There is a serious doctrinal mistake that I have seen on this forum before which I think needs to be addressed. It involves the taking out of context of Romans 3:25. Romans 3:25 deals with the question of how the sins of the Old Testament people were forgiven since Christ didn't come and die as a sacrifice for our sins until the time of the new testament. Paul says that God in His forbearance simply passed over or overlooked those sins from the people in the past in view of the fact that Jesus was going to pay for their sins later.
Here is how Paul worded it. "being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God set forth as a propitiation, by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed..."
A couple of people thought that this verse meant that when a person becomes a Christian, only the sins He committed in His individual past are covered by the blood of Christ and therefore, if he ever sins in the future he loses his salvation because there is no sacrifice for his sin.
If you read the first three chapters of Romans you will see that Paul meant no such thing. Paul was saying that Jesus' blood covers sin and that in the past, prior to Jesus' death, God just exercised forbearance for those sins that were previously committed until Christ came and was crucified. The Bible says that "without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins". The only way any sin can ever be forgiven is by the Blood of Christ. So if Jesus did not die for the sins that the Christian will commit in the future, then there is no basis for ever being forgiven if you mess up even once in the future.
So it is true that if Jesus only died for the sins you committed prior to conversion, then no matter how sorry you might be, and how much you might repent, there is no basis on which your future sin can ever be atoned for and forgiven.
The problem is that people do not understand that there is eternal forgiveness and there is temporal forgiveness. Jesus died for all our sins, past, present and future. When a person becomes a Christian he is declared righteous by God and receives eternal life and is forgiven. That settles His eternal state. However, Christians still sin. That sin causes a break in fellowship with God and temporal chastisements and discipline. So the Christian needs to confess and forsake his sins to be forgiven in the temporal sense so that He can be released from God's Chastisement and reestablish fellowship with God. But that has nothing to do with eternal salvation, eternal forgiveness and justification.
Jesus said in John 5:24 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in Him who sent Me HAS everlasting life, AND SHALL NOT COME INTO JUDGMENT but HAS PASSED from death into life."
When a sinner believes in Jesus in the biblical sense of the word... He HAS... not will have, but HAS eternal life. He won't ever come into judgement but HAS PASSED.... that means already has passed from death to ETERNAL life. Jesus said that He gives his sheep into the hands of the Father and no one can take them out of the Father's hands.
You might think "yes, the shepherd won't let go of the sheep but the sheep might let go of the Shepherd." Silly person... SHEEP HAVE HOOVES!!!! They can't hold onto the shepherd anyway. Since sheep have hooves it is the responsibility of the shepherd to hold on to the sheep!!!
Yes, Jesus died for all of our sins... past, present and future and so once we get saved we HAVE (already possess) ETERNAL life... and since it is true that the Shepherd holds the sheep in His hand and no one can take them out of the Shepherds hand, it is silly to say that we have eternal life that only lasts maybe 10 years because we sinned. If you have life which you lose after 10 years because you sinned .... did you have ETERNAL life? No, of course not.... you had 10 year life! The only way you can have ETERNAL life is if it lasts for ETERNITY!!!
Here is how Paul worded it. "being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God set forth as a propitiation, by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed..."
A couple of people thought that this verse meant that when a person becomes a Christian, only the sins He committed in His individual past are covered by the blood of Christ and therefore, if he ever sins in the future he loses his salvation because there is no sacrifice for his sin.
If you read the first three chapters of Romans you will see that Paul meant no such thing. Paul was saying that Jesus' blood covers sin and that in the past, prior to Jesus' death, God just exercised forbearance for those sins that were previously committed until Christ came and was crucified. The Bible says that "without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins". The only way any sin can ever be forgiven is by the Blood of Christ. So if Jesus did not die for the sins that the Christian will commit in the future, then there is no basis for ever being forgiven if you mess up even once in the future.
So it is true that if Jesus only died for the sins you committed prior to conversion, then no matter how sorry you might be, and how much you might repent, there is no basis on which your future sin can ever be atoned for and forgiven.
The problem is that people do not understand that there is eternal forgiveness and there is temporal forgiveness. Jesus died for all our sins, past, present and future. When a person becomes a Christian he is declared righteous by God and receives eternal life and is forgiven. That settles His eternal state. However, Christians still sin. That sin causes a break in fellowship with God and temporal chastisements and discipline. So the Christian needs to confess and forsake his sins to be forgiven in the temporal sense so that He can be released from God's Chastisement and reestablish fellowship with God. But that has nothing to do with eternal salvation, eternal forgiveness and justification.
Jesus said in John 5:24 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in Him who sent Me HAS everlasting life, AND SHALL NOT COME INTO JUDGMENT but HAS PASSED from death into life."
When a sinner believes in Jesus in the biblical sense of the word... He HAS... not will have, but HAS eternal life. He won't ever come into judgement but HAS PASSED.... that means already has passed from death to ETERNAL life. Jesus said that He gives his sheep into the hands of the Father and no one can take them out of the Father's hands.
You might think "yes, the shepherd won't let go of the sheep but the sheep might let go of the Shepherd." Silly person... SHEEP HAVE HOOVES!!!! They can't hold onto the shepherd anyway. Since sheep have hooves it is the responsibility of the shepherd to hold on to the sheep!!!
Yes, Jesus died for all of our sins... past, present and future and so once we get saved we HAVE (already possess) ETERNAL life... and since it is true that the Shepherd holds the sheep in His hand and no one can take them out of the Shepherds hand, it is silly to say that we have eternal life that only lasts maybe 10 years because we sinned. If you have life which you lose after 10 years because you sinned .... did you have ETERNAL life? No, of course not.... you had 10 year life! The only way you can have ETERNAL life is if it lasts for ETERNITY!!!
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