Forgiveness and Sin

Forgiveness and Sin

The overall theme of the Bible is simple to find, as it is on nearly every single page of it. It is that of man's sin and God's attempt to forgive him of that sin while still being absolutely holy and absolutely just. First, God gives man His Law. These are the same rules and regulations that many Jewish Orthodox follow to this very day. Next, in the supreme act of love, God sends His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for man's sins in a final act of forgiveness. Both of these acts are seen through the life of a single person, the essential founder of the Protestant faith and one of the primary founders of Christianity through the ages - the Apostle Paul.

Paul was raised as a Roman Jew from Tarsus known as Saul. He was a free born Roman citizen who was circumcised on the eighth day after his birth, as prescribed by Jewish law. His father was a Pharisee, and he would eventually become one himself. His early training included the trade of tent-making and the study of Jewish law under the renowned Pharisee of his day, Gamaliel.

As a Jew, Saul was "a Hebrew of Hebrews". According to Jewish law, he had never committed any wrong. Saul had every law memorized and never broke a single one. He was a zealous man, persecuting those who proclaimed Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah. He sent many of them away to prison, and had many more of them tortured and executed. He held the cloaks of the men who stoned the blasphemer Stephen, and was on his way to Damascus to destroy the blasphemers there when his life changed.

On the road to Damascus, Saul saw a light coming out of the heavens that was so bright it blinded him. He heard the voice of Jesus Christ asking him why he was persecuting Him. Then and there, Saul's life was c...

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...race. His intimate knowledge of what he had been showed him God's amazing power of forgiveness and all the joy it brings. This is how he could proclaim that God's grace was sufficient for any situation, and that God's power was unlimited.

In conclusion, through the life and eyes of the Apostle Paul we see both Old Testament thinking on sin and forgiveness, and New Testament views on those same issues. According to the Old Testament, the Jewish Law was the standard for man to live by, and only through ritualistic sacrifice could man be forgiven for breaking any of these laws. We see that through the eyes of Saul, Paul's life before Christ. Through the eyes of Paul, we see the New Testament approach to sin and forgiveness, and that is that sin is anything that separates man from God. Forgiveness of sin is only through a faith in Jesus Christ and His Resurrection.