There are two common definitions of the word forgive: 

     1. To cancel debt

     2. to stop feeling angry or resentful toward someone for an offense, flaw, or mistake

When we receive the total forgiveness of God, our debt is canceled and the Lord's righteous anger is gone. God's forgiveness is not either/or. It is both/and.

Romans 3:24 ...and all are justified by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Justification is to be made right with God. If sin separates us from being in a right relationship with God, His justification, offered to us in a gift of grace, brings us back into a right relationship with Him.

But how is this possible? Because, again, we're not righteous. If God is truly all-knowing, and He is everywhere at once, then how can we be righteous? Did we somehow get into His blind spot? Is God so busy with other stuff going on in the world that as long as He sees us in church every now and then, we're okay? No, it's bigger than this.

Absolution is the declaration that you have been forgiven. You have been formally released from any guilt, obligation, or punishment. It is the announcement that your sins have been paid for. The debt has been canceled.

We owed a debt we could never pay. Jesus paid a debt He did not owe!
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,