Bible Question:
God sees us as perfect (like Jesus, who didn't sin) - and yet in prayer we are confessing these sins that he doesn't see. I understand the importance of confessing our sin, just looking for a theological response or alternative interpretation to my point. |
Bible Answer: Pia, God cannot ignore sin, nor can He accept it, nor can He eliminate His ability to perceive it. There are limits on God the stem out of His nature. He cannot be contrary to His nature. Nor can He do anything it does not please Him to do. If God ignored sin, then He would no longer be just. If He accepted sin, then He would no longer be holy. If He blinded Himself to sin, then He would not longer be omniscient. God cannot be other than He is. The quandry that you have uncovered, stems out of a problem that modern evangelicals have over the words forgiveness and justification. God does more than forgives sin. By grace (granting us what we do not deserve), through faith (given us as a gift), our sin (the only thing we bring to the equation) is paid for by the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary. Not only is our sin of the past paid for by this sacrifice, but any future sin as well. (God always provides in advance of our need.) Thus, God's justice is satisfied and His holiness remains perfect! (This is the sheer brilliance of God's eternal purpose.) This work of God is complete, entire, finished, perfect, and fully adequate. We can't add one tiny thing to it. Now, taking all of this in, we need to clearly understand something: Repentance is not something you do once and then forget about. Repentance is a life long process! We know that when our lives change, nothing can adequately repay our God for the debt that was paid. Furthermore, as He enables us to change our lives, we can't even depend on our righteousness as something that might make us more acceptable to Him. Read again the parable that Jesus told in Luke 18:9-14. It is about the Pharisee and the Publican praying in the temple. In verse 14 Jesus says that the Publican went away justified. What made the difference? The difference was that the Publican agreed with God, acknowledged his need for mercy. The focus was on God's holiness and man's failure and need. I had a preacher friend who used to say, "The Gospel is not the ABCs of our faith. The Gospel is the A through Z of our faith." The scripture says, "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him" (Col 2:6). |
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GOD"S PEOPLE |