PENALTY REMAINS FOR SINS NOT REPENTED OF

There is a popular notion in modern Christianity that the death of Christ has paid the penalty for all sins, and that persons are lost only because they did not accept that their debt of sin has been cleared. But we should examine the Biblical teaching concerning this matter and consider the implications of this. Whoever said that Christ paid the penalty for all sins? Do not the wicked pay the penalty for their own sins in the lake of fire (Rev. 21:8)? And doesn’t Satan, as the Scapegoat, pay the penalty for the sins that he would have caused the repentant sinner to commit, when those confessed sins are placed upon him (Lev. 16:21, 22)? It does not suffice to say that the penalty was paid but people are lost because they did not accept that the debt is already paid, because many will claim to accept Christ, wanting salvation, even saying, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name?” and will still be lost because they did not do God’s will (Matt.7:21, 22).

It is the sin of Adam that had condemned us all that Christ paid the penalty for at Calvary. That is the free gift to all – “Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” (Rom.5:18);

But we must confess our own sins and repent of them to be forgiven of them – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9).

In addition to the free gift of forgiveness to all humanity for the sin of Adam that had condemned us all, and God’s offer of forgiveness for our individual sins, if we repent of them, God offers us a new heart and spirit that will empower us to live righteously – “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” (Eze. 36:26, 27). This new heart and spirit we can receive only by our conscious choice, whereas the free gift was given freely to all humanity when we were enemies, independent of any choice that we would have made or not made – “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” (Rom. 5:10).

The point is that there is a free gift that has been purchased for us that everybody has already received, by the death of Christ. That free gift gives each of us, including Adam, a second probation. We are all reconciled to God by that free gift – even while we are enemies – that is why we are alive right now, and Adam was not cut off instantaneously. But that free gift does not give us salvation from our own sins independent of us having to do anything. We must repent of those sins for ourselves or pay the penalty for them ourselves. Christ did not pay the penalty for those. Either we pay the penalty for them ourselves or Satan pays the penalty for them as the real culprit behind them. In other words, the death of Christ is not like an Indulgence against which Martin Luther protested – a free pass that allows you to sin as you like because the sins are already paid for.

The entire sanctuary service is all about how our confessed sins ultimately get placed on Satan, the Scapegoat, if we truly repent. And it is the death of Christ that makes that possible. For emphasis, Christ’s death makes it possible. It does not cancel all sins. If it did, then everybody would be free – good and bad alike. And it is not that everybody gets their sins cancelled but they just need to accept it. Many will genuinely think that they have accepted Christ but will be lost because they refuse to do God’s will. It is not just about accepting that it has already been done.

Ellen G. White had this to say:

“Death entered the world because of transgression. But Christ gave His life that man should have another trial. He did not die on the cross to abolish the law of God, but to secure for man a second probation.” (Ellen G. White, Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, TM134).

“Infinite wisdom devised the plan of redemption, which places the race on a second probation by giving them another trial.” (Ellen G. White, Testimonies Volume 3, p. 484).

“As representative of the fallen race, Christ passed over the same ground on which Adam stumbled and fell. By a life of perfect obedience to God’s law, Christ redeemed man from the penalty of Adam’s disgraceful fall. Man has violated God’s law. Only for those who return to their allegiance to God, only for those who obey the law that they have violated, will the blood of Christ avail. Christ will never become a party to sin. Bearing the penalty of the law, He gives the sinner another chance, a second trial.” ( Ellen G. White, 6BC 1092 – Manuscript 126, 1901).

“The instant man accepted the temptations of Satan, and did the very things God had said he should not do, Christ, the Son of God, stood between the living and the dead, saying, “Let the punishment fall on Me. I will stand in man’s place. He shall have another chance” (Ellen G. White, Letter 22, February 13, 1900). 1BC 1085.2

By His present life, as our Advocate and High Priest, Christ intercedes on our behalf before the Father and in the presence of the holy angels so that we can be forgiven of our sins and be empowered with spiritual gifts so that we can live righteously. He will receive the kingdom of this earth from His Father and will return at His second coming to receive us (1 John 2:1; Eph. 4:10-15; Rev.3:5; Heb.4:14-16; Dan. 7:13, 14; John 14:1-3).

So, let us repent and seek God’s forgiveness for our own sins and accept the power that He offers us to live righteously. Let us not think that we are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing, when we are in God’s sight, “wretched, and miserable, and poor and blind and naked” (Rev. 3:17). Instead, let us seek God for gold tried in the fire that we might be rich, white raiment that we might be clothed, that the shame of our nakedness does not appear, and eyesalve that we might see (Rev.3:18).

Let us not think that all our sins are already paid for, and we are already saved, without us having a part to play – so that we can sin with impunity. If that were so, then all the wicked would also have a ticket (or Indulgence) that guarantees their place in heaven.

“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matt. 11:15).

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