The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ paid for all sins on the Cross. But some say that a person’s sins are not remitted until they are correctly baptized, citing Acts 2:38. Are there two different remissions of sin? Is there a remissional redundancy: one at the Cross, and another at the time of personal water baptism?
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:24)
Jesus taught that his blood remitted sin: “my blood . . . which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matt. 26:28). The writer of Hebrews states: “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” (Heb. 9:22). (The KJV says “remission” in the place of forgiveness.[1] That is because remission and forgiveness are the same thing.[2]) It was the specific blood of Jesus that forgives our sins. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of his grace.” (Eph. 1:7). Jesus is the final sacrifice for all sins: “Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.” (Heb. 10:18). We are forgiven when we believe in Jesus. Peter preached, “everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name[3].” (Acts 10:43).
When and where is sin remitted? -- at the Cross. His death on the Cross is proof that sin is remitted. Paul says, “because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” (Rom 6:7). If the Bible states that Jesus’ death on the Cross is the sacrifice for our sins; if it says he died to our sins only once; and if it says he could not be held by death, but is raised to give us life and salvation, then, we can safely say that our sins imputed to Jesus on the Cross were cleansed, taken away or paid for there and his resurrection testifies it is so:
The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. (Romans 6:10)
And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Heb. 10:10)
But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. (Acts 24:24)
Jesus did away with our sins on the Cross: “But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.” (Heb. 9:26) He does not offer himself to remit sins day after day. Otherwise he would have to suffer death everyday since God made the world. We need not to ask him to remit our sins day after day. He has done away with sin by his death on the Cross, once, for all time:
Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Heb. 9:6)
Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. (Heb. 7:27)
To contend that sin is not fully remitted at the Cross fails to understand the resurrection of Jesus. He could not be raised from the dead if our sins, imputed against him, were not done away with. He would still bear our sins. But the Bible says our sins are no longer imputed to him:
How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! (Heb. 9:14)
[1] There are seven words in the whole Bible used for forgiveness: three in Hebrew: 1) Kipper = “to cover”; Nasa = “to bear,” “take away guilt”; 3) Salah = “to pardon.” There are four in Greek: 1) Apolyein = “to put away”; 2) Paresis = “putting away,” “disregarding” (only one time - Rom. 3:25); 3) Charizesthai = “to forgive sins” - (especially expresses the graciousness of God’s forgiveness. This word is used only in Luke (7:21; Acts 3:4) and Paul (2 Cor. 2:7; Eph. 4:32; Col. 2:13; 3:13).); 4) Aphesis = “forgiveness” - (which conveys the idea of “sending away” or “letting go.” It is a noun 15 times and a verb 40 times). Aphesis is the most common word in the NT for forgiveness. There are ten verses in the KJV that use the word remission (Matt. 26:28; Mk, 1:4; Lk, 1:77; Lk, 3:3; Lk, 24:47; Acts 2:38; Acts 10:43; Rom. 3:25; Heb. 9:22; Heb. 10:18). All these verses, except Rom. 3:25 (paresis) use the Greek work aphesis. Aphesis is rooted in the verb aphieemi, which is rendered in English as “forgive,” “left,” “leave,” “sent away,” “omitted,” “forsook,” “remit,” “let go,” or “put away.” Aphesis is used 17 times in the KJV as “forgiveness,” “remission,” “deliverance,” or “set at liberty.”
[2] The Greek word for remission is also the same Greek word for forgiveness. The word “forgiveness” in Acts 5:31 is translated from the Greek word aphesis. The word “remission” in Acts 2:38 is also translated from the Greek work aphesis. (The only place where “remission” is not translated from aphesis is Romans 3:25 where the word is paresis. In this case the word means “overlooking” or allowing sins to go unpunished. This would not be remission in the sense of taking away sins, as the context of the verse bears out.)
[3] To believe “in his name” means the same as believe in the person who possesses the name. To believe in the name of Jesus, is a Hebrew way of saying, “believe in Jesus.”
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