There are two common beliefs regarding salvation:  (1) I have to do what is right; and (2) God’s grace will cover my sins.  There is a sense in which both statements are correct, and there is a sense in which both statements are incorrect.  With regard to the second statement, apparently some of the members in the church at Rome felt this same way.  Paul had to explain to them that they had been baptized into Christ, meaning they were buried in Him(Rom. 6:3).  If we are “in Him,” how can we just keep on sinning like we did before we started following Jesus?  We died to sin, and if we died to sin, how can we go on sinning(Rom. 6:1-2)?  That just doesn’t make any sense.  Does grace cover our sins?  Yes.  Is grace a license to sin?  No.  However, that is not the topic of this article.  Instead, I want to look at the idea of doing what is right as a means of attaining salvation(i.e. forgiveness of sin).

We worship a God Who is holy(Lev. 11:44).  And since He is holy, He wants his people to be holy.  This was true of Israel under the Law of Moses(Lev. 11:44) and it is true of Christians living under Christ(I Pet. 1:16).  In order to be holy, a person would either: (a) need to live a sinless life; or (b) need to have someone pay for their sins.  It is because of our sin that we need forgiveness; we need God to be willing to forgive our sins.  However, God is holy and righteous and just(Acts 10:34; Col. 3:25; II Thess. 1:6).  As such, He cannot arbitrarily grant forgiveness to someone if that person’s sins have not been paid for.  That is where Jesus comes in.  He paid the price that was needed for any person’s sins:  my sins, your sins or anyone else’s sins.  Looking at the situation superficially, it would seem that our problem(sin) is solved, and it is(to a certain extent).  However, two things are necessary: (1) we need to accept that grace; and (2) we still need to live our lives.  What do we do after our sins(past) are paid for and forgiven(this presumes we have done the first things – accepting His grace)?  Or to put it another way, how do we go about living our lives?

What happens when I sin?  Here are some possibilities:

Nothing happens.  My sins are forgiven by the blood of Jesus.

• The idea that once I am baptized for the forgiveness of my sins, I no longer need to worry about sin is exactly what Paul was writing against in Rom. 5:20 – 6:4, 11-14. Some in Rome thought that more sin meant more grace, and it does, but our attitude toward sin is supposed to change when we buried with Christ in baptism.  Sinning is supposed to be no longer what we are about.  I’m not suggesting that we will never sin, but rather that it should be an uncommon occurrence.  The goal might be to never sin, but experiences tells me that we will not be perfect moving forward.  We will stumble, hopefully less as we learn more about God’s word and we mature.

It depends on how many sins I commit and how often I commit them.

• The number, frequency or perceived sinfulness(?) of a particular sin is immaterial. All sin separates us from God.  However, if you are already a Christian(you have accepted His grace/gift), then you have an advocate(Jesus) to plead on your behalf(I John 2:1-2).  And Jesus can do that for us because He was and is the atoning sacrifice for our sins(meaning Jesus atones or pays for our sins through His death on the cross). 

I need to confess my sin(s) to God and repent.

• This is the pattern the Bible teaches. We can confess our sins to other Christians, and they can pray for us(Jam. 5:16), however, this alone does not result in foregiveness.  We must confess our sins to God(I John 1:9 – this verse precedes the one mentioned about about Jesus being an atoning sacrifice for our sins).  Confession is just one part; it is admitting that we did something wrong(sin).  We also need to take action.  Repenting is that action. Repenting is a “turning away” from what that sin was.  We mentally decide that we are not going to do that sin anymore and we take action to turn away from it.  This does not mean you will never commit that same sin again. You might, and if you do, you will need to confess and repent again.  Being a faithful child of God(Christian) is not a “one and done” scenario.  It is a lifestyle.  It is something we learn and learn and learn.  If you have been a faithful child of God for 70 years, you are still learning.  You are still trying to grow closer to the Lord.

As God’s people, we are trying to be like Him(i.e. holy).  And although we will experience failures(i.e. sin), we get back up and continue moving forward toward God.  We love Him. We want to be like Him.  We want to be with Him, and not just in eternity.  We want to be as close to Him as we can during this life.  And if sin, any sin, separates us from God(Isa. 59:1-2), then we want to avoid sin as best we can.  And when we do sin, we want to do whatever is necessary(confessing and repenting) to restore that proper relationship with God as soon as possible.  If you sin, don’t wait.  Get right with God, and do it right away.

The Good News(gospel) is that in the end, I do not have to be good enough for heaven(at least not on my own).   We have a loving Father in heaven Who is willing and has done everything necessary for our sins to be forgiven, regardless of how many bad things we have done or what terrible things we have done.  We have a great God; don’t forget that.  Peace.