When the apostle Paul wrote his letters to the Corinthians, it’s clear
that he had many problems to address. We sometimes hear about the
problems in church organization and practice, but the more basic
problems were personal. In 1 Cor. chapter 6, Paul began by
explaining why Christians should not have to bring fellow Christians to
court before a civil judge. We should rather accept wrongdoing from our
fellow Christians, because we share the same Savior from our sins. It
means we can joyfully forgive one another, and confidently rebuke those
who are still caught up in sin, so that they might also repent and
return to the same forgiveness.
You might wonder what happens after someone caught up in certains sins
has repented and received God’s forgiveness. Is the forgiveness purely
theoretical, affecting us only in some intangible way? Must that person
continue repenting of the same sin for the rest of his life, enduring
its shame while also suffering its worldly effects? Or is the
forgiveness we receive from God powerful enough so that we never need to
feel the shame of that transgression again? Are there certain sins
which, even after we have received God’s forgiveness for them, somehow
leave a lingering taint upon our status as Christians or our lives upon
the earth?
In 1 Cor. 6, Paul urges his Christian readers to understand that their
Christian faith in the forgiveness of Jesus Christ has changed them.
Secular judges are important, but Christians should not need them to
resolve their own differences, because unlike the secular world, we have
received the most powerful gift: forgiveness.
But what about that particular sin, the one you suspect may leave a
permanent smudge upon our character? You may be reminded of it in the
way others look at you sometimes, or when you see the way other
Christians worship, conduct themselves privately, or even serve God in
some capacity at church. I’ve heard many times how some non-Christians
think that the church is full of hypocrites, because they know the
terrible sins that have been committed by the same people who find such
joy and comfort when they attend church. In fact, they often know that
some of those Christians continue to commit those sins, while seeming to
pretend to be good people.
I can’t deny that there are hypocrites in the church, but it’s more
likely that their favorite sins are the internal kind (envy, malice,
anger, greed, pride, etc.) than the outward kind their neighbors would
notice. Meanwhile, honest Christians must deal not only with internal
vices, but also with frequent visible sins and temptations. Is it
hypocrisy for such a person to come to church the following Sunday with
a smiling heart and return home joyful and cheerful? Not at all.
The forgiveness of sins makes the difference.
In fact, forgiveness not only creates a new status before God, but it
creates and sustains a new character within us, willing and able to
resist sin and to fight against temptation. Thus, St. Augustine, one of
the most preeminent fathers of the Church, began his famous career as a
pastor only after having broken off a marriage engagement, fathering a
child out of wedlock with his first concubine, leaving her and a second
concubine, and pursuing two of the prominent non-Christian religions in
his day. As a bishop, Augustine later helped to lead the orthodox
Christian church away from false doctrines, and he pointed generations
to Jesus Christ alone as their certainty of forgiveness.
Paul wrote, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the
kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters,
nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor
covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the
kingdom of God. And such were some of you. 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.”
Do you have a crucifix nearby? If so, look at it closely. See how it
represents the body of Jesus hanging upon a cross? That is what He
truly did for you, and for *every* sinner. When we repent, whether it
be for some peccadillo, a white lie, for fratricide or for genocide, we
are asking God to place our burden of guilt upon His Son, whose flesh
was hanging by those nails from two pieces of blood-stained wood. We
are confessing that we deserve His mercy no more than any other
individual on earth. We are asking Him to accept the death of Jesus in
place of the punishment we deserve, so that we might receive the status
that Jesus obtained by His perfect life. God grants this to you,
to me, and to every penitent Christian. The Church gathers every week
for no greater purpose than to receive this forgiveness.
Is it possible for a person to start over? With Jesus, it is certainly
possible, and more than once. He takes away our sins, and He creates us
anew through the rebirth of water and His Word. This is not only some
theoretical, abstract kind of rebirth, but a true spiritual
regeneration, resulting in a new creature with a new nature and a new
character. Unfortunately for us, the old nature still fights to
survive, but when we consider ourselves and our fellows as Christians,
remember that our identity is no longer found in the sinful flesh. As
Paul wrote in Col. 3, “you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in
God.” It is this new self, created by the forgiveness of sins, that
will live eternally.
