To the religious, the major obstacle to God’s unconditional, preemptive forgiveness is their belief that sin can only be forgiven when a person is repentant, or when one confesses their sins. But it is this misunderstanding of sin by the religious that has created an incredibly finicky god who has the audacity to tell us to unconditionally and preemptively forgive everyone, including our enemies, but who can’t quite live up to that standard himself.
I find that god inconsistent and unbelievable. So there must be more to the story.
Interestingly enough, close to 80 percent of the time that the word sin is used in the New Testament, it is used as a noun.
This is interesting because we typically hear people talk about sin as a verb. They describe all of the bad and naughty things we do that make God angry at us. And, inevitably, when people focus on sin primarily as a verb, they get obsessed with saying this sin is worse than that sin. This sin can be overlooked but that one can’t. This sin is unforgivable but that sin is OK (since we are all doing it).
But the original Greek word for sin, as a noun, is the word hamartano and it means to be without a share in, or to miss the mark, or to stray.
Sin is a position in which we find ourselves. It is a position out of alignment with God, or in disunion with God. And in that position of disunion, we are the opposite of shalom, the opposite of wholeness, completeness and harmony in all things.
And this begins to open our eyes to the central issue.
It’s not that we are horrible wretches for committing all of these terrible sins every day. It is that we are in a position of disunion with the Divine. And when we live out of this disunion, out of this relationship, it very naturally looks unwhole, incomplete and inharmonious. It is the natural consequence of us living out of shalom.
That is why God’s intention has always been to get rid of sin, or to remove the barrier between us, because we were always meant to be in union with God, to be in relationship with God. We were always meant for wholeness, completeness and harmony with God and all things, because that is where life is found — in relationship.
That’s why the wisdom of Paul ought to be so eye-opening and shocking to every one of us today. Because he echoes this point when he says we are all in the same position, equally. We are all in a position of disunion from God, equally. There is not one single person who has a position that is any better or any worse than another. For all are in a position of disunion and have missed the mark.
So when religious people begin creating these crazy hierarchies of sin and telling us that certain people or groups are worse than others, telling us who’s in and who’s out, all it does is alienate and devalue people. It sends a message that they are good and righteous and all the rest of the sinners are bad and unworthy. And all that does is create more judgment and condemnation and anger and hostility. All it does is build up more walls of division between us all.
The point is that when the religious view sin primarily as a verb, they fall back into that old way of labeling, categorizing, ranking and then dividing. And it completely misses the big picture that we are all in the same position and that the heart of God has always been an invitation to union with every single one of us equally.
It’s possible that all this talk of everyone being forgiven is giving you heartburn, because you keep thinking of Acts 2:38-39, which specifically states that God’s forgiveness is conditional and is only given when a person is repentant and baptized. I get it. But I want to share something very eye-opening with you about that passage.
On the day of Pentecost, Peter is preaching to the crowd and says, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” From the outside looking in, it sounds like Peter is telling the people that in order to be forgiven, they must first repent and be baptized and then, and only then, will they be forgiven by God.
And that is the way countless numbers of Christians have taken that verse over the centuries. It is viewed as a conditional transaction between God and a person. In essence, the forgiveness of God will only be given when you say the right words, have a repentant heart and are baptized in the water.
But here is the crazy part.
In that verse spoken by Peter, the word translated as “for” is the Greek word eis.
Eis means a motion into, penetration, union.
So what many have always read as this conditional transaction between people and God is actually a movement we make into something that is already there, something that has already been given, something that already surrounds us. And our acts of repentance and baptism are the faithful movements we make that penetrate into, and find union with, a forgiveness that had been given long ago.
God’s forgiveness is not being withheld like a stingy miser. Nor is it dependent upon you being good or perfect, or going through the right steps. God’s forgiveness is already here. It has already been extended to all. It is right in front of you. The invitation into shalom was sent long ago. All you have to do is enter into it.
But there may be some of you, maybe a lot of you, who are reading these words and still carrying around so much pain and so many wounds from a past church experience or experiences.
I am sorry and I understand.
But.
No matter what you have been told.
No matter how badly you have been treated.
No matter the judgments and accusations that have been thrown at you.
No matter if you have been told that you are not worthy or not redeemable.
No matter if you have been told that God will never forgive you.
Let me tell you emphatically, once and for all, that you are loved and you are already forgiven, just as you are.
Every one of you.
Past tense.
Done deal.
God loves you and is always inviting you, as you are, into shalom. Inviting you, as you are, out of the wreckage and into a new beginning of life and love and beauty and wholeness and completeness and harmony.
Inviting you, as you are, into the full immersion of an entirely different present reality. And God is speaking your name and letting you know that you have always been loved as you are, that you have always been worthy as you are, and that in this embrace you are being made whole.
I rarely say this, but when I do, you know I mean it. Praise God.
Brandon Andress of Columbus is a former local church leader, a Christian book author, a current iTunes podcast speaker and a contributor to the online Outside the Walls blog. He can be reached at his website, brandonandress.com.
