Originally posted by The Archangel:
Yelsew,
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr /> Therefore it is confession of sin, for which God forgives sin.
Do I understand you correctly? Are you saying that God forgives sin based on a confession of sin?
If I do understand you correctly, this statement troubles me. It is along the lines of the Moral Theory of the Atonement. (Someone mentioned that in an earlier post)
If you are correct, then why did Christ have to die? Could God have not "Written off" the sins of those who confessed?
Why then, did Jesus have to die?
Blessings,
Archangel </font>[/QUOTE]
[1 John 1:8-10] If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.[9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. [10] If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
There is a wage paid for Sin, and has been paid from the beginning. Consider the story of Noah, where all the population of the world was destroyed save for the eight humans who were in the ark. Why did God destroy all others?
[Gen 6:11-13] The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Paul tells the Roman Christians it is no different for us except that we have the Grace of God as the prevailing condition, whereas Noah, and Lot had the wrath of God prevailing. Paul said to the Romans,
[Rom 6:23] For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Jesus died to atone for (pay the penalty for) the sins of mankind, so that mankind would not have to die for their sins, for most assuredly God in his infinite Justice would pay us the wage our sins deserve...Death! Remember Noah, remember Sodom and Gomorrah where Lot's wife forfeited her life by looking back toward the cities!
But now we can live because our sins have been atoned for by the Lamb of God. The sins of the world were not taken away contrary to what John the Baptist said of Jesus. What has been taken away is the penalty for sin...death! The kind faced by those in Noah's time and in Sodom and Gomorrah.
Jesus the one who provided Atonement says,
[John 3:16] "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life".
Jesus' atonement for our sins Justifies us, so that our Belief in Him sanctifies us...that is, marks us for salvation, separates us from the unbelievers - Sheep from the goats if you will. While grace prevails, whosoever believeth in Him shall have eternal life. No boundaries, no demographics, no ethnicity, and no religious dogma can prevent the one who wants to believe in Jesus from doing so! Even so, if you do not believe in Jesus, you will surely die for Jesus also said,
[John 3:18,19] He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
All that is said to say Yes, confession of sin is the basis of forgiveness for sin. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Jesus paid the price, but did not remove sin from us, but God provides those of us who believe on his only begotten son, the Messiah, the power to not sin of our own free will. But if we do sin, Jesus' confessional is always open to hear our confession and He remains faithful to forgive and cleanse.