Carol - Your Old Friend
Carol, I enjoyed what your "old friend" (trust they're not TOO old!) emailed you on the topic of salvation. I found it excellent. What about inviting that old friend to join us on the blog?
The bit on "justification" reminded me that this is a legal term. Forgiveness for our sinfulness is legally determined by God, one of whose attributes is that He is a perfectly just God. Unlike some judges and magistrates that we encounter in our court systems!
It tells us this in 1Jn1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness".
If we were writing this rather than John, we might have been tempted to write "If we confess our sins, God is faithful and merciful to forgive us". But John (inspired by the Holy Spirit) wrote the right word, just (rather than merciful). Our forgiveness is basically an act of justice on God's part, rather than mercy. Mercy is behind the cross, but because on the cross the penalty for all of mankind's sin for all time was paid in full and to God's satisfaction, then we rely on God's sense of justice for our forgiveness.
Which is why we can be confident, as we come in faith with repentant hearts, that our sins are forgiven - God is just, and thus must justify us according to His promises. We don't come grovelling before God, begging for mercy.
# posted by geoff @ 11:25 am
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