According to Matthew's Gospel Jesus Christ forgives the sins of a specific individual. Jesus came to this earth to die for us on the cross, and - through the shedding of His blood - brought the forgiveness of our sins. We read in the Gospel that He "forgives" a sinner!
The Scripture tells us that we all are born into this world in a condition of debt - and it's a debt that we cannot pay off. The apostle Paul writes, "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned" (Romans 5:12). Every one of us is born into this world with the debt of Adam's sin charged to our account. God is our great Creditor; and every day we compound that debt further before Him with our own sins.
When it comes to sins, it's not in our power to forgive the 'sin-debt' of another. It's not even in our power to remove ourselves from our condition of 'sin-debt'. And so, it would be the greatest possible presumption to announce that we "forgave" someone of the sins they had committed against God. But the good news is that Someone has taken the burden of our debt to God on Himself - Someone who Himself had no 'sin-debt' whatsoever; and who willingly paid the debt for us. And what's more, this Someone, because He paid our debt, now has the authority from God Himself to announce our debt to God "forgiven". That Someone is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The prophet Isaiah says of Him that "He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows" (Isaiah 53:4); and that "the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all".
The apostle Paul wrote, "And you, being dead in your trespasses, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross".
There are many lessons for us in today's passage. But the greatest lesson is that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, has the authority to forgive the sins committed against God for anyone who comes to Him.
By Sr Mary, CM.
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