Unconditional Forgiveness

11 Feb

If God’s love is unconditional, then his forgiveness must be unconditional too. And it is! His forgiveness is not doled out in proportion to our acts of repentance or confession. It is lavished upon us according to the riches of his grace (Ephesians 1:7). You only need to look at Jesus to know this is true. During his time on earth, Jesus went around forgiving people who neither confessed nor repented, and while he hung on the cross he forgave those who put him there. The Son of God did all this to give us a picture of what true forgiveness looks like; it looks like love.

You need to treat God’s forgiveness the same way you treat his love—as a gift received by faith from start to finish. You don’t need to beat yourself up to get it; you just need to look to the cross and say, “Thank you, Jesus.”

Paul Ellis

The Gospel in Ten Words, KingsPress, 2012, 41.

Comments 6 Comments
Categories Paul Ellis
Author Paul Ellis

6 Responses to “Unconditional Forgiveness”

Hal Williamson February 11, 2013 at 2:59 am #

Thanks for this, today. Powerful.
Michael John Beil February 13, 2013 at 2:16 pm #

Thanks Paul!
Paul Hazen February 13, 2013 at 5:08 pm #

“REPENT, then, and TURN TO GOD, SO THAT HE WILL FORGIVE YOUR SINS.” Peter, Acts 3:19

Any “gospel” that minimizes repentance is a FALSE gospel! Any gospel that teaches that we can still go on sinning as “Papa-God’s” saved children is a FALSE gospel!
- Paul Ellis February 13, 2013 at 7:02 pm #
  
  Paul, please use your indoor voice when commenting here. This is a grace blog, not a shouting blog. And please limit comments to the quote. Who here is encouraging sinning? You’re attacking an argument no one is making.
  
  If you think God only forgives us when we repent, I suggest you read the verse you quoted in a literal translation, such as Young’s: “Reform ye, therefore, and turn back, for your sins being blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Act 3:19, YLT). God doesn’t forgive us in response to our acts of repentance. Rather, we repent in response to his goodness and kindness (Romans 2:4). This post explains it.
- earl February 14, 2013 at 5:09 am #
  
  It is the goodness of God that leads to repentence.
Pauline February 13, 2013 at 9:28 pm #

Wonderful Grace!