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Whose sin did Jesus die for?
When Jesus died, He took upon himself the sins of the whole world, which includes the lost; and many of them may never get saved. 1 John 2:2 “…and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” So even though we are aware of the fact that Jesus died for all sin, it doesn’t mean that all sin is automatically forgiven. The condition for receiving forgiveness of our sins is and always will be dependent upon our willingness to confess our sins and to turn away from them. But the Calvinistic teaching is, that Jesus died only for the sins of the elect of God. But the previous verse just mentioned shows otherwise. Jesus died for the sins of all mankind. The effect of sin is the same on all men, even the Christian that chooses to live in sin without repentance. Hebrews 10:26 “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins”. In this scripture and the ones previous to it, it is obvious that the writer is speaking to the brethren in Christ. Although he is speaking to Jewish Christians who may have battled with the keeping of the old covenant, he is talking to them here about their present relationship with Christ under the new covenant. He would not be speaking law to Christians. He is instructing the Church to encourage one another daily so that they do not fall into temptation, with no mention here of the law. We know this to be true by the previous verses. Hebrews 10:22-25 “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; for he is faithful that promised; And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” It is through encouragement, love, and Christian fellowship with prayer, preaching, teaching, etc., that we are instructed to help one another to abide in Christ and keep the following verse 26 from happening to us. When he says that there remains no more sacrifice for sins, he is continuing to speak to the Christians of their present state. He is saying that if we commit a sin again after we (Christians) had asked God to forgive us, then that first act of repentance cannot cover forgiveness for a second time or for any other sins thereafter. But every time we sin, we must repent once again in order to receive forgiveness. Because, there no longer remains any more sacrifice for sin, since we have broken our agreement with God. The blood of Jesus is still available as the one time sacrifice, but there must be repentance again. Calvinists look at this as if it would mean that Jesus would have to die again and again. Jesus was the one time sacrifice for all sin, forever. But just as forgiveness has the condition of coming to Jesus in repentance when we first got saved, we must do the same if we sin afterwards. What Jesus death did for us is that there no longer has to be a sacrifice for sins every time we sin; but all we have to do is simply confess our sins, and He is faith to forgive us. It is that simple! If we sin against a brother, should we automatically assume that we are forgiven, without confessing to him and asking him to forgive us? That would be wrong and contrary to scripture, just as it is with God and salvation. When we repent, we are telling God that we will no longer live under the bondage of sin after receiving His forgiveness. If we break that promise to God there must be a sacrifice to cover it. And since Jesus is the one time sacrifice for sin we must go to him. Hebrews 7:25-27 “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself”. Jesus is always there to make intercession for us. But this is not an automatic intercession just because we became Christians. This intercession does not take place until we first repent of our sin. When we confess our sin to Him, we then receive forgiveness, as He makes intercession for us. No more sacrifices are necessary, only repentance. Jesus became the sacrifice for our sins once and for all. Not ours only, but for the sins of the whole world. Another way to put it, as it is put in this scripture, is that Jesus doesn’t have to die again every time we sin, nor does any animal, nor does any blood have to be shed ever again. Instead, all we have to do is confess our sins, and the same goes for the world that does not know Jesus. The provision has been made, but we all have to receive His forgiveness. We don’t need to sacrifice anything other than our old nature. And we still have to repent in order to receive forgiveness, whether we are Christian or not. Our only sacrifice is our willing heart to repent and forsake sin. The work is complete on the part of Christ, but our part is not complete until the end of this life. Christ will surely keep those who are His, but only as long as they want to be kept, having faith in Him. Most Christians cling to the belief that we all have been forgiven of our sins. This is of course a true teaching, as long as we understand it correctly. Calvinists will ask a question like this: When Christ died for our sins, which one did He die for? The answer of course would be “all of them”. The Calvinist understanding is that when Jesus died for our sins, at that time all of our sins were in the future. So their point here is that all our sins are covered; past, present and future. But then I must ask a question: Before we came to Christ, which of our sins were forgiven? The answer would be, “none of them”. Why? Because we had not repented or asked for forgiveness! We had not yet received His free gift of salvation. Once we did, all our past and present sins were forgiven, but not future. The key to receiving forgiveness was in repentance and a change of heart. If a person was to commit a crime and go to prison for a period of time and their time for parole or release came up, one thing the government would want to know is whether or not that person might commit such crimes again. They do not want to release a criminal, such as a rapist or a thief who would go and do the same crime. In releasing a criminal, in a similar way, they are forgiven for their crimes. But if they do it again they will be back in prison. The thing we need to understand is that a criminal can only be forgiven if they have truly changed. Our forgiveness is not based upon a simple prayer alone, but also on our being willing to forsake the crimes we were previously guilty of, or else we will go back to the same bondage we were in previously. When a person is “Born Again”, they are released from the bondage and conviction of sin because they have both received Christ and forsaken sin. So, the only way a person will receive forgiveness of sin is by true repentance, which means to turn away from sin. Otherwise their profession to be saved by grace is vain! If we say all future sins are forgiven, then we are free to do whatever we want and still go to heaven. We may lose our rewards in heaven, but as long as we make it and don’t have to worry about going to hell, then that is enough to keep us from any real concern. Although this is truly foolish thinking, it is the way many people think, while being labeled as Christian. If all my future sins are forgiven, then I can certainly have assurance of salvation and be worry free; but I can also be careless with my lifestyle. But I want to declare that we can have a very strong assurance of salvation, and yet understand that we can lose our salvation if we are careless. It is very possible to have both, regardless what Calvinists might think. Future sins are covered by the one time sacrifice of Jesus, through repentance only. The Calvinists believe and teach that we are saved “in our sin” instead of being saved “from our sin”. This teaching comes from the idea that we are all sinners and will continue to sin because of the sinful nature in man. But it is this nature that Christ died to deliver us from. If we are only free from the wages of sin, but not sin itself; then are we really free? But Paul did not say it was only the penalty we are free from, but we are free from “sin” completely. Romans 6:14 “For sin shall not have dominion over you:” Romans 6:18 “Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” Romans 6:22 “But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.” Although Paul spoke much of the grace of God in this chapter, he also said we are free from sin while under grace. Not partially, but completely! He also said that we have fruit unto holiness. You cannot be only free from sin and not obtain holiness. With two total opposites there is not middle ground. You are even sinful or you are holy. He also said that the end of this is eternal life. Not the beginning but the “end”. In other words, eternal life is not yet final, but something that will only be sure at the end of this life, after we have live holy and apart from sin. Then John also spoke on the subject, and how a true born again Christian will be totally free from sin. 1 John 5:18 “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” 1 John 3:5-6 “And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.” It is sin that separated us from a relationship with God before we came to Christ. If we continue in sin after coming to Christ or return to sin later on, then we are not free from sin at all. If we are not free from sin, then we cannot be saved from the penalty of sin, which is death. A true Christian will therefore be free from sin and no longer live in sin or commit sin. If we do sin we have an Advocate with the Father and only need to repent. If we choose not to repent then we are in rebellion to God, which is as the sin of witchcraft. And then as King Saul was cut off, so we could be also. This may sound too complicating to many Christians. But the simplicity of it is, don’t sin. If you do sin, do not walk in condemnation, simply repent and go on. God is faithful to forgive a truly repentant person. He surly died for your sins, so that you can be forgiven. Simply turn to Him who is faithful.
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Calvinism