THE IC STUDY PAGE

Forgiveness of Sin: Pre and Post Salvation

January 16, 1996

Christians sin. It is an ugly truth, but so. This was not a popular notion during the beginnings of Christianity. There were early believers who felt a Christian could not sin. For you see, they were changed, transformed, regenerated by the power of Christ Jesus. They bore His name. They were God's true children. All this was true and their enthusiasm for their new found life was highly commendable, but their childish naivete had caused them to become arrogant-a mental attitude sin. Their very belief in their inability to sin was their sin.

The Apostle John quickly answered back in his first epistle when he heard of their false claims of a sinless state. The Apostle John said this:

If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

Even the early Christians as today were unclear as to the difference between a believer residing in the Sphere of Carnality and one residing within the Sphere of Faith. It is the spiritual believer, who resides in the Sphere of Faith and walks upon the path of righteousness, who guards his heart against sin. It is he who does not sin. John speaks of this believer as well.

No one who abides in Him sins;

Abide in Christ: The sinless state

Here John qualifies the sinless state: one who abides in Him. But only as he abides in Christ through faith. If the spiritual believer loses his focus, becomes distracted, and/or fails to persevere in the Sphere of Faith, thereby choosing to act against God's wishes, will, and desires, he loses the filling of the Holy Spirit and his spiritual state. How does he recover it? John tells us in this same epistle. You name, cite, state your sin to Christ, our High Priest.

Now we have been talking about post-salvation sins; sins we commit after we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. These are unlike the sins of a non-believer. The non-believer has only one sin that effects his salvation: disbelief in Christ.

Salvation: A settled issue for the believer

The believer, however, has come to believe and is saved. He cannot lose his salvation. That issue is settled. His salvation is conditioned upon nothing further. The believer's sins as well as the non-believer's sins were all dealt with on the cross once and forever.

He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world, 1 Jn. 2:2.

Therefore, sins cannot be brought up against either. It is not the degree, nor quantity of sins that God weighs in determining salvation, but whether or not one believes in Christ Jesus as Savior.

Distinctions Made

All sins of the human race were were nailed to the cross and there they will remain throughout eternity. However, our sins, unlike the sins of non-believers, do take a special, unique toll; they do have a disasterous effect upon the spiritual life. For a believer's sins cut him off from grace. The non-believer is already cut off from grace. The believer loses his filling, his power, his ability to live a pleasing way before God. The non-believer has no filling of the Holy Spirit to lose. Yet, like the non-believer, the believer in his carnal state cannot please God. For it is impossible to please God without faith (i.e., Sphere of Faith living).

Believe and be saved

So how do post-salvation sins differ from pre-salvation sins? They differ in regards to the individual who sins. The pre-salvation sins of the non-believer are dealt with by believing upon the Lord Jesus Christ as savior. The matter is clear.

• Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved..., Acts 16:31
• He who believes in the Son has eternal life..., John 3:36.
• He who hears My word, and believes in Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, John 5:24.
• Whovever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life, John 3:16b.

At the point of belief, he overcomes the one sin which damns him to hell- the sin of disbelief. Christ said of the Holy Spirit, "He comes to convict the world of sin...because they do not believe," John 16:8-9.

And at the point of belief, he is cleansed of all sin: past, present, and future. This is not to say that sins committed after the point of belief will have no effect. On the contrary, they will have devasting effect, NOT to his eternal life, but to his spiritual life.

And here enters our distinction from pre and post salvation sinning. One type of sin damns to hell; another destroys the spiritual life. The condemnation of the non-believer is overcome by belief in the Lord Jesus Christ as savior. Post salvation sins, whether they be mental attitude sins, sins of the tongue, or overt acts of disobedience, are forgiven through the naming, citing, and acknowledging of that particular sin or sins forgiven at the cross. This forgiveness leads to restoration, whereas the forgiveness of disbelief results in regeneration.

My little children, I am writing these things to you 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 those of the whole world, 1 John 2:1-2

Much of my material for this study was gleaned from the studies by Robert B. Thieme, pastor of the Berachah Church in Houston, Texas.