Forgiveness is key to Christianity. However, when it comes to forgiveness, ourselves and God it can be somewhat confusing. Part of this confusion surrounds the different ways forgiveness is used in the Bible. This blog is meant to help clarify the forgiveness we  desperately need from the God who stands ready to offer it.

There are two basic ways the Bible speaks about God’s forgiveness of our sin. The first is being forgiven (a once in a life time event), often called forensic or legal forgiveness. The second is receiving forgiveness (ongoing for the Christian), often known as relational forgiveness. These can be conveniently found in 1 John 1:9 and 1 John 2:1.

Being Forgiven (Forensic or Legal Forgiveness)
Most people are well aware that they have sinned and offended a holy God. Like the request in the Lord’s Prayer’s—“forgive us our sins”—many people know their sin needs forgiving. They may do this day in and day out, yet never with an assurance that they’ve received forgiveness, always feeling a need to keep asking for God’s forgiveness on a regular basis.

The issue here is that such a person needs to understand themselves and how forgiveness itself works.

People aren’t sinners because they sin, they sin because they are sinners. WE need forgiveness, not just our sins. This is what Jesus was driving at in Mk 7:21, “For from within, out of the heart of man, come…” OUR sinfulness has separated us from God, including His hearing our prayers (1 Pe 3:12b).

Asking for forgiveness for sin A or B from someone who is our enemy just doesn’t make sense. It would be like asking a bank we’ve never had a relationship with and had publically dragged through the mud for a small loan. God will not forgive us until we are reconciled to Him through the Gospel. Then He will forgive our sin because of what Jesus did on the Cross.
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This:

​Must become this:

When we go through God’s appointed way for forgiveness in the Gospel and not simply offer up ‘hail Mary’ prayers we gain an assurance that our sins have been forgiven and that we are now in a right relationship with God. We are forgiven forensically (legally). We are no longer counted as sinners.

Having spoken about sin, this is what John goes on to say in the opening of his letter: “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9).

We must believe in the GOSPEL.
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Receiving forgiveness (Relational Forgiveness)
Upon faith in the Gospel we who were once God’s enemies are now adopted and considered His children (John 1:12)! We must trust in the promised forgiveness we have been given (1 Jn 2:12). Yet, as any parent knows, even your children still do wrong. Through the Gospel we have been declared forgiven in God’s sight, but that doesn’t mean that we no longer sin. We must understand this distinction. When we fail to live up to our new calling as a Christian through the help of the Spirit and sin, we needn’t despair—even here God offers forgiveness. At the Cross Jesus forgave us past, present and future. Now seated at the right hand of God, Jesus is our advocate before the Father. Appealing to His work on the Cross, the Father forgives our sin when we falter and we, already forgiven forensically, receive His relational forgiveness (Isa 59:1–2; Eph 4:30). John put it this way, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1 John 2:1). Our sin that relationally impeded our relationship with the Father is forgiven and the relationship is restored afresh. Given the context of the Lord’s Prayer being a sermon about the disciples life in the Kingdom, this is actually the sort of forgiveness in view in the phrase, “forgive us our sins.” It is speaking of relational forgiveness.

​Those who do not have Jesus as their Saviour and Advocate have no assurance of forgiveness, but they needn’t wonder or keep praying futile prayers. When we trust in the Gospel we can have assurance of forgiveness—“but with you there is forgiveness” (Ps 130:4a). Oh what a blessing it is to know your sins are forgiven, both forensically and relationally!

Have you ever met someone who is a Posivitist? What is a positivist? Someone who will only allow  positive thinking (c.f. mindfulness), affirmations, self-empowerment, promotes a “positive space,” displays or writes positive plagues or mantras, advocates acts of kindness, feels and uses ‘energies’ and never accepts critique or realism. This is a positivist and positivism is positively growing in our society!
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When I first encountered a positivist I was—frankly—confused. Where is this coming from? What does this person believe? How widespread is this and what effect is this having on our culture? Without knowing more I was unequipped to deal with it as a Christian.

Where does such thinking come from?
There are a number of possible sources by which some might arrive at this way of thinking:

• New Age & Eastern Thought, or transcendentalism, that believes in spiritual forces that can be harnessed through higher consciousness. Karma.
• Word of Faith Movement, the name it and claim it heresy of Christianity, that faith is the key to unlocking God’s blessing and bringing about our wishes on earth.
• Neurological Programming or Conditioning (i.e. hypnosis), that how we think, what we say and how we behave can be forged together to achieve certain life goals.
• Cultural-Marxism (e.g. LGBT community), since oppressors are often negative, positivity is the route to liberation.

Generally, what does it believe?
Simply put Positivist believe that fostering “a positive mental attitude, supported by affirmations, will achieve success in anything.”[1] How one thinks is central to tapping into the spiritual universe to bend it to your will. Spirituality is impersonal and self-focused.  

What affect is it having on our culture?
In a culture that desires to appear spiritual and fix their problems themselves Positivism offers a lot of perceived benefits (chiefly feeling spiritual without God). If you look around it has worked its way into self-help workshops, schools, counselling, stress management, corporate practice, preaching, etc. You might say it is ‘everywhere’ and its way of thinking is so prevalent bits of it can be absorbed into our way of thinking often without even realizing it.

A Biblical Critique/Alternative
Now certainly the Bible would have much to say against ‘impossibility thinkers’ as it related to faith and hope in the God of the impossible; yet the Bible is also a realistic book (we call this truth) and often speaks in the negative concerning sin or lies (“thou shalt not”), while positively endorsing what is right and true (“Honour your father and mother”).

On key questions that religions and worldviews address, Christianity and Positivism are more often than not at complete odds:

• The Bible teaches God is sovereign, He cannot be manipulated.
• He is personal and not some ‘energy’ or ‘force.’
• We evaluate our lives, situations and the world at large through truth (both general and special) and not wishful thinking.
• Sin is to be acknowledged and dealt with not wished away.
• Hope is not found in what we’d like but what God has promised.
• Salvation is about freedom from sin to live for God and not to live as we please.
• God is the primary actor in salvation, we’re saved by faith, not by works.
• Spirituality is about being transformed into Christ’s likeness by His Spirit and not making our own image by our own hands.
• Good works are the fruit of faith and for the other and not something to simply better ourselves.
• The focus is God’s glory and not glorying in our own desires.

Christianity is God centred and not self-focused. It lives according to and for His reality.  

How can we share the Gospel with a Positivist we may know or love? Certainly there are inconsistencies, certainly upon what objective truth one basis their belief needs to be considered; yet ultimately we share the Gospel with gentleness, respect and conviction and let it reverberate against their worldview. They are looking for someone; it’s Jesus. Point them to him as the answer to their spiritual quest.


[1] http://www.salemctr.com/newage/center32.html

If you ever pay attention to church names as you drive around you’ll find some interesting ones for sure! A church name tells us a lot about what they believe. One such name is “Full Gospel Church.” The implication in their name is that there are other churches that do not preach the “Full Gospel” but only half (or not at all). Another similar  is that of a whole denomination, the Four Square Gospel Church. Like Full Gospel this is another reference to completeness. The FSGC was founded by Grey Co. native Amy Semple-McPherson in the 1920s. The four squares? Christ as Saviour, Healer, Baptized of the Holy Spirit and Coming King. Any evangelical would agree with the first and the last along with the second if it was defined but not the third.
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This is the key difference between Evangelicals and Pentecostals: baptism in the Holy Spirit as an event subsequent to salvation. Concisely worded, the Elam Ministries (UK) Statement of Faith may be a fair representative of the Pentecostal World:

The words italics speak of this secondary experience that is to be sought and the underlined words that this is experience is necessary for effective ministry.
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Is this what the Gospel (or New Covenant) is, a two staged offer of good news? Absolutely not for the Holy Spirit is given to everyone who trusts in Jesus from the outset. A subsequent baptism in the Holy Spirit is to confuse certain Biblical passages with the clear teaching. In Scripture we see the pattern of believing and receiving (c.f. Acts 2:38 and 40):

Rather that promising a second experience the Gospel offers new life, new creation, a helper to be empowered for sanctification, spiritual growth and maturity, holiness and ministry.

Though guised Pentecostalism really does border upon, or fully enter into, the danger of presenting another Gospel for they add to the Good News/New Covenant as laid down in the New Testament (Gal 1:8; 2 Cor 11:4).

BUT WAIT

Let’s not only critique those who go beyond but those who stop short.

Many evangelicals preached Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins with a heavy emphasis on the atoning death of Christ (and the atonement is vital). They then offer a Gospel for the forgiveness of sins—full stop. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved [from the penalty of sin]. Because this is part of the Gospel it can evade our radar but we must stand alarmed at this too!
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1 Cor 15:1–4 says:

Jesus died so sinners might be forgiven (the penalty of sin) yet He rose so that they might be given the gift of new life by the Spirit (the power over sin).
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When Peter issued the Gospel in Acts 2:38 the Good News not only included forgiveness of sin but the gift of the Holy Spirit. Not only that, in baptism is also included obedience; not an obedience that saves but one the Holy Spirit promises to help us live out. Faith without works is a dead (Ja 2:26); and how many evangelicals neglect to bear the fruit of faith! The Gospel not only offers forgiveness for our failure to keep God’s commands, it offers us the promise of new life and the power to live it out! As Jesus said, I came that they may have life and life to the full (Jn 10:10).

Both halves of 1 Cor 15 1–4 are needed for a full Gospel, Crucifixion and Resurrection, forgiveness and new life.
Let us not go beyond or stop short of the true Gospel in all its fullness.

Real Christianity (1797) by William Wilberforce

This Christian classic is certainly among my top 10 favourite books beside the Bible and one that the Lord formatively used in my life. While written many years ago it is highly relevant for today.

Made more accessible by the paraphrase of Bob Beltz in 2006 (along with the release of the Song, “Amazing Grace, My Chains are Gone” and the movie about the abolitionist, Amazing Grace), this work is the best seller that helped end slavery in the British Empire.

Frustrated that the populace of a “Christian” nation wouldn’t support his appeals to end slavery, Wilberforce realized the reason, most were nominal. This can be seen in the historic and long title: A Practical View of the Prevailing System of Professed Christians in the Higher and Middle Classes in This Country, Contrasted with Real Christianity [emphasis added].

He knew he couldn’t change the direction of his country until the Lord had changed its heart:

"But fruitless will be all attempts to sustain, much more to revive, the fainting cause of morals unless you can in some degree restore the prevalence of Evangelical Christianity. It is in morals as in physics; unless a source of practical principles be elevated, it will be vain to attempt to make them flow on a high level in their future course… By all, therefore, who are studious of their country’s welfare…every effort should be used to revive the Christianity of our better days."

This is a helpful reminder for those Christians who still think the political process can deliver Canada—it cannot, only the Gospel can!

By his work Real Christianity, example, network and involvement in the Evangelical Revival, Wilberforce was a powerful figure in shaping a nation for Christ, a legacy still felt in many respects today.
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Though Canada is a post-Christian nation, the problem of nominal Christianity persists. This book will help you recognize what nominal Christianity is as you contrast it with real Christianity.

Though our ultimate citizenship is in heaven, Christians ought to pray for their earthly country, its leaders, and ultimately its salvation. Did you know Canada used to be a Christian country, though now a conservative estimate is that only 3-4% are born again. In fact at the turn of the last century Ontario was one of the most Christianized lands in the world! Though there is cause to hope for brighter days, as it was Canada day this week it is relevant to look back to our Christian heritage as an encouragement to look forward.
 
Here are just three marks of our Christian past (point people to these when doing evangelism):

-Our coat of arms. Did you know the Latin saying on our coat of arms is taken from Ps 72:8 and expressed the Christian vision for Canada: Et dominabitur a mari usque ad mare, et a flumine usque ad terminos terrae or "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth." And don’t forget the cross at the top of her majesty’s crown!
-Our national anthem. Originally part of a larger Christian hymn, one line says it best: God keep our land glorious and free. It is God we need to look for to keep us glorious and free, a freedom and blessing which comes from faithfulness to the Gospel.
- Our Charter: While many forget this or dismiss this all together, the defining line of our Charter comes at the very beginning: Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law.
 
Sadly today we can only beg God’s mercy (“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” Pr 14:34). Any hope of future blessing can only be found in the Gospel re-reaching our land. Not that Canada would look the same in the past if this were so in the future, but we need to point people back to the founding person of Jesus Christ if we are to remain glorious and free: “ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.” (Jer 6:16)