads them to. He may lead you to change your mind about your perspectives, courses of action, manners of approach, about almost anything. Allow God to renew your mind by being open to Him and honest with Him. He may challenge you to change your mind about something you've always held to be true or something that is dear to you.

If you take repentance to mean "turn from sin" which it doesn't:

• Righteous people don't need to turn from sin because as Acts 3:26 tells us "God raised up Jesus and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your sinful ways."
• Righteous people don't need to turn from sin because Christ took away sin. What is there to turn away from if it is gone?
• Righteous people don't need to turn from sin but scripture tells us to "put to death the deeds of the flesh" (Romans 8:13, Colossians 3:5). That doesn't mean turn away from sin but to claim the victory that our righteousness through the blood of Christ has already won over it. Recognize His grace and by it you will reject godless ways and worldly desires (Titus 2:12).

Repentance is not primarily about sin. Repentance is an openness to God's leading and teaching with the trust in Him to follow His leading and agree with His teaching. Repentance is not trying to do better or feeling really bad about something you've done. Repentance is a change of mind for the better not the mind dwelling on the worse.

When you make repentance (changing your mind) into something you force yourself to think or do you aren't allowing Christ to renew your mind. You may unknowingly be trying to change yourself for the worse! Repentance is most often something natural and unspoken. It is like a child wanting a cookie who is then offered a piece of pie. The child forgets all about the cookie. Repentance is not a work we do to gain or regain God's approval. Repentance is agreeing and cooperating with God's revealed love.

Related Posts:
Forgiven and Loving - Looks at the totality of our forgiveness, what it means to "confess sins," and includes another look at the meaning of repent.