To be human is to be weighed down by past, present, and future sins. Yet when we come to faith in Jesus as our Savior and Lord, we understand that He was crucified to pay the penalty for our sins. Hallelujah!
But have you ever wondered if Jesus just forgives the sins we committed before we became a believer? What about sins we commit after we give our lives to Him? If we believe that He indeed died for all of our sins–past, present, and future–our souls are at rest. However, if we question whether He continues to forgive us when we trespass against Him, it can be impossible to rest in the peace that He promises. Worse yet, we can fall into complacency and continue in sin, believing we are “covered.” Understanding the scope of Jesus’ forgiveness is something we don’t want to get wrong, so let’s take a closer look at what the Bible says so that our theology lines up with the Truth.
What Does the Bible Say about God’s Forgiveness through Jesus?
First of all, what do we need to be forgiven for? The obvious answer, when it comes to our relationship with God, is any sins that we have committed. Therefore, we had better understand what God considers “sin.” In the article, “Does God Forgive All of Our Sins?” Jessica Brodie writes, “The Bible tells us sin is anything we do that is against God’s nature or that violates a command of God. It’s when we — deliberately or accidentally — go against God’s will and God’s way, and it causes a separation between us and God.”
In the early chapters of the Bible, God tells Cain and Abel, “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it” (Genesis 4:7). Soon after, Abel chose to follow God’s command about how to sacrifice to God, but Cain chose to sin and not listen to God.
God’s chosen people would continue to sin against Him over the generations, but God had a plan to redeem His people. His forgiveness would be based on the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus, His only begotten Son. Several verses tell us more:
- "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
- “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).
- “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
- “He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24).
- “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (Ephesians 4:7)
All these verses testify to the fact that God made a way for humans to return to a perfect relationship with Him–a relationship that had been marred by sin. Without Jesus’ sacrifice, we would have remained under God’s law, with sin separating us from Him.
How Can We Be Forgiven for Sins We Haven’t Committed Yet?
So we understand that accepting Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins means those sins are forgiven. But does He forgive sins we haven’t committed yet? Yes, and there are several points that explain why.
First of all, God created a world in which people would commune with Him and there would be no sin (or separation from a right relationship with Him). But when Adam and Eve sinned against God, suddenly they were exposed to its consequences. Through their sin they would experience spiritual death (separation from God) and physical death at the end of their days. In their sin and shame and nakedness, God killed an animal to provide covering for their bodies and their transgression. From that point on, the death of an animal would be required by God to atone for the sins of the people (as mentioned in Leviticus 4:1-7; Leviticus 5:1-13 and elsewhere in the law given by God through Moses). But it was always a temporary atonement.
When Jesus came to earth 2,000 years ago, according to the will of His father, He became that sin offering by dying on the cross– once and for all. Any who would repent and take on His sacrifice as payment for their debt to God would be saved from spiritual death and given eternal life with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus became the covering similar to the animal that God sacrificed to cover Adam and Eve’s transgression.
The emphasis here is “once, and for all.” Jesus would not have to die in multiple generations for people’s sins to be forgiven. And He wouldn’t have to be crucified if we sinned after we became believers. That’s why 2,000 years later, He is able to offer us the same covenant, “that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Second, because He is able to forgive our sins when we come to Him in faith today, He is also willing and able to forgive our future sins. Think about it: ALL of our sins are future sins since Jesus was crucified long before we were born. So He can forgive when we first come to Him in faith, and He can forgive sins until we leave the earth. However, there is a temptation that comes with knowing that He can absolve future transgressions.
Does Forgiveness Mean We Can Keep on Sinning?
Thanks be to God that He continues to offer forgiveness, but there are two caveats. One is that we agree with God that our future sins are still an affront to God, despite our covenant with Him. The Apostle John wrote in his first letter, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:9-10). If we confess these sins that occur after our conversion, God will forgive them.
On the other hand, we will be tempted by the enemy of our soul to continue in sin without any remorse. If we listen, we will be under the mistaken impression that since Jesus forgave sins once and for all, we can continue to live according to our own desires, even if that means doing things that God’s children are not to do. But the Apostle Paul wrote, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:1-2).
What Role Does Repentance Play if Future Sins Are Forgiven?
We don’t have to live in sin any longer. We can stay close to the Lord, in Bible study, prayer, church attendance and worship so that we are very aware of whether our actions, words and thoughts are pleasing to God. And if not, the Holy Spirit will prompt us to repent of our sins.
The writer to the Hebrews had thoughts on this subject as well: “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:26-29) Serious words indeed.
Before we fear that we have transgressed beyond forgiveness, in Matthew Henry’s Commentary he writes, “The sin here mentioned is a total and final falling away, when men, with a full and fixed will and resolution, despise and reject Christ, the only Saviour; despise and resist the Spirit, the only Sanctifier; and despise and renounce the gospel, the only way of salvation, and the words of eternal life.” If we’ve come to that point in our lives, we are no longer talking about forgiveness for future sins, we are talking about a complete and total walking away from God which is not forgiven, especially because there is no repentance.
So how do we ensure that we continue to walk with the Lord in the way that honors Him?
Living in the Freedom—and Responsibility—of Forgiveness
Thankfully, God provides us with new grace every day, and new opportunities to come before Him to lay down those things that keep us from Him. As His children, and witnesses of the gospel, we have a responsibility to keep close tabs on whether we are living up to God’s will for us. That means loving God with all of our mind, soul and strength, and loving our neighbor as ourselves.
And it means that we keep looking for opportunities to grow in our love for the Lord. As mentioned, prayer, Bible study, church fellowship, worship and more should act to grow us into stronger disciples. Participating in communion or the Eucharist is also a continual reminder of what our forgiveness cost Jesus. In his article “What Is Forgiveness? What it Does & Does NOT Mean” Dr. Michael A. Milton writes, “When He took the bread and the cup and inviting others to eat and drink in remembrance of Him, He was saying, 'For this is . . .why you need Me. You are unforgiven without this sacrifice.'”
Jesus does offer to forgive future sins. It’s our job to give Him a chance to do so by laying those sins at the foot of the cross, and asking for mercy.
Photo credit: ©GettyImages/mbolina
Mary Oelerich-Meyer is a Chicago-area freelance writer and copy editor who prayed for years for a way to write about and for the Lord. She spent 20 years writing for area healthcare organizations, interviewing doctors and clinical professionals and writing more than 1,500 articles in addition to marketing collateral materials. Important work, but not what she felt called to do. She is grateful for any opportunity to share the Lord in her writing and editing, believing that life is too short to write about anything else. Previously she served as Marketing Communications Director for a large healthcare system. She holds a B.A. in International Business and Marketing from Cornell College (the original Cornell!) When not researching or writing, she loves to spend time with her writer daughter, granddaughter, rescue doggie and husband (not always in that order).
