God’s Forgiveness

 

God hates sin. It is the opposite of how He thinks and acts; it causes suffering and death. Yet our merciful God is willing to forgive all our sins!

“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies” (Psalm 103:2-4).

There is no one who doesn’t make mistakes—little ones or big ones. We all sin. God is disappointed when we do, but not shocked. He knew that we would sin when He gave man the freedom to choose, sometimes called free will.

God’s goal in creating mankind was to have a family of sons and daughters like Himself. “Like Himself” means having the character to choose what is right instead of what is wrong.

It takes time, effort and God’s help to achieve that kind of character. We must overcome the weakness of our human nature, the influence of Satan and the many sinful habits that we often slip into.

So, in life’s journey, we will at times fail to live up to the standards given in God’s Word. God in His mercy knew this would be the case, and so He provided a way that we could be forgiven of those sins.

We all sin

There is only one human who has not sinned—Jesus Christ. The rest of us, you and me, have sinned—and will sin—many times!

King Solomon wrote, “For there is not a just man on earth who does good [all the time] and does not sin” (Ecclesiastes 7:20).

The apostle Paul echoed the same truth: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Sins are actions contrary to God’s laws. They bring the penalty of death (Romans 6:23). We all are, or have been, under that penalty, living on death row. The only way to have that penalty removed is through God’s forgiveness.

It is His desire that we should not have to suffer such a terrible price.

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

He wants us to come to understand that wonderful, encouraging truth. He “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).

God forgives

When we come to a time in our lives when we see sin is wrong, want to stop and perhaps wonder how we can clean up our lives, we soon realize it is impossible for us to do so on our own.

“Who can say, ‘I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin’?” (Proverbs 20:9).

We cannot do it by ourselves, but God is more than willing to help us. He did not plan for us to fail. He is a God of love and mercy, who both desires that we bury the past and provides a way by which that can be accomplished.

From the beginning, God’s plan included a way for our sins to be forgiven.

When God created mankind, He anticipated that people would sin and would need a Redeemer from those sins. So, from the very beginning, His plan included sending His Son to give His life that we may have forgiveness.

“He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14).

What is forgiveness?

Paul wrote, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23)—and not just the temporary death that comes to all, but eternal death. Earlier, he had stated that “through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12).

There is no sin so great that God will not forgive—if we repent of it and seek His forgiveness.This truth is mentioned a number of times in the Old Testament also. For example, Ezekiel 18:4 says, “Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die.”

Then the prophet Ezekiel was inspired to add:

“But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live” (verses 21-22).

God makes possible redemption, which is explained more fully in other passages that make it clear forgiveness is nothing we can earn.

“For we will surely die and become like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away a life; but He devises means, so that His banished ones are not expelled from Him” (2 Samuel 14:14).

God has provided a means, a way.

Whenever we sin, we incur a debt. But God has provided a way that the penalty, or debt, can be paid by someone else—His Son, Jesus.

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

Notice what the prophet Isaiah wrote centuries earlier:

“‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the LORD, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool’” (Isaiah 1:18).

And again, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins” (Isaiah 43:25).

How do we receive forgiveness?

What should we do when we sin? How can we receive God’s forgiveness?

One of the first steps is to admit and confess our sins to God.

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10).

In his first sermon Peter added more details of the steps we should take: “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” (Acts 2:38).

Repentance is turning from what is wrong to what is right, as defined by the laws of God.

“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:7).

Christ told the woman caught in adultery, “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11).

Every sin can be forgiven

Sometimes we think our sins are so bad that God wouldn’t be willing to forgive us.

However, there is no sin so great that God will not forgive—if we repent of it and seek His forgiveness.

“Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things” (Acts 13:38-39).

Jesus Christ’s sacrifice is great enough to cover any sin we might commit and come to regret. His sacrifice can cover the sins of all mankind.

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works” (Titus 2:11-14).

Corinth was an extremely sinful city. Many who became followers of Christ had earlier been living very sinful lives, participating in all kinds of perversity.

“And such were some of you,” Paul wrote. “But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11).

Paul said they had now been forgiven. Those men and women had been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

That same cleansing is available to us all. Whatever the sin—secret or open, greater or lesser, done deliberately or in ignorance, of omission or commission—any wrong we have done can be totally blotted out through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

What if we sin again after forgiveness?

What if we mess up again after asking for forgiveness? Can we be forgiven again?

Actually, it’s not a matter of “what if,” for we all will, from time to time, slip up and sin again. Even while trying not to, we all slip up at times. But as long as we keep trying—wanting to change, being sorry for our mistakes—God is very willing to forgive.

God is merciful and will continue to forgive as long as we keep trying. Those mistakes should occur less and less often as we grow spiritually and use His Spirit to help us master the pulls of sin.

The book of Proverbs mentions that a righteous person may fall seven times. That implies he gets up every time.

“For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity” (Proverbs 24:16).

“My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2).

There are hundreds of scriptures proclaiming God’s desire and willingness to forgive. For example:

• Jesus Christ “loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood” (Revelation 1:5).
• “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered . . . I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,’ and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah” (Psalm 32:1, 5).
• “You have forgiven the iniquity of Your people; You have covered all their sin” (Psalm 85:2).
• “And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth’” (Exodus 34:6).

God is a merciful God. His mercy extends to a thousand generations. He expects us to show mercy to others who have wronged us.

In an example of how we should pray to God for forgiveness, Jesus stated: “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). We must forgive others if we expect God to forgive us. (That doesn’t mean we must continue to associate with them if they continue to do us wrong.)

When Peter asked Christ how many times he should forgive others, Christ said seven times 70, or 490 times (Matthew 18:21-22). Couldn’t we expect much more from God?

It is His desire that we learn from our mistakes, which bring only problems, pain and emptiness into our lives. He wants us to see that sin brings no real lasting joy or fulfillment. He deeply desires that we come to see there is a better way—the way of our Creator.

Learn more about God’s forgiveness and the steps involved in conversion in our booklet Change Your Life.

How to Pray for Forgiveness

 

We naturally want the blessing of being forgiven. But we don’t naturally know how to pray for forgiveness. God recorded these examples to help.

Have you ever had to tell someone, “I’m sorry”? Or even more meaningfully, “Please forgive me”?

Asking for forgiveness is hard! Actually, asking for forgiveness means much more than just saying, “I’m sorry!” As a child, you may have had your parents instruct you to tell a sibling “I’m sorry!” You might have said it without really meaning it.

But think about what it is like to also ask for forgiveness—maybe asking your mate to forgive you for doing something that hurt him or her, or asking your child to forgive you for missing an event he or she really wanted you to attend.

Now think of that on a much higher plane. How does one ask God for forgiveness?

Psalm 51, a prayer for forgiveness

One of my favorite passages is Psalm 51 where David came before God after he had been confronted with his sin with Bathsheba. Through this particular psalm, we are given a clear example of how to go to God in a prayer for forgiveness.

Psalm 51 begins: “A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions” (superscription and verse 1).

Ask for mercy

We see the first thing David did was ask for mercy. Not the mercy of man, but the mercy of God, according to His lovingkindness.

Then David reminded God of His tender mercies and asked that God blot out his transgressions. To “blot out” means to erase, or to wipe away. David did not want a stain on his relationship with God.

Wash and cleanse me!

“Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin” (verse 2). Here David continued the thought, and he was clearly meditating on the fact that sin was a stain on his character. He knew that he couldn’t be forgiven through any of his own actions, but he had to depend on God.

“For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me” (verse 3). Not everyone reaches this next step in asking for forgiveness from God or from others. We must truly acknowledge that we have done something wrong.

As mentioned earlier, when our parents asked us to say “I’m sorry,” it often didn’t require the confession of being wrong.

Yet here, David accepted the fact that he was guilty, and he expressed his remorse to God. He knew God was aware of his sin.

Sin is the transgression of God’s law

“Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight—that You may be found just when You speak, and blameless when You judge” (verse 4). Sin is breaking God’s law. If it is not repented of, it will separate us from God (1 John 3:4; Isaiah 59:2).

Humility and, as David said, a broken and contrite spirit are necessary for us to seek God’s forgiveness.“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom” (Psalm 51:5-6).

In making this statement, David was not imputing evil to his mother or his conception. Rather, he was acknowledging that his nature, from his earliest recollection, was beset with a propensity to sin. David’s repentance was one of deep emotion and feeling. He knew that God wanted him to change, and he knew that he had to change from the inside out, not just in appearances.

Purge me and make me clean!

“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow” (verse 7). Hyssop was a plant used in sacred purification ceremonies. David asked to be purged, or cleansed to the fullest extent, to be even whiter than snow.

“Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice” (verse 8).

His sin had become a great burden on his mind, to the point that he compared it to having his bones broken with the weight of carrying it. Sin should have the same weight in our minds as well. As David was asking God for His joy, so we should ask Him to bring us out of our mistakes and our trials and bless us again with a fresh start.

Put my sins away

“Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities” (verse 9). David again asked for God to remove his sins from him and to put them away.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (verse 10). We see the idea repeated that David felt covered by sin and wanted to be cleansed. He also knew that the Spirit of God within him had to be restored. He wanted an “established” or “secured” spirit.

“Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me” (verse 11).

As Isaiah noted, sin actually causes a separation from God until that sin is repented of (Isaiah 59:2; 1 John 1:9). Sin caused the death of Jesus Christ, and it brings a penalty on us that only the Father and Son can remove (Romans 3:23; 6:23).

David’s desire that others also repent

Next, we see David seeking joy and happiness again—this time in order for him to positively affect others.

“Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You” (Psalm 51:12-13). David wanted others to experience what it was like to have their sins forgiven and relationships restored.

Even today we are still learning to repent and ask for forgiveness by studying David’s example.

“Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Your praise” (verses 14-15).

When David prayed for forgiveness, he also asked that God remove his guilt. His sorrow was a godly sorrow, and it produced not only cleansing, but desire and zeal—indignation and vindication (2 Corinthians 7:10-11; see also our article on “Godly Sorrow”).

Notice how David summed up his request to God. He acknowledged that he could do nothing on his own that could remove the penalty of sin, except to humble himself before God—with a meek and broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart (mind)—and simply ask for forgiveness!

“For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise” (Psalm 51:16-17).

Many times, a person may not know how to go before God and ask for forgiveness. David’s example has shown us one very clear way.

Two men went up to the temple to pray

We see another example of coming before God in heartfelt repentance in the book of Luke.

“Also [Jesus] spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:

“‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, “God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess”’” (Luke 18:9-12).

This man believed he had done all that he was required to do and more. He didn’t recognize the seriousness of his sins or his need for God’s mercy.

In contrast, notice the attitude of the tax collector in the parable:

“And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (verses 13-14).

Humility and, as David said, a broken and contrite spirit are necessary for us to seek God’s forgiveness (Psalms 34:18; 51:17). God is willing to wipe the slate clean—to mercifully justify those who approach Him this way. (See “Justification: How Can We Be Justified?”)

What shall we do?

Acts 2:36-41 describes a group of individuals on the Day of Pentecost (one of God’s annual festivals) who were listening to Peter. He explained the role of Jesus Christ in their lives and how they (because of their sins) were responsible for crucifying Him.

When they recognized their sins, they expressed godly sorrow—being cut deeply to their hearts. And so they asked the question, “What shall we do?”

Peter’s answer was clear: “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.”

In the same way, our sins also led to Jesus’ death (Romans 4:25; 1 Corinthians 15:3). Therefore, we, too, must acknowledge our sins and see the need to repent and be baptized.

Study more about this in our articles “Repentance From Dead Works” and “Baptism: Does God Want You to Be Baptized?”

Repentance

Repentance is one of the hardest things for us to do. But, if we are honestly seeking forgiveness, that’s where we have to begin.

The first step in repentance is confessing our sin before God and asking for His forgiveness. It should be heartfelt and genuine.

Study more in our articles “How to Repent,” “What Is Repentance?” and “Forgiveness: How Can We Be Forgiven?”

What about you?

We should appreciate God’s mercy and recognize that His goodness leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). To receive the unmerited gracious gift of forgiveness, we must humbly confess our sins to Him with a deep desire to repent and change. Repentance is a process that we must go through, and it should be repeated every time we find that we have sinned (1 John 1:8-9).

What about you? Are you ready to go before God in prayer and ask for forgiveness?

Does God Forget Our Sins?

 

Our loving God offers to forgive our sins. He wants us to learn to forgive. But does He actually totally forget our sins? Does He expect us to forgive and forget?

Forgive and forget is a common phrase in English, which some date back to the 1300s. Many also believe it is biblical. Some believe God forgives and forgets, and that we should too.

But does God forget our sins? If so, why did someone like David, who repented and was forgiven, still have to face the consequences of his sin with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12:13-14)?

It is common to believe that once God forgives our sins He also completely forgets them. Our sins are often quite embarrassing and troubling to us, and since we want to forget them, we want God to forget them too. But is that exactly what the Bible says happens?

The implications of forgive and forget

There are actually two parts to this question:

1. Once we have repented, does God purge His memory of any and all sins so that forgiven transgressions do not exist in His mind and cannot ever be recalled?

2. God is our example in everything, including forgiveness. So, if true forgiveness required us to purge a memory from our minds, would it then mean we have not truly forgiven if we still recalled an offense or sin against us?

Jesus Christ stated, “But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses” (Mark 11:26). Therefore this question is an important one for us to answer and have correct.

Does the Bible say God will forgive and forget?

One of the greatest truths of the Bible is that God loved us so much He gave His only begotten Son for us (John 3:16). Jesus Christ sacrificed His life to pay for our sins in order to forgive us when we repent. God is a merciful God, and He will remove our sins “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12; read more about God’s forgiveness in our article “What Is Forgiveness?”).

God clearly forgives. But many have asked if He really does completely forget. There are several passages that seem to indicate that God does indeed remove all knowledge of repented sins from His mind:

• Psalm 25:7: “Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; according to Your mercy remember me, for Your goodness’ sake, O LORD.”
• Jeremiah 31:34: “No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
• Ezekiel 18:22: “None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live.”
• Hebrews 8:12 (which is a quote of Jeremiah 31:34 and is repeated in Hebrews 10:17): “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

However, consider that the Bible nowhere says God will forget our sins, only that He will not remember them. This distinction becomes clear when we understand what the Hebrew words for “remember” and “forget” really mean.

Meaning of remember in the Bible

In English, the word remember generally focuses on the idea of recalling memories or bringing past matters to mind. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines it as “to bring to mind or think of again.”

In English, to forget is the exact opposite—to fail to be able to bring a memory to mind or, as Merriam-Webster’s says, “to lose the remembrance of: be unable to think of or recall.” It is entirely a mental exercise, whether or not information is present.

In Hebrew, it is not that way.

The primary word for “remember” in Hebrew is zakar, but the meaning is much broader than the common definition in English. It includes both bringing a thought to mind and the actions that are taken as a result of remembering. It can often imply that a person did a favor for someone or honored a promise or covenant. For example, note the following two verses where zakar is used:

• “Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided” (Genesis 8:1).
• “Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb” (Genesis 30:22).

Obviously, God did not forget about either Noah or Rachel, but He “remembered” in that He took action and intervened in their lives.

Meaning of forget in the Bible

There are two primary words for “forget” in Hebrew: shakach and nashah. But they are not exact opposites of zakar. To forget in Hebrew also means to ignore, neglect, forsake or act in willful disregard of a person or promise. Israel was warned often not to forget God, as in Deuteronomy 4:23:

“Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you.”

To forget the covenant was more than just erasing the memory of it, but included the actions of forsaking and disregarding it.

So when God said He would “utterly forget you and forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and will cast you out of My presence” (Jeremiah 23:39), He was saying that He would no longer honor the covenant with them because they had broken it. God would cease to intervene on their behalf—not erase knowledge of them from His memory.

God chooses not to remember

Choosing not to remember means God will not take action against us because of sins we have repented of. He deliberately chooses not to exact due punishment for our sins, but treats us with grace and forgiveness.If we understand the language in which the Bible was written (the Greek wording of the New Testament carries a similar distinction in meanings), we can see that when God chooses never to remember our sins again, it means He has chosen to purge them from our record, or treat us as if the sins never existed.

Since remembering implies actions (in this case vengeance and punishment), then choosing not to remember means God will not take action against us because of sins we have repented of. He deliberately chooses not to exact due punishment for our sins, but treats us with grace and forgiveness.

If God does indeed remove all knowledge of our sins from His mind, then how did He inspire the Bible to be written, including the sins of David, Abraham, Joseph, Peter, Paul, etc., long after the men had sinned, repented and in some cases died?

And what about David’s punishment? Why did God still allow the death of David’s son after He had forgiven David’s sin? Because we find that punishment is a powerful learning tool, and God never promises to remove from us the natural consequences of our sins. David needed to learn the lesson so powerfully he would never repeat it. And those who saw David’s actions also needed to learn. Frankly, we still need to learn that lesson today!

Can we forgive and forget?

To sum this all up, how are we expected to apply these principles? Human beings do not have the ability to completely erase many of our experiences from our memories. Small offenses and slights will generally disappear from our memories with time, but large and serious offenses generally will not.

For a human being to forgive as God forgives means that we choose to lay aside our grievances and the “debt” we may feel we are owed due to wrongs that were committed against us. Read “When Forgiveness Isn’t Easy.”

The big difference is that God can do this perfectly, while we, as humans, may need to do this over and over again as the memory and pain return to our minds (the principle of forgiving 70 times seven in Matthew 18:22). Perhaps in the Kingdom we will be able to do this perfectly as God does.

In the meantime, it takes much more love to be hurt and choose to set aside grievances multiple times than it would to erase an incident from our memories (if that were possible). And interestingly, the more we love one another, the easier it becomes to lay aside grievances and truly forgive as God forgives us.

Learn more about forgiveness in the other related articles in this section.

John 20:23: Did Jesus Give Authority to Forgive Sins?

 

Did Jesus give His apostles authority to forgive or not forgive sins? If so, did that carry over to His ministers today? Who is really able to forgive sins?

After His resurrection, Jesus told the disciples, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:23).

The majority of Bible translations use similar wording here, making it sound like God has given the ministry of the Church the authority to forgive or retain sins. This perception has been more prevalent in the Catholic Church.

The proper translation of John 20:23

One of the few translations that reflect key Greek nuances here is the New American Standard Bible: “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained” (emphasis added throughout).

The NASB Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible adds the following marginal note: “have previously been forgiven” (Spiros Zodhiates, Th.D.).

Therefore, the NASB better reflects the fact that these individuals’ sins will have already been forgiven or retained by God before the apostles’ recognition of the same. This is not just a matter of picking a translation that says what we want it to say. The word forgiven is in the perfect tense.

Glossary of Morpho-Syntactic Database Terminology explains the perfect tense as follows:

“The verb tense used by the writer to describe a completed verbal action that occurred in the past but which produced a state of being or a result that exists in the present (in relation to the writer).”

Jesus’ words in John 20:23 were stated immediately after alluding to a tool in this process that that would be new to them: “He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (verse 22).

Of course, they didn’t have God’s Spirit dwelling in them until several weeks later on Pentecost (John 14:17).

Nevertheless, this tool would allow the apostles to make Spirit-led judgments. Christ’s breathing on them was symbolic of their receiving God’s Spirit. And verse 23 represents the fruit of God’s Spirit, that is, they will be inspired to either pardon or discipline people according to what has already been bound by God.

At the same time, God never binds anything that truly contradicts His will or approval.

For example, Paul determined that Church members in Corinth shouldn’t have tolerated the man involved in sexual immorality with his stepmother: “Your glorying is not good” (1 Corinthians 5:1-6).

However, about a year later, Paul told them that the man’s punishment and repentance were “sufficient” for them to “forgive and comfort him” (2 Corinthians 2:6-7).

Both the punishment and pardon were Spirit-led judgments.

Binding and loosing in Matthew 18:18 and Matthew 16:19

The same principle and Greek grammar are found in Matthew 18:18: “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Several other translations bring out the proper meaning here:

• “Whatever you forbid ... on earth must be what is already forbidden in heaven” (Amplified Bible).
• “Whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven” (English Majority Text).
• “Whatever you bind on the earth will be, having been bound in Heaven” (Literal Translation Version).
• “Whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven” (NASB).

Likewise, this principle and Greek grammar apply to the wording in Matthew 16:19.

The proper translation of these three accounts underscores that God determines that which is bound or loosed, as opposed to leaving such decisions solely in the hands of men.The proper translation of these three accounts underscores that God determines that which is bound or loosed, as opposed to leaving such decisions solely in the hands of men.

Consider the Old Testament model of judgment

Some of Israel’s leaders (elders, judges, kings, officers, etc.) received God’s Spirit (Numbers 11:16-17).

Moses expressed the following during the early stages of the administrative system of judges: “You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small as well as the great; you shall not be afraid in any man’s presence, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it” (Deuteronomy 1:17).

When a judgment is Spirit-led, then the “judgment is God’s.” The same was true for the judgments that Moses would make in the more difficult cases brought to him.

This reality was even more applicable for the New Testament apostles, who, in compliance with John 20:23, would judge an entire body that—for the first time—would be comprised of Spirit-filled members (God’s Church).

Only God can fully forgive sin

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). God’s forgiveness is supreme in that He cleanses one from sin or “blots out your transgressions” (Isaiah 43:25). This authority is reserved for God. As Mark 2:7 states, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Now, as Christians, we should “forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12), but this falls short of clearing one’s sins. Our forgiveness involves letting go of grudges, “lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled” (Hebrews 12:15). And this can be extended repeatedly—the implied meaning of “seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:22). (Study more about this in our articles “How to Forgive” and “Grudges.”)

Nevertheless, we don’t have divine authority to both forgive and cleanse anyone’s sins—only God can do that.

The judgment is God’s

God doesn’t wait to see whom men will forgive before He forgives a person’s sins (upon repentance). Instead, God’s leadership strives to come to Spirit-led judgments, representing outcomes that God will have already determined as right or wrong.

Ultimately, the judgment is God’s!

Study more about judgment, repentance and forgiveness in our articles “Judgment of God: The Real Story,” “How to Repent” and “What Is Forgiveness?”