Are our Past, Present and Future Sins Forgiven in Christ?

Question: I have heard some Bible teachers make the proclamation that our past, present and future sins rolled together have all been forgiven in advance because Christ has nailed it all to the cross. Is this so and if it is, how do you explain the same through the Bible? If our sins are forgiven past, present and future why do we need to continue repenting?  

Tumusime

Response: I don’t know what those teachers have taught about us being forgiven past, present and future and I don’t know what their explanation is.

I therefore cannot, from the offset, say that I agree with them or disagree for there is not enough content provided to me to conclude.

However, I can attempt the issue independent of their position and address it together with the other queries you advance. First, let me give a brief historical background of the same as I attempt how the matter can be explained through the Bible.

Historical Background

It is not news to any Bible reader that man fell from not just a particular standard but from his creator.

So the fall of man cannot be fixed by restoring man to the standard he fell from before reconciling man to the creator he fell away from. For this to happen, the Creator must become the creature that He wants to reconcile Himself to and this is what we learn from the miracle of the incarnation-God becoming man (Isaiah 7:14; Mathew 1:23; Philippians 2:5-8).

The virgin birth of God and Him becoming like us demonstrates two fundamental things: first is the attitude God has towards the fallen men and second is that he has purposely become like us (Hebrews 2:14).

As you may notice, the attitude of such an offended God but decides to belittle Himself by becoming like the creatures to reconcile us to Himself is none other than that of FORGIVENESS.

Are we saved by God’s Forgiveness?

To many forgiveness is part of how we are saved for eternal purposes, however, if we could be saved by God’s forgiveness then there wouldn’t be a need for God to become flesh dwell among us and die on the cross then resurrected for our salvation. He would have forgiven us into heaven and out of Hell and that could be all.

As I have mentioned above the attitude of God towards sinners was forgiveness before his salvation activity, so the forgiveness of God does not save us from both SIN and DEATH.

The presence of God hanging on the Cross is evidence enough that God’s attitude towards the world was not merely love but forgiveness. He, therefore, forgave us and decided to save us all because of the love He had for us (John 3:16).

This divine attitude of forgiveness and love even before sinners repented is the basis of the divine process of salvation for eternal purposes. So we must establish that forgiveness is God’s attitude that influenced his decision to save us.

It matters therefore that whoever discusses divine forgiveness does not assume that we go to heaven because God forgave us and since he forgave us past, present and future that equals to being saved forever.

‘Us’, the omniscient God and Forgiveness

To answer the question of whether our past, present and future sins are forgiven by God, we need to start by asking two other questions: who is ‘us’ and who is God? Non-believers in God cannot ask such a question therefore ‘us’ is believers.

Apart from the attitude of forgiveness that led God to become our saviour, the forgiveness of God for our sinning is a matter of belief.

As we ask for forgiveness for our trespasses (Mathew 6:12) and we believe (without tangible proof) we are forgiven, so we believers ought to believe our sins have been forgiven past, present and future (Romans 4:6; Colossians 2:13; 2Corinthians 5:19).   

Omniscience means that God knows things in all tenses, he knows your past, present and future sinning sins. If you asked for forgiveness of your sins and knew how God knew; would you only ask for the present and past sins’ forgiveness or past, present and future?

The obvious and sensible answer is what makes an omniscient God forgives in all tenses as well whenever we ask for forgiveness.

Why Repent?

By analogy, in human relationships, we know something of this truth. As a parent, I am in a relationship with my two sons. Because they are my family, they will never be cast out; the relationship is permanent.

Yet if they sin against me, or I against them, our relationship is strained and needs to be restored…and the repentance from the offender and forgiveness from the offended is how the relationship is maintained.

Being forgiven by God in all tenses does not mean we have no sin (1John 1:8-10), what then would He have forgiven? Being and knowing that we are forgiven past, present and future should humble us the more and motivate us to repent than to be arrogant about it.