Bible Word of the Day

Absolution (Absolving Sin)

Meaning
Absolution refers to the removal of sins and we know that is only possible through faith in Jesus and His blood shed for us for the remission (removal) of sin. If we look at the Bible and the Gospel message we know that all of mankind is fallen and we are unable to save ourselves. That’s because of our sin nature and our sins. The Bible says about mankind, “There is none righteous, no, not one!” The Bible also tells us we are all dead in our trespasses and sins and no one is righteous. All people have been created with a body, a soul and a spirit. Our bodies are the physical part of our being, our souls which holds our sin nature controls our thoughts and desires. In addition, we have a spirit, which communicates with God, and it’s the spirit of men and women which is dead in trespasses and sins. This means there is no amount of work or good deeds, that we can perform that will change our fallen nature, or give us a new spirit. We have to remember God looks at both our deeds, as well as the thoughts, motives and desires behind those actions. We have to remember that God holds us accountable for both thought and deed.

This means when God looks at us, He not only looks at our actions or deeds, but God also sees all our private moments as well as our thought life and the true motives behind our actions. For example, if we do perform a good deed, but we did it to get recognition, then that deed is considered sinful because we did it for selfish reasons. And lastly, no good deed can remove the guilt of past sins which occurred in either thought or deed. Therefore, we are indeed guilty in our trespasses and sins. But God knows this and that’s why He tells us that before the foundation of the world was put in place, God Himself had determined to step out of eternity, take on flesh in the incarnation of Jesus and die for us. God did this in order that we could be forgiven our sins by Jesus alone and our faith in Him. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, believing Him to be, whom He claimed to be, that is God in the flesh. Then we are saved and with our salvation, we received a new spirit which is alive to God and sensitive to the things of God. In addition, we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who then carries out God’s process of spiritual growth in our hearts and minds, which is called sanctification.

Now with this understanding we can see some of the differences between Christian denominations. The Roman Catholic Church believes that absolution means only a priest who has accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior, can himself forgive the sins of another person who believes in and accepts Christ. The Protestants believe all church members have this ability. And finally Martin Luther with the protestant reformation explains it best when he tells us, that it’s God who forgives us through Christ Jesus blood shed for us, because of our faith in Him. We have to remember that absolution is part of the promise of God, and it does not come from men. This means we as Christians can only testify to the work of God in our lives, and follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, but we ourselves cannot perform the work of God and give absolution of sins, which makes a person right in the eyes of God. Absolution can only come from faith alone, in Christ alone.