searching for insight
Tonight I was posed with a very difficult question. The queestion went something like this: "If the cross and Jesus death was the only way for our sins to be forgiven then how could Jesus have told people that their sins were forgiven before He was sacrificed?"
Many things went through my head. First I thought "well Jesus was God so He has that power, right?" This didn't satisfy me because that would deem His death on the cross useless. That would raise seriouse issues with God's character, why would a loving God watch His son be beaten and killed for no reason at least not for the reason of forgiveness of sin. He could do it anyway right?
I also thought that maybe there were circumstantial relations between the instances Jesus told people that Their sins were forgiven that made them special. Well, this simply raised the same issues as before.
I guess what I am doing in posting this is searching for insight. If you have any Ideas on the subject I'd like to hear them. I'll continue thinking about it and we'll come to some sort of conclusion.
Many things went through my head. First I thought "well Jesus was God so He has that power, right?" This didn't satisfy me because that would deem His death on the cross useless. That would raise seriouse issues with God's character, why would a loving God watch His son be beaten and killed for no reason at least not for the reason of forgiveness of sin. He could do it anyway right?
I also thought that maybe there were circumstantial relations between the instances Jesus told people that Their sins were forgiven that made them special. Well, this simply raised the same issues as before.
I guess what I am doing in posting this is searching for insight. If you have any Ideas on the subject I'd like to hear them. I'll continue thinking about it and we'll come to some sort of conclusion.
Comments
I don't have an answer but I will tell you the thoughts that went through my head as I was reading your post.
I first thought that Jesus knew that what needed to take place was going to take place very soon, therefore he said your sins are forgiven, knowing they would be soon. But then that would make Jesus a liar, if that would have been the case, Jesus would have said "your sins will be forgiven in just a few weeks"
Well I will continue to think about that one. Great question to whomever asked it.
I think the largest problem is the dichotomy posed between the Synoptic gospels and the more Pauline epistles along with John's gospel. They both are attempting to display parts of who Jesus is, but they seem to do it in different ways. I'm going to continue looking into this and try to find more about this.
You have no idea how excited I am to see you commenting on my blog.
To respond to your comment... I haven't yet thought of it that way. It does sustain that the cross is still about the forgiveness of sin, and I like that but I'm afraid im still a bit skeptical about it. I'm not sure if it's really consistant with Jesus normal language. Was it normal for Jesus to speak of things outside a "timeline" existance? Would it be possible that this is unique in that way? That Jesus just this once was speaking in this way?
I like your take on this. I'm willing to take accept this view but if I do it'll still be a little cloudy... like most theology. Thanks bro you got great insight!
That was an amazing way of looking at the whole situation. I think that really makes a lot of sense!!
Wesley,
In all honesty did Jesus have a "regular" way of doing anything?
They hear "your sins are forgiven" He's saying "to me your sins are forgiven because of what I did on the cross" (even tho He hasn't been there yet on the timeline) This sounds good but does it make sense? I'm still deciding.
Thanks agin Dugall you're stretching me.