Total Grace means Total Forgiveness –
from God’s New Covenant perspective.

“The Sin Issue”  – New Covenant Repentance  – in a nut shell.

By God’s lavish Grace, I have experienced “progressive repentance” – a mind renewal over time – regarding the “sin issue.”  I once thought the Our Father required that I could only be forgiven to the degree I forgave others – Matthew 6:14-15 – which was true for the disciples living before Calvary. Later I thought I had to confess every sin to God for each one to be forgiven – 1 John 1:9. Then I found out that was written to Gnostic Jews, still in Adam, not to me as a reborn saint in Christ. (More on that revelation in a future Post – and/or see what Paul Ellis has to say in his Blog.)

Then I discovered that 1 John 2:2 was written to me because I am a part of the “whole world” that Jesus totally forgave of all sin, for all time. Then I discovered that 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 not only confirmed that God forgave the whole world of all sin for all time but that, from His part, He has reconciled the whole world to Himself because of what Jesus has done as God’s second, official Representative of all Mankind – the last Adam. 

All that now remains for each person is to choose to be reconciled to God by being reborn of Him, according to Romans 10:9-13. Here, Jesus made no requirement to “confess my sins” to be forgiven or to be reborn because He forgave all sins of all mankind for all time – 2000 years ago on Calvary, Hebrews 10:12. Then I discovered Hebrews 10:16-17 that declares that God has chosen to no longer be mindful of my past, present or future sins because of Jesus’ perfect Blood sacrifice, Hebrews 8:12 and 10:17.  

Now He sees me as holy (1 Corinthians 1:30), perfect (Hebrews 10:14) and righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21) because I am now in Christ and “one spirit” with Father-God – and I am now God’s Temple, 1 Corinthians 6:17 & 19. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to live in me so that He can 1) remind me of who I now am in Christ and 2) to produce His fruit through me! Wow! That is the Best Possible News.

A Progressive Revelation of “The Sin Issue” from Genesis on –
How the Mercy of God Triumphed Over Justice, through Jesus Christ, who paid for all of mankind’s sin-debt – in Full.

ADAM

When God created Adam, he was in a perfect position and condition in the perfect Garden, in fellowship with God and Eve. He rejected God’s merciful warning: “If you eat of this Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, you will surly die.” When Adam sinned, he and Eve died to God spiritually, and they lost and the dominion over the earth to Satan. They were mercifully expelled from the Garden to prevent permanent separation from God. Instead, God promised that a Savior will be coming!

TOWER OF BABEL

Some of Adam’s rebellious descendents plotted to reach God by their own efforts. So He confused their language and they scattered to other regions.

NOAH – THE FLOOD

Rebellion and perversion were expanding among Adam’s descendants, each one “turning to his own way,” threatening the prophecy that the coming Savior would be born of a virgin. God judged their sin by sending a devastating Flood but mercifully saved eight people to repopulate the earth.                          

ABRAHAM – A GRACE COVENANT

God promised to make the childless Abraham the “father of many nations” and included him in a unilateral covenant of grace and blessing – made between God and a prefigurement of Jesus –  and received by a gift of faith. Though sometimes selfish and unfaithful, God did not count that against him but related with him through “imputed righteousness” in His sight and related to him as His friend – even though he was still a sinner “in Adam.”

MOSES  – A WORKS COVENANT

God heard the cries of Abraham’s descendants under slavery in Egypt and mercifully delivered them miraculously, as beneficiaries of the same grace covenant God arranged for Abraham. However, they foolishly rejected a relationship with God. So He offered them a works-based, bilateral covenant given to them through Moses. They agreed to this “Do good get blessed, do bad get cursed” covenant and, predictably, suffered great hardship as they continued in their rebellious ways. A strained relationship with a Holy God could only continue through a sacrificial system to atone for their sins which lasted for about 1500 years – up until Calvary.

DAVID – A GRACE-BASED RELATIONSHIP

But even while living under that works-based covenant, David’s relationship with God reflected more how Abraham walked with God, despite his serious mistakes. It was also reflected in his blood-covenant relationship with Jonathan, which benefitted his son, Mephibosheth, who deserved death but received mercy and grace, eating at David’s table and receiving his father’s inheritance.

JESUS – PRE-CROSS, THE FOUR GOSPELS, UNDER LAW

The terms of the Mosaic Law Covenant (for Jews only) continued up to the Cross because Jesus came under the Law to fulfill the Law. In Matthew, Chapters Five and Six, Jesus actually makes the Law harder to achieve by including one’s thought life, not just action. The “Our Father” prayer overrides the sacrificial system by praying “forgive us our sins as we forgive others who sin against us.” The difficulty for “getting forgiveness” is actually increased under that change. Remember, this prayer was given to the apostles, pre-cross, not to any Gentiles.

JESUS – HIS POST-CROSS GOSPEL of TOTAL GRACE,
REVEALED DIRECTLY TO PAUL

Jesus’ inauguration of the New Covenant in His Blood changed everything.  He is mankind’s second legal representative before God – the Last Adam – that reversed the curse that came through Adam’s Fall. The following key passage, from 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, describes much of what His Finished Work on Calvary accomplished for mankind, in general, and for all reborn saints in particular through a Divine Exchange of natures. This Good News is worthy of being called The Fifth Gospel, according to Jesus.

He (Jesus) died for all, so that those who live would no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose on their behalf. Therefore from now on we recognize no one by the flesh; even though we have known Christ by the flesh (while He lived on earth), yet now we know Him in this way no longer.

 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and He gave us the ministry of reconciliation,namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their wrongdoings against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

 Therefore, we are Ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us. So we beg you, on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

So, let’s briefly explore these amazing revelations contained in this passage:

1) Jesus died to offer salvation to the whole world, Jews and Gentiles. Why?

2) So that all mankind can be reborn of God and then to live in and for Jesus,  who is now mankind’s risen Savior, instead of living selfishly, still dead to God in Adam. How is this possible?

3) First, God accepted Jesus’ perfect sacrifice on Calvary as the complete payment – total forgiveness – for the sin debt of all mankind, repeated in 1 John 2:2. Furthermore, God is no longer mindful of mankind’s sin, according to Hebrews 10:17. (Why would He want to pollute His holy mind with a sin debt that has been justly and fully paid by the Blood of His precious Son?)

4) Second, through Jesus’ Blood sacrifice, God chose to reconcile the whole world to Himself – from His point of view, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19. Why?

5) Because of Father-God’s great love for everyone, He wants everyone who is in Adam by natural birth to become part of His eternal family in Christ by rebirth. So now, since everyone –  including you and me – is totally forgiven of all past, present and future sin, how can I personally receive and benefit from such a merciful gift and become part of His family?

6) Agree to be reconciled to God from your sinful nature in Adam by being reborn of God – re-created as a New Creature in Christ, in permanent right-standing with God. How? By His gift of grace through faith in what Jesus did for me. (See Romans 10:9-13.) And how can this legally happen?

7) Because Jesus, as God’s perfect, Sacrificial Lamb, “became sin, who knew no sin, so that we could become the righteousness of God in Christ,” 2 Corinthians 5:21. So, agree with God that Jesus made this possible for you and just believe and receive permanent right-standing with God, as your new Father. This is what it means to be saved and come into the knowledge of the Truth – Jesus, our Way to Father-God, our Truth who sets us free, and our Eternal Life, John 1:12-13.

To repeat 2 Corinthians 5:17: “If anyone be in Christ, he or she is now a new creature: old (spiritual) things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new,” spiritually speaking. Thank God for such a miraculous salvation!

Some of the Many Other Benefits of Being God’s Own, Reborn Child,
and therefore Part of God’s Eternal Family:

God made the New Covenant with Jesus, unilaterally, not with us humans. Since we did not make it, we can’t break it. We enter into it by believing that God’s offer is true – just like Abraham believed God’s promise and received it. The New Covenant is an unconditional free gift, meaning there are no demands or commandments one must keep or maintain to receive and enjoy all of its benefits. And it is everlasting because rebirth makes you a permanent member of God’s family.

This is in stark contrast with the Mosaic Law Covenant that was bilateral, conditional and temporary. God made it with the Israelites so they had to keep all of it 613 laws or be punished. The blessings were conditional, based on their obedience to the Law. And it passed away for the Jews when their Temple was destroyed in 70 AD. The Law is good but Galatians 4:9 reveals that the Law was “weak and useless” for obtaining right-standing with God because they could not keep it perfectly.  The New Covenant does by faith what the Mosaic Law could not do by works.

Now that I am in Christ, the Man, what is true for Him is now true for my new, inner spirit-self. I am holy – set apart – perfect, righteous, accepted, approved and empowered by the Holy Spirit, who convinces me of being in permanent right-standing with Father-God, thanks to Jesus’ Finished Work of His Divine Exchange with me. I am seated with Christ in the heavenlies and one spirit with Father-God and His Ambassador on earth, Ephesians 2:6, 1 Corinthians 6:17 and 2 Corinthians 5:20.

Thanks to being in Christ, a believer cannot lose salvation by what he or she does or does not do because it is based on belief in Jesus’ Finished Work, not on our works.

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. (Why?) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the (Mosaic) law of sin and death. For, what the Law could not do, because  it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh so that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Romans 8:1-4

This is Jesus’ radical Gospel of total Grace, the Fifth Gospel that He revealed to Paul. Any other gospel that differs from “his” Gospel from Jesus is no gospel at all because it is not completely good news, Galatians 1:7-9. Paul wrote most all of his thirteen grace-based books before the Four Gospels were written so he boldly wrote in Romans 1:16-17:

For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” Amen!

For More Study at Kindle :

Discovering Jesus Radical Gospel of Total Forgiveness: Is 1 John 1:9 meant for you?