Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | 2 Corinthians 5:8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 2 Corinthians 5:8 we are [as I was saying] of good courage and confident hope, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. |
Bible Question:
All of our lives we have been taught that God will forgive us if we repent. If a person keeps sinning and takes repenting w/ no concern will God still forgive that person? |
Bible Answer: ChristianLuv, There is only one thing in this universe that provides the forgiveness of sins - the blood of Jesus Christ - Heb 9:22. Repentance does not obtain forgiveness, confession does not obtain forgiveness, asking God to forgive does not obtain forgiveness. Sounds heretical doesn't it? As Christians, we receive the forgiveness provided by Christ's blood when we accept Him as our Savior. The problem lies with folks misunderstanding of what repentance is and what provides forgiveness. Repentance means changing your mind about God and how you can have a relationship with Him. It does not mean "to stop sinning." If repentance meant the cessation of sin, none of us have ever or could ever truly repent down here on earth because we all still do sin. There are basically two ways people try to get to God. For Gentiles, if they are even concious of God, they try to get to Him by being good i.e. religion. For Jews, they try to get to God by keeping the Law. Neither way will suffice. Christ alone is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to God (or stays in a relationship with God) except through Him and what He has done. So any other way of getting to God needs to be repented of. We need to change our minds about how a sinful man can be justified before a holy God. There is only one way. And, as I said, it is the blood of Christ alone that provides the forgiveness of sins. Period. It is our faith in that blood - not our actions - that avails us of that forgiveness when we receive Christ. Therefore, the issue really is, not will God forgive, but has the person who keeps on practicing his sins really placed his faith in Christ? Only God and that person knows the heart. But if a person continues to enjoy sinning and persisting in that life-style, then there is serious reason to question what they understood the gospel to be. The Holy Spirit indwells all true believers and sin grieves Him. It is inconsistent with His nature and it is inconsistent with our new natures as Christians. A true Christian who continues to willfully sin will be miserable in doing so. It goes against the new creation that he is in Christ (2 Cor 5:17) and he will reap consequences of his sin (or he will hurt others with it). So it is not a question of repentance or forgiveness, it is a question of does this person understand what happened to him when he received Christ? Christ's presence in us will set us free from sin's power as we realize that we died to it - Rom 6. But most Christians only know of Christ's death only. They don't know that they were crucified, buried, and risen with Christ. They don't know that they are now seated in heavenly places with Him. They think that the gospel is a self-improvement program when it is really a self-denial program so that Christ may be all-in-all. Hope this helps. ChristLifer2001 |