In addition to calling us, God has forgiven us. Ephesians 4:32 tells us that God in Christ forgave us, and Colossians 2:13 says that God has forgiven us all offenses. According to Hebrews 8:12, God will by no means remember our sins. This means God will forget our sins. To forgive means to forget, for the forgetting of sins is the real forgiveness of sins. Without forgetting, forgiveness is not real. Hence, God not only forgives our sins but also forgets them.
First John 1:9 tells us that God is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins. To forgive us is to release us from the offense of our sins. The forgiveness of sins is the basic element of God’s gospel (Luke 24:47; Acts 5:31; 10:43; 13:38). Through this, the believers who receive Christ become the children of God (1 John 2:12; John 1:12-13).
A number of verses in Romans speak of God justifying the believers. Romans 8:30 says that those “whom He called, these He also justified.” Then 8:33b declares, “It is God who justifies.” According to Romans 3:24, we are “justified freely by His grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus,” for God is just and justifies the one who is of the faith of Jesus (v. 26). Justification is God’s action in approving people according to His standard of righteousness. God’s righteousness is the standard, not ours. No matter how righteous we are, we cannot be approved by God according to our righteousness. Although we may be right with everyone-our parents, our children, our neighbors and friends-our righteousness will never justify us before God. We may justify ourselves according to our standard of righteousness, but this does not enable us to be justified by God according to His standard. But when God justifies us, we are approved by Him according to the standard of His righteousness.
How can God justify us, approving us according to His standard of righteousness? He can do this because the work of justification is based on the redemption of Christ. When the redemption of Christ is applied to us, we are justified. If there were no such redemption, it would be impossible for us to be justified by God. Christ’s redemption is the basis of God’s justification.
In Romans 3:30 Paul says, “It is one God who shall justify the circumcision out of faith and uncircumcision through faith.” God is one. This one God justifies both the Jews and the Gentiles. Whether we are Jews or Gentiles, it is the one God who has justified all of us so that we may be one as the Body of Christ.
God has also reconciled us to Himself. Romans 5:10 says, “While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.” Colossians 1:21 and 22 also indicate that as enemies we have been reconciled to God. Originally, we were not only sinners but also enemies of God. Through the redeeming death of Christ, God has justified us, the sinners, and has reconciled us, His enemies, to Himself. Because we were sinners, we needed redemption. Because we were also enemies of God, we needed reconciliation to Him. This took place when we believed in the Lord Jesus. We have received God’s justification and reconciliation by faith.
Colossians 1:20 and 22 tell us that it was through Christ as the active instrument that God’s work of reconciliation was processed, that to reconcile us to God is to make peace with God for us, and that this was accomplished through the blood of Christ. Through the death of Christ God has reconciled us to Himself in order that we may be presented holy, blameless, and without reproach before Him.
Romans 14:3 indicates that God receives the believers. God receives us according to His Son. As long as a person receives His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, as his Savior, God receives him immediately. God’s receiving is based on Christ’s receiving, and Christ’s receiving is in accordance with our faith in Him. Once we have believed in Christ, we are received by God. God’s receiving ushers us into the enjoyment of the Triune God and all that He has prepared and accomplished in Christ for us as our eternal portion.
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