Answers for a Friend – Judgment & Forgiveness
April 6, 2003
Dear Friends,
The last question in our series of “Answers for a Friend” is “Do Christadelphians teach sin is not remembered anymore by God when it is one’s personal sin actually forgiven? When someone repents and turns isn’t sin no longer held against them? Doesn’t scripture indicate such sins are forgotten by God and cast as far as east is from west? If that is so, how can God remember it to use it in judgement if judgement is truly a weighing of your good versus evil?”
This is a great question because it strikes to the heart of an apparent contradiction in Scripture. On the one hand, we are told that God forgets our sins during the process of forgiveness. One example of this principle us found in Isaiah 43:25 – “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” On the other hand we are told that we must all give account for our actions at Judgment. One example of this principle is found in Matthew 12:36 – “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” There are plenty of verses alluding to Judgment (see Rom. 14:12, 2 Cor. 5:10) and plenty of verses supporting the obliteration of our sins (see Ps. 79:8, Is. 64:9). So how do we make sense of this?
As with many apparent contradictions in the Scriptures, the problem is a surface problem. When we fully appreciate the context of most of these passages and understand the big picture, it makes perfect sense. There are really two parties at Judgment – those who will be commended/rewarded and those who will be condemned/punished. The problem comes when you take Scriptures about one party and apply it to the other.
Let’s look at it another way to get the big picture. Once we make a covenant with God by faith and baptism, we are always in that covenant. However, we can go in and out of fellowship with God. Fellowship (Gr. koinonia) means “partnership” or “sharing in common.” By covenant, we come into fellowship. By faith, we remain in fellowship. However, if we lose our faith and fall away, we lose that “partnership” with God. This is why Paul tells the brethren at Corinth to put out from among them the man who had sinned with his father’s wife. He had broken that partnership with God though he was still liable to Judgment.
We can think of this on a human level. If we enter into a business partnership, we begin with a legal document (a covenant) outlining important matters such as what we will bring to the partnership and our responsibilities. If one of the partners suddenly decides not to show up for work anymore, the partnership (fellowship) may be dissolved, but the legal arraignment (covenant) is still in force and the negligent party is responsible for any penalties spelled out in that contract.
When we come into covenant with God, we agree that we will believe Him and obey Him. Part of this agreement is that we are going to sin from time to time and that God will forgive us. In fact, He will forgive us to the extent that the Scriptures describe it as “forgetting” (although we know that this is hyperbolic language as God doesn’t literally forget anything). Yet, if we stop believing – the basis for our partnership – and start living in a manner out of keeping with this partnership, we are liable for the penalty of our partnership. This will be meted out at the Judgment Seat of Christ. “…we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” (Rom. 14:10-12)
So we have two types of individuals at Judgment: those who are in fellowship with God by faith and grace and those who are not in fellowship because they lost the faith (and the commensurate works) that saved them in the first place. For the former, they will have nothing to answer for as God has forgotten their sins through the act of repentance. For the latter, the Scriptures describes their lot in the most frightening terms. “Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” (Heb. 10:29)
May the merciful and loving God of Israel bless us to maintain our fellowship with Him by His grace until that day when “they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”
Have a great week!
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