Eternally Purchased,

Yet Continuously Penitent         

A Religious Query answered by J. G. Vos.

Question:
If a person's sins - past, present and future sins - are all forgiven when he is justified, then why should a Christian daily confess sin and pray for forgiveness, throughout his life?

Answer:
This problem has puzzled many Christians. The key to its solution lies in the distinction between justification and adoption. Justification and adoption, although simultaneous and inseparable, are nevertheless two distinct acts of God, and they involve two distinct relationships between the believer and God.

In justification, God is our Judge; in adoption, God is our Father. Justification makes us citizens of God's Kingdom; adoption makes us members of God's family. Justification is a judicial act, which concerns the legal penalty of sin and the legal requirement of absolute righteousness. Adoption is a matter of personal relationship, which concerns our position as children in God's family, and our enjoyment of the light of His countenance.

Justification, on the ground of the blood and righteousness of Christ, settles for all eternity the question of the Christian's standing in relation to the law of God. In justification God declares, once and forever, that the penalty of the law has been satisfied, and that by reason of the imputed righteousness of Christ, the Christian is positively and absolutely righteous in God's sight. This is done once for all; it never need nor can be repeated. To all eternity, there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Justification is a permanent final transaction.

Adoption, on the other hand, concerns the relation of the Christian to God as his heavenly Father. The penalty of the law has been satisfied, and the righteousness demanded by the law has been imputed. All that is finished business. But by reason of his continuing sinful nature the Christian still daily sins against God in word, thought and deed. These daily sins cannot bring the Christian into condemnation. They cannot take away his permanent justification. They cannot have the slightest effect on his eternal safety. But they can and do displease God, the Christian's heavenly Father. They are violations of the holiness of the family of God.

If these daily sins are not promptly repented of and confessed, they will have serious consequences in the believer's life. True, they will not take away his justification or his eternal salvation. But they will have serious consequences in the present life. They will harden the believer's own conscience, grieve the Holy Spirit, and bring God's chastening upon the Christian in the form of suffering of some kind. They will also destroy the believer's present usefulness in Christian service. And they will cast a deep gloom upon his soul, as the light of God's countenance is withdrawn. Read Psalm 32 and see how miserable David felt during the interval between his great sin and his confession of that sin. But if David had died during the interval, he would instantly have gone to heaven, for he was a justified man.

The chastening which God visits upon his sinning children has absolutely nothing to do with the judicial punishment of sin. As far as the judicial penalty of sin is concerned, the believer has already had the sentence of death executed upon him in the person of his representative, the Lord Jesus Christ, on the cross of Calvary. God's chastening of His children is not punishment but discipline. It proceeds not from His righteous wrath, but from His fatherly love and compassion. Its purpose is not to satisfy the righteous demands of the law, but to bring erring children back to a spiritual state.

The Christian's daily repentance and confession of sin concerns exclusively this relation to God as Father. It has nothing to do with the judicial guilt and penalty of sin, which is settled forever by justification. Rather, it is necessary in order that right relations may exist within the family of God. When the believer truly repents and confesses, as David did, the light of God's countenance will be restored to his soul. In short, the believer should daily repent and confess his sins, not because of any danger of eternal damnation, but because he has offended his heavenly Father, and needs to have his consciousness of the Father's favour restored.