Forgiveness of sins isn’t a terribly popular topic these days. Most people, when asked, wouldn’t say that having their sins forgiven is high on their list of priorities.

Nevertheless, I’m convinced that forgiveness of sins is important, and is something that people need to talk about from time to time.

The biblical word “sin” comes from the Greek hamartano, which literally means “to be without a share” in something, or to “miss the mark” as an archer might miss his target.

In context, this word usually refers to a break or rupture in a relationship (Matt 18:15, 18:21; Luke 15:18, 17:3-4; Rom 5:12, 5:18); although it can also refer to breaking a law (Acts 25:8, Rom 2:12), or falling short of an ideal (Rom 3:23).

In its broadest sense, sin doesn’t refer so much to individual acts of immorality as it does to a broken relationship between us and God, and between us and other people. The restoring of this relationship is at the heart of the gospel message.

How is this relationship restored? Many have taught (mistakenly, in my opinion) that in order for God to forgive our sins, Jesus had to die in our place, taking the punishment we deserve.

The problem with this argument is that Jesus forgave peoples’ sins long before He went to the cross (Matt 9:2, Luke 7:36-50, John 8:1-11), and even imparted this ability to His followers (John 20:23)!

As counter-intuitive as it may sound, I believe God forgives our sins before we repent, before we even ask for forgiveness!

In other words, God takes the first step in restoring our broken relationships.

In order to experience this restoration, we need to repent (that is, change our way of thinking) and begin to live for others and not just ourselves; but we need not worry that God won’t forgive us. God already has.

As Jesus tells us in the gospel writings, God desires “mercy, not sacrifice” (Matt 9:13), and “is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked” (Luke 6:35).

We have the assurance, then, that God has forgiven us – and we can therefore come to God with complete trust and confidence.

There’s a lot more, of course, to being a Christian than just having our sins forgiven; but knowing God loves us unconditionally is an important starting point.

From here we can begin to show this love to others, and eventually become the kind of people God is calling us to be.

(Coming Next: The Apostles’ Creed, the Conclusion – The Life Everlasting)