Immersed in Christ: Wednesday, July 14, 2021

Our Sins No Longer Exist

In baptism and confession, our sins are not just “for- given” but taken away. The difference is crucial. With no pun intended, the “crux” of our redemption is the cross.

Forgiveness doesn’t change us. The one who for- gives becomes more loving, more godlike by that act. But the one forgiven is just as guilty as before.'

If Jesus only “paid the price of our sins,” our sins would still be part of us. God would just be “over- looking” them. But the truth is, we are not delivered from sin by Jesus dying for us, but by the mystery of our dying in him. We may not have been clear about this mystery of redemption.

By this mystery, Jesus does not just forgive; he “takes away” the sins of the world. And he does it as the Lamb of God, by dying and incorporating us into his death. Because we have died in Christ, there is no record of our sin, either in heaven or (in God’s eyes) on earth! The one who committed those sins died. We live now as the risen body of Jesus. We are a new creation.