Soteriology
By Jerry Batson, Th.D.
Special to The Alabama Baptist
The common term translated into English in the New Testament as “forgiveness” can be found in a variety of contexts with a whole cluster of ideas and images. For example the word sometimes carries the idea of “sending away.”
Behind this image of “sending away” is most notably that of the scapegoat in the ritual of the annual Hebrew celebration of the Day of Atonement. In one part of the ritual, the high priest placed his hands on the head of a goat, confessed the nation’s sins and allowed the goat to be led into the wilderness. It was a vivid picture of the forgiveness of confessed sins in terms of those sins being sent away.
In another context the same term is used with the idea of “release from captivity” as in Luke 4:18. That passage tells of Jesus reading from Isaiah 61 in the synagogue at Nazareth. Among the listed functions of the Messiah in that passage was “to proclaim liberty to the captives.” Forgiveness carries the idea of liberation from sin’s bondage.
Forgiving debts
That same term was used in yet another context to speak of the cancellation of a debt or obligation. Jesus used this word in His parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:27 to describe the action of a compassionate master toward his indebted servant, saying he “forgave him the debt.”
In the financial world we often speak of making payments on financial obligations as “remitting” them. This common term for forgiveness lies behind the use of “remission” to speak of forgiveness. Jesus spoke of His death and resurrection as the basis for a worldwide preaching of “repentance and remission” (Luke 24:47). A debt may be cancelled not only when a compassionate creditor chooses simply to forgive the debt and thus forego collection on it, but also when the debtor makes full payment.
The good news of the gospel is that, while the debt belongs to us, Christ paid it in full for us — a debt He did not owe and one we could not pay. As the songwriter put it, “Jesus Paid It All” for all who trust Him as Savior.
Saving work of Christ
God is the subject of all these meanings of forgiveness. Only God can take away or send away sins, release captives caught in sin’s bondage, cancel a sinner’s sin debt or make full remittance for that debt.
In forgiving the sins of repentant sinners, God’s action centers in the saving work of Christ. After referring to Christ as the Beloved, Ephesians 1:7 declares, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace.” In speaking of the saving death of Christ, Hebrews 9:26 reminds us that “at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”
Blessed future
We do well to remember that divine forgiveness frees us from our sinful past and secures for us a blessed future. We also do well to ponder the fact that when God scans the earth for someone whom He can use in the present time, He is not in search of angels disguised in human flesh. In His search, God also is not looking for perfect human beings, since there are none.
He is searching for ordinary men and women like you and me who have been forgiven and are thereby prompted to respond in worship and praise, as well as freed to serve Him out of gratitude and love.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Jerry Batson is a retired Alabama Baptist pastor who also has served as associate dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University and professor of several schools of religion during his career.
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