The Apostles Creed | The Forgiveness of Sins
I believe in the forgiveness of sins.
For the most part, the Apostles’c Creed talks about the nature of God, who He is, what He does, and gives Him all the glory. Everything up until this point has put the fullness of God on display and it is only now that the creed turns to humanity, specifically with the issue of our sin. We can only understand our purpose, identity, and eternal fate when we first look to God. This God-centric focus is no accident and it would do us all well to look to God before we seek to understand ourselves. When we spend too much time in introspection rather that considering the ways of God, we will arrive at an unbalanced like the revolves around us rather than proclaiming the glory of God. In truth, we cannot look to ourselves and our own ability or even seek to understand life apart from God. Sin has ravaged humanity and left us dead unable to save ourselves. Yet, by the grace of God, we can be free through the forgiveness of sins by the works of Jesus Christ.
The Human Problem of Sin
Everyone stands guilty before God based on the standards of holiness and righteousness that God has laid down from the foundation of the earth. Too many people have argued that people are good at heart or good enough that God should not condemn any person to an eternity of hell. Nothing, though, could be further from the truth. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23 ESV) If one person breaks the law, they are a law breaker. If the standard of heaven is perfection and having never rebelled against the holy and righteous nature of God, then no one person, apart from Jesus Christ, can rightfully claim they have been good enough. Sin must be punished or God is not a loving God. It is precisely because of God’s love that sin must be punished and not ignored so that justice might be complete. Thus, we too, must be willing to acknowledge our own sin. Those who come to Christ, come in repentance of their sin, turning from their past to take hold of a new life in Jesus Christ.
Furthermore, once we wrestle with our sin nature and our fleshly desire to stand in rebellion against God, we must be willing to understand that our actions have consequences. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23, ESV) The totality of scripture remains clear. Everyone is a sinner and the consequences of rebellion against God are that we all deserve death. One simply cannot rebel against the Sovereign King of Heaven and Earth then demand that we be allowed with Him on our terms. Nor can we claim that our actions are somehow noble. Through our sin nature and our actions, we deserve eternal punishment. Blood must be split on account of sin. By understanding our sin nature and the weight of our sin, we begin to grasp the meaningfulness and scope of the forgiveness that comes to us through Jesus Christ.
Forgiveness By Grace
The creed does not merely address the problem of sin, for however large of a problem it may be. The creed talks about the works of Jesus Christ to forgive sins. Furthermore, we proclaim that the forgiveness of sins does not originate at any point from ourselves but from God. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV) While we may want to be in control of our ambitions and our salvation, the forgiveness of sins places us as passive recipients of the grace of God. No one did anything to restore themselves to God. Our own efforts do not produce salvation and no one can boast in their personal righteousness. The forgiveness of sins comes by the grace of God to save mankind from their sins. When we state that we believe in the forgiveness of sins, we proclaim the works of Jesus Christ as sufficient to redeem mankind from the depths of their depravity and restore them to right relationship with our Heavenly Father.
The forgiveness of sins comes from our identification with Jesus Christ and our understanding that when Christ died on the cross, His actions counted for our own. We submit our lives fully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, uniting ourselves with Him in His death, burial, and resurrection. “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9 ESV) The forgiveness of sins, coming only from God rather than our inability to produce righteousness, declares fully from the inside and out that Jesus is Lord over all. The heart submits through the faith of knowing Jesus died and rose from the dead. Furthermore, our lives declare outwardly to the world that Jesus is the Lord and Savior of all humanity. Everything, even the forgiveness of sins, declares the glory of God as, through Him, sins are forgiven.
