12/01/2003                 
A Prayer
of Jesus
I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise
and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will


THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS
ACCORDING TO JESUS
By Edgar Jones

Introduction

We begin by setting before you every utterance of the Lord that includes the word forgiveness and its forms, whether verb or noun, as recorded in the canonical gospels.  The word mercy is also included because of its being tightly linked to forgiveness.  It is enlightening to observe the synoptic utterances in parallel.  It is also of interest to find that the Fourth Gospel only has Him utter this word once.  As you examine these holy Words, it will be helpful first to acknowledge that, whatever Jesus teaches about the forgiveness of sins, it must be here.

Some questions will also be helpful to consider as you read.  In particular, What must one do to receive forgiveness of sins?
ON MERCY AND FORGIVENESS
(Greek, eleos, eleeo = mercy, be merciful)
(Greek, aphiemi = forgive, remit)

Forgiveness and mercy are so intimately related that we are collecting here all the texts where Jesus spoke of either one, and blending them together in textual order.
Matthew







Matthew 5
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy





Matthew 6
12 And forgive us our debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors; 
13 And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. 
14 For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; 
15 but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Matthew 9
1 And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city.  






2 And behold, they brought to him a paralytic, lying on his bed; 








and when Jesus saw their faith he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven." 
3 And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves,  "This man is blaspheming."



4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said,  


Why do you think evil in your hearts? 
5 For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise and walk'?

6 But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" --he then said to the paralytic--
Rise, take up your bed and go home." 










Matthew 9
10 And as he sat at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. 
11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples,


"Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" 
12 But when he heard it, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 
13 Go and learn what this means,  'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.'  For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."

Matthew 12
1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, "Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath." 
3 He said to them, "Have you not read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him:

4 how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?

5 Or have you not read in the law how on the sabbath the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are guiltless? 6 I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 
7 And if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless.
8 For the Son of man is lord of the sabbath."



Matthew 12
31 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, 

but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 
32 And whoever says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.











































Matthew 13
10 Then the disciples came and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" 

11 And he answered them, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 
12 For to him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 
13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

Matthew 18
15 "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.  
16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 
17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 
18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 
19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.
20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them." 
21 Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" 
22 Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. 
23 "Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 
24 When he began the reckoning, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents; 
25 and as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 
26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, 'Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.' 
27 And out of pity for him the lord of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But that same servant, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat he said, 'Pay what you owe.' 
29 So his fellow servant fell down and besought him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you.' 
30 He refused and went and put him in prison till he should pay the debt. 
31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. 
32 Then his lord summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you besought me; 
33 and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?' 
34 And in anger his lord delivered him to the jailers, till he should pay all his debt. 
35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart."

Matthew 23
23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith; these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

Matthew 27
33 And when they came to a place called Gol'gotha (which means the place of a skull), 

34 they offered him wine to drink, mingled with gall; but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. 
35 And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots; 
36 then they sat down and kept watch over him there.
Mark















Mark 11
25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against any one; so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses








Mark 2
1 And when he returned to Caper'na-um after some days, it was reported that he was at home.
2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and he was preaching the word to them. 
3 And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.

4 And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and when
 they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay.
5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven."

6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts,
7 "Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" 
8 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them,
Why do you question thus in your hearts? 
9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise, take up your pallet and walk'? 
10 But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" --he said to the paralytic-- 
11 "I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home."
12 And he rose, and immediately took up the pallet and went out before them all; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"




Mark 2
15 And as he sat at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were sitting with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many who followed him. 16 And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?" 
17 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."




Mark 2
23 One sabbath he was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.
24 And the Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?" 
25 And he said to them, "Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: 
26 how he entered the house of God, when Abi'athar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?"










27 And he said to them, "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath;
28 so the Son of man is lord even of the sabbath."

Mark 3
28 "Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; 
29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin" -- 
30 for they had said, "He has an unclean spirit." 













































Mark 4
10 And when he was alone, those who were about him with the twelve asked him concerning the parables. 
11 And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God,  but for those outside everything is in parables;
12 so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven."
















































































































Mark 15
22 And they brought him to the place called Gol'gotha (which means the place of a skull). 
23 And they offered him wine mingled with myrrh; but he did not take it.

24 And they crucified him, and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take.
25 And it was the third hour, when they crucified him.
Luke
Luke 6
35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish.
36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
37 Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;

Luke 11
4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive every one who is indebted to us; and lead us not into temptation."










Luke 5
17 On one of those days, as he was teaching, there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was with him to heal. 
18 And behold, men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they sought to bring him in and lay him before Jesus; 
19 but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. 

20 And when he saw their faith he said, 
"Man, your sins are forgiven you." 
21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, 
"Who is this that speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only?" 
22 When Jesus perceived their questionings, he answered them,

Why do you question in your hearts?
23 Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise and walk'?

24 But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" --he said to the man who was paralyzed--"I say to you, rise, take up your bed and go home." 25 And immediately he rose before them, and took up that on which he lay, and went home, glorifying God. 
26 And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, "We have seen strange things today."

Luke 5
29 And Levi made him a great feast in his house; and there was a large company of tax collectors and others sitting at table with them. 
30 And the Pharisees and their scribes murmured against his disciples, saying, 

"Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" 

31 And Jesus answered them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; 
32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."



Luke 6
1 On a sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands.
2 But some of the Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath?" 
3 And Jesus answered, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:

4 how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?"











5 And he said to them, "The Son of man is lord of the sabbath."



Luke 12
10 And every one who speaks a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.






Luke 7
[40] And Jesus answering said to him, " And he answered, "What is it, Teacher?"
[41] A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
[42] When they could not pay, he forgave them both. Now which of them will love him more?
[43] Simon answered, "The one, I suppose, to whom he forgave more." And he said to him, You have judged rightly.
[44] Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, Do you see this woman? I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
[45] You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet.
[46] You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.
[47] Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.
[48] And he said to her, Your sins are forgiven.
[49] Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, "Who is this, who even forgives sins?"
[50] And he said to the woman, Your faith has saved you; go in peace.

Luke 8
9 And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant


10 he said, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God;  








but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.  

Luke 17
3 Take heed to yourselves; if your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him;
4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, and says, 'I repent,' you must forgive him.




















































































Luke 11
42 "But woe to you Pharisees! for you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God;
these you ought to have done, without neglecting the other;






Luke 23
33 And when they came to the place which is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left.



34 And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." And they cast lots to divide his garments.


Luke 24
[45] Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures,
[46] and said to them, Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,
[47] and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
[48] You are witnesses of these things.
Texts from the Fourth Gospel
John 20

21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you."
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

Questions

1. So, what is it that one must do to receive forgiveness of sins?  From top to bottom of the above listing, there are but two qualifications: repentance and mercy.

Luke 24:
[47] and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
Luke 6:
36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
37 Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;
Matthew 6:
14 For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; 
15 but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Repentance and forgiveness of sins go together so that one cannot get one without the other.  This should be obvious for, until one has repented, the sin continues!  Until one has repented, the attitude of sin remains the ruling force in the life of the sinner.  The one who has been offended should live in an attitude of forgiveness, as Jesus was when he cried our from the cross:

Father, forgive them for they know not what they do!

But that did not accomplish their forgiveness. The offenders did not repent.  The proof of this is that their great city, Jerusalem, with its temple, were destroyed at the end of that generation as Jesus had prophesied.  It was for the Jewish nation precisely what the offenders had demanded in their bloodthirsty rage that drove them to crucify our Lord: His blood be on us and on our children!

Be merciful and forgive!  This is the second qualification.  He said not a single word about forgiveness being dependent on the blood of a sacrifice, which is the central tenet of Christianity.  To the contrary, he specifically denied that the Father has an interest in sacrifices of any kind whatsoever.

Matthew 9:
13 Go and learn what this means,  'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.'  For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

It is plain and simple.  The Father has no interest in sacrifices.  If we would have our sins forgiven -- if we would that the Father have mercy on us -- we need only have mercy on others! We will receive as we have given.

2. Doesn't this apply only to the children of the Father who have become His children by having already trusted the blood of Jesus to cleanse them of sin?

Where do we find anything that suggests such a distinction in the Word?  Can't we hear him when he speaks so plainly:

I desire mercy, and not sacrifice?

There is no need to muddle our minds with other things.  This settles it for one and all.  It is by this Word that we are to be judged in the last day:

John.12
[48] He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has a judge; the word that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day.

But some are persistent, insisting that this applies only to "children of God who are covered by the blood of Jesus." 

3. Does it?  Jesus spoke specifically to this objection for all who can hear his simple and uncomplicated word:

Mark 3
28 "Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter;

Do you suppose this means only sons of men who are also sons of God? Can't be, because the Word doesn't permit sons of God to also be sons of men:

Matt.23
[9] And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.

There is no way around it. Look at the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant above.  Do you see there that this is a parable about an unmerciful son?  No!  It is a forgiveness that applies to a category that we must label "Servants" in addition to "Sons."

This may raise a question in your mind concerning the salvation of individual humans.  Does this mean that a person can be saved from sins without believing Jesus?

It is beyond the scope of this paper to investigate this question.  One can find further discussion on the papers previously posted that deal with the subject of salvation, here, here, here,  here and here.  For our present purposes, it is only necessary to state what is explained in the referenced papers, that there are two categories of human beings alive in the flesh: the dead and the living.  Within the category of the living there are two sub categories: the servants and the children.  The servants are godly persons, both ancient and modern, who have known God well enough to understand the need for mercy and repentance of their sins and who have then repented without ever being exposed to the Gospel.  The children are those who have heard and received the Gospel, to whom Jesus is their only Lord and Savior and Good Shepherd.  The category of the dead also consists of two sub categories, those for whom there is hope, and the hopeless dead.  The hope category consists of sinners who are either candidates to qualify as either servants or children.  The hopeless category consists all who have heard the Gospel and have turned their hearts against it.  It is these we now proceed to discuss under the next question.

4. What is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, the sin that has no forgiveness?

The Holy Spirit has been sent into the world with the commission to remind us of all that the Lord has said, and to teach us.  The Holy Spirit is to be identified with the Word, the Living Word of Truth uttered by the Son of the Father, as we see in this utterance:

John.6
[63] It is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.

So, when one, on hearing, does not truly receive and believe the words of Jesus, the words that I have spoken, one has spurned and offended the Holy Spirit.  It is blasphemy, to charge the Holy Spirit with lies by refusing to believe that one can be forgiven solely on the basis of repentance and mercy. It is blasphemy to maintain, on the claimed basis of the Word of God, that there is no forgiveness without shedding of blood.  This is the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.  It has no forgiveness when committed by those who have heard the Words of Jesus.

5. Aren't baptism, eucharist and church membership required for forgiveness of sins?

Look at our Lord's utterances above.  Do you see Jesus making these to be conditions for forgiveness?


Understanding Sin

One cannot fully understand forgiveness until one understands sin so as to know when repentance is appropriate.  One cannot understand sin until one hears this Word:

John.12
[25] He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

The root of all sin is this attitude that Jesus defined as the love of life in time.  In the final analysis, that is the only thing that bars the way into eternal life.  This comes to light when we understand the Father's only will for his children is that we be with him in heaven.  It follows that all who love life in this world are transgressing the will of the Father, and therefore are living in sin.  It is the root of all sin, and one has not truly repented of sin until one has repented of the love of life that fuels all sins.  Examine the Great Principle of Jesus here.

The New Testament word for sin means, literally, to miss the mark.  All who love life in this world are surely missing the mark! 


Conclusion

The Christians have to bear a heavy responsibility due to misleading the world by preaching a false gospel.  They subscribe to the message of the Epistle to the Hebrews:

Heb.9
[22] Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

The only possible way that they can come to this conclusion is through turning deaf ears to Jesus of Nazareth.  This writer is called, through this Web site, to urge on every one to open the deaf ears and, by listening to Jesus and repenting of sin, to find forgiveness unto eternal life and so show themselves to be members of his Little Flock:

John.10
[26] but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep.
[27] My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me;

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