1 Peter 2:24 says that Jesus “himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” Based on this and other Passages in the Bible, there is at present prevailing assertions that ‘Jesus died for our sins,’ and ‘Through Jesus, our sins were nailed to the cross he was on.’ There is no doubt of Jesus’ intent to die for the sins of people that were committed up to Jesus’ being nailed to the cross. But what of sins committed by people after Jesus’ resurrection, up to the present time? Has all sin been eradicated for all time?
Consider 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” That at least suggests that after Jesus’ resurrection, sin still exists. Consider Romans 6:23 which says “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” If Jesus took the punishment for sins for all time, then why is the subject of sin brought up by Passages like these? It appears that sin is still around. In fact, long after Jesus’ resurrection, people were punished by Christians for sins committed which rose to heresy and sacrilege. So, there is little doubt that sin is still among us.
How do we deal with this sin? Seems that two paths have been established. One path, which is followed by the Jews, is to abide by Leviticus 23:27...31 which says, “Now on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement....It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. ...” The second path, which is upheld by the Christian faith, is to confess your sins without requiring a time frame; that is, it appears that no mention is made of acknowledging our sins in a certain day and month like the Day of Atonement.
How is it that Christianity, which is linked to Judaism at least in regard to the same God, chose a way to deal with sins that’s different from the way Jews deal with it? In other ways, Christianity has linked itself to Judaism. For one thing, it claims the same inheritance left for the Jews by Abraham, as stated in Galatians 3:28-29. An argument might be made that Abraham existed before the Jews were freed from bondage in Egypt by God and in exchange were bound by the Laws that God gave Moses.
There is no doubt that Jesus came to us as a Jew. Matthew 1:1 Links Jesus to the genealogy that includes the son of David. Well, David’s Genealogy is linked to the Twelve Tribes of Israel, who were the ones held in bondage in Egypt whom God freed, and who were thus bound to the Law, including the Day of Atonement.
What does Jesus say about the Law? According to Matthew 5:17–20, Jesus says he did not come to change the Law, but to fulfill it. How did we get from Jesus’ fulfilling the Law to dealing with our sins by merely confessing them in the time of our choosing instead of what the Law says about when to acknowledge our sins? Colossians 2:14, which appears to imply that the Law is basically a framework for dealing with a record of debts which were incurred as a result of the sins that were committed, and such record was nailed to the cross along with Jesus. Well, the sins of the people were nailed to the cross also, yet sins still exist to this day. And Jesus in Matthew 5:18 says “not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” Has all been accomplished, when people still sin, and Christianity infers we should confess our sins toward asking for forgiveness?
Taking all this into consideration, considering Christianity has linked itself to Judaism by way of the inheritance of Abraham, and that sin still exists, doesn’t it have a ways to go to delink itself from the Law of Judaism that deals with sin, if Christians worship the same God as Jews and has accepted God’s Son as their own?
