The beginning of the New Testament introduces us to the birth of our Messiah Jesus Christ. Here, we see the genealogy of our Saviour, we read Mary being pregnant of the holy Spirit, Joseph wanting to disengage her, having a dream and eventually marrying Mary, and finally Jesus being born. Although this is a pretty straight forward story-telling from Matthew, one could go into a few doctrinal analyses such as the genealogy disambiguity, the virgin birth confirmation, Christological theology etc, but I will here choose to focus on one single thing that concerns us personally and immediately: Verse 21.
σώσει τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν αὐτῶν
he shall save his people from their sins
All Greek manuscripts agree and all New Testament English versions also agree, apart from the 'Bible in Worldwide English' (he will save his people from the wrong things they have done).
People being saved from their sins isn't the same as people being saved from the consequences of their sins. The Israelites were already saved from the consequences of their sins through the sacrifices and the grace of the Almighty God, there was no confusion, and exactly the same for Christians through the blood of Christ and God's mercy, but here, in Matthew 1:21, we're looking at it from a different perspective where rather than Sin being forgiven believers, as it is thoroughly explained through the rest of the New Testament, Sin itself is what people are taken from, or saved from. In other words, we are not just forgiven our past sins, as the BWE Version renders, but also are saved away from our sins.
Does this mean that we are now sinless now that we are Christians and saved from our sins? Sadly, not yet! (Philippians 3:12) We are not in our sins, like the wretched-filthy-rag crowd is, since we walk, not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Galatians 5:16), having been reborn to a new life (Romains 6:11-12), but we do have an advocate and a high priest if we do happen to sin (1John 2:1). Saying that we never sin is a lie (1John1:8).
Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice provided freedom from the bondage to sin (Romans 6-16-18) and the freedom to live in righteousness -away from sin- ..... not just forgiven. In this verse, we are not saved in (εν) our sins, as if we were saved while we were yet sinners (we were loved while we were yet sinners), we are not saved from (απo) our sin, although this is also true, but we were saved out of (εκ) our sins, that is, saved from being in sin, saved from living in sin.
I believe in the Atonement of victory which, like most other Atonement theories, embraces the victory of Christ over Satan and his world, sin and death, it however demands our own conquering over the craving, appetite and lust of our flesh. you just cannot accept the forgiveness of your past sins and not deal with what causes your present sins! Sin is a symptom of a condition inside of us, not the problem itself. It is therefore imperative that we not only stop sinning but also cease fulfilling any familiar sin by living in it.
You just cannot accept the forgiveness of your past sins and not deal with what causes your present sins
The Son of God has delivered us from the bondage to sin through the purchase of his blood unto an adoption as God's children but also has given us hope to substantiate our faith and the holy Spirit to help our heart and conscience in sanctification and our new life in Christ, that our old sins may be forgiven but also that we may no longer live in sin but be saved out of sin.
May you all be blessed always.
The beginning of the New Testament introduces us to the birth of our Messiah Jesus Christ. Here, we see the genealogy of our Saviour, we read Mary being pregnant of the holy Spirit, Joseph wanting to disengage her, having a dream and eventually marrying Mary, and finally Jesus being born. Although this is a pretty straight forward story-telling from Matthew, one could go into a few doctrinal analyses such as the genealogy disambiguity, the virgin birth confirmation, Christological theology etc, but I will here choose to focus on one single thing that concerns us personally and immediately: Verse 21.
σώσει τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν αὐτῶν
he shall save his people from their sins
All Greek manuscripts agree and all New Testament English versions also agree, apart from the 'Bible in Worldwide English' (he will save his people from the wrong things they have done).
People being saved from their sins isn't the same as people being saved from the consequences of their sins. The Israelites were already saved from the consequences of their sins through the sacrifices and the grace of the Almighty God, there was no confusion, and exactly the same for Christians through the blood of Christ and God's mercy, but here, in Matthew 1:21, we're looking at it from a different perspective where rather than Sin being forgiven believers, as it is thoroughly explained through the rest of the New Testament, Sin itself is what people are taken from, or saved from. In other words, we are not just forgiven our past sins, as the BWE Version renders, but also are saved away from our sins.
Does this mean that we are now sinless now that we are Christians and saved from our sins? Sadly, not yet! (Philippians 3:12) We are not in our sins, like the wretched-filthy-rag crowd is, since we walk, not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Galatians 5:16), having been reborn to a new life (Romains 6:11-12), but we do have an advocate and a high priest if we do happen to sin (1John 2:1). Saying that we never sin is a lie (1John1:8).
Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice provided freedom from the bondage to sin (Romans 6-16-18) and the freedom to live in righteousness -away from sin- ..... not just forgiven. In this verse, we are not saved in (εν) our sins, as if we were saved while we were yet sinners (we were loved while we were yet sinners), we are not saved from (απo) our sin, although this is also true, but we were saved out of (εκ) our sins, that is, saved from being in sin, saved from living in sin.
I believe in the Atonement of victory which, like most other Atonement theories, embraces the victory of Christ over Satan and his world, sin and death, it however demands our own conquering over the craving, appetite and lust of our flesh. you just cannot accept the forgiveness of your past sins and not deal with what causes your present sins! Sin is a symptom of a condition inside of us, not the problem itself. It is therefore imperative that we not only stop sinning but also cease fulfilling any familiar sin by living in it.
You just cannot accept the forgiveness of your past sins and not deal with what causes your present sins
The Son of God has delivered us from the bondage to sin through the purchase of his blood unto an adoption as God's children but also has given us hope to substantiate our faith and the holy Spirit to help our heart and conscience in sanctification and our new life in Christ, that our old sins may be forgiven but also that we may no longer live in sin but be saved out of sin.
May you all be blessed always.
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