When you become a Christian, are all (past, present, AND future) of your sins forgiven at once?

Answer 1

Awesome question…!
Of course, I wanted to immediately say YES!

But I saw many other responses, in which many people say “no”.

So, considering more thoroughly and doing a little “research”, if you will…so that my comments won’t be considered purely my personal opinions:

In the Easton Bible Dictionary, “Forgiveness of Sin” is defined:
“One of the constituent parts of justification. In pardoning sin, God absolves the sinner from the condemnation of the law, and that on account of the work of Christ, i.e., He removes the guilt of sin, or the sinner’s actual liability to eternal wrath on account of it.”

In other words, Justification saves a sinner from the penalty of sin. In this, Righteousness is imputed (or credited) to the sinner, who then becomes a “new creation”. Therefore, in the act of justification, a “sinner” becomes a “saint”. The Christian is no longer “under the law” in the sense that there is “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”.

Justification is the “judicial” act of God, in which God pardons all sins and treats the justified as righteous. As Easton puts it:
“In addition to the pardon of sin, justification declares that all the claims of the law are satisfied in respect of the justified.”

Again:
“It proceeds on the imputing or crediting to the believer by God Himself of the perfect righteousness, active and passive, of His Representative and Surety, Jesus Christ.

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And HERE is where the common “misunderstanding” has its roots…

“The act of faith which thus secures our justification secures also at the same time our sanctification; and thus the doctrine of justification by faith does not lead to licentiousness”!

And,
“Good works, while not the ground, are the certain consequence of justification.”

Therefore, it is an INCORRECT understanding of Biblical salvation to say that a person is saved over and over and over and over again…gaining salvation through “baptism”, losing it through “sin”, and regaining it through penance or repentance or other sacraments!

...Christ died once and for all. We do NOT recrucify Him over and over and over again!

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The correct view is that the answer to your question is a resounding YES!
ALL sins – past, present, AND future – are forgiven by grace through faith in Jesus Christ in “Justification”. And this is what it means to be saved (past term), and this is also the beginning of “Sanctification”. You can’t and don’t have one without the other!

While “Justification” secures our salvation in the past, “Sanctification” secures it in the present….as He completes the work HE began in us.

But BOTH are by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

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Salvation involves the past, present, AND future:

Justification is the past, in which we are saved from the PENALTY of sin, and righteousness is IMPUTED to us. In this, ALL our sins (past, present, future) are forgiven and atoned for by our Mediator, Jesus Christ. In this, in “standing” we are saints (by the declaration of God Himself!), though in “state” we still sin.

Sanctification is the Christian present, in which we are saved from the POWER of sin, and righteousness is IMPARTED to us via the Holy Spirit. It is the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit to work in and through us to do His will, even good works that were prepared in advance for us to do. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, leads us to repentance, and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Still, in this, in “standing” we are saints (by the declaration and judicial act of God in justification), though in “state” we still sin…but less as time passes and we are cleansed. For we are "new creations" that are no longer, by nature, "sinners" who habitually sin. We are, by the new nature, "saints" who yet have indwelling sin that we battle in this life (i.e. Romans 7), yet still have the SURE hope that there is no condemnation in Jesus Christ, who will save us from this "body of death", and that NOTHING can separate us from His love (i.e. Romans 8)!

Glorification is the Christian’s future, in which we will be saved from the PRESENCE of sin, and righteousness will be IMPECCABLE, we will be one with God, even as Jesus prayed to the Father (i.e. John 17). Finally, in heaven, our “state” of righteousness will be saints, even as we now stand as righteous saints through justification by grace through faith in Jesus Christ!

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What a glorious God!

What amazing grace!

Praise His name, all ye of the earth!

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Grace and peace in Christ!

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Answer 2

When you become at Christian your sins of the past are forgiven, however, you can't continue on the sinful path without asking for forgiveness and without trying not to do the sins that you did before. You have to change in the future and stop the sinning as best you can. If you don't then what you did won't be taken seriously. You have to change your ways and ask for forgiveness when you mess up. It's not that simple.

Answer 3

As a Christian I believe that upon accepting Jesus as Lord and repenting of sin that all sin up to that point was forgiven. Sin committed after salvation are forgiven with prayer of repentance and seeking forgiveness and mercy from Jesus. Once we become a Christian we do not automatically become perfect and sinless our old nature still needs to be tamed. We will never be sinless in the natural only when we shed the human nature and become spirit with God in heaven will we be totally without sin and the need to repent will not exist.

Answer 4

Yes, when you become born again, all past, present, & future sins are forgiven. We still need to confess & repent ourselves from the ones that we still commit daily in order to have the close walk with God that we should have.
Colossians 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death ° in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Answer 5

Well, I believe that your sins are forgiven. Follow this line of logic, if Christ has become your sin and your "record" has become Christ's perfect record. What does God see at your judgement?

If it is your asking forgiveness for every sin and then right at your death, you lusted. Therefore you sinned and cannot get forgiveness. Who is going to Heaven? No one obviously. You have to be perfect in thought and deed. Anyone who has told just one lie would never get to Heaven.

You cannot add to or take away from Christ's sacrifice. If you have experienced the conviction and accepted Him as your Lord and Savior, then He has died for ALL your sin.

Otherwise, He'd be a liar and therefore there would be no hope at all. Once you have been saved, you'll know if it happens. You're seen by God as Christ and His perfect record. You're not seen as the sinner that you were/are. The Book of Life has your name written in it.

There are no temporary Christians or illegitimate Children of God. The life which you now live, you live as Christ. You are not free to sin at will. Which of your sins and parts of you did Christ not die for?

It is truly a freeing experience.

Answer 6

All the past and present are if you ask them to be forgiven and repent of your sins, the future holds within you if you cont to follow a path that is good for you, Jesus said he will forgive you and he will trust that but no one can tell the future and what it holds.

Answer 7

Past and present sins will be forgiven but only if you ask for forgiveness.
The idea of Christianity is that you do your utmost not to sin in the furture but to follow the 10 commandments. As we are mere mortals we are bound to make mistakes. These will be forgiven as long as we acknowledge them and ask for forgiveness again. However, one day when we die we will all be accountable for our sins and of course for the good things we have done.

Answer 8

By the Death of Christ all sins were forgiven potentially,but we must repent of our sins to appropriate the merits of His One Sacrifice.

It is the foolish sin of presumption if i think that I can mortally sin in the future or hold on to grave and deadly sin in the present or refuse to repent of grievous evil from my past by treating the Savior's Blood as just a "fire insurance policy" and a license to sin.

St Paul warned us in 1 Cor 10:9-12 that we must not tempt the Lord with our sins lest we fall and in Gal 5:4-5 not to separate ourselves from gr
Christ by relying on some legalistic technicality of misinterpretation of God's Law and promise to fall away from grace and the Spirit's faith gift and hope of righteousness

Answer 9

Kidd,
Your sins are "Washed away with Baptism". We are also told that you become a "new man in Christ". We are NOT told that FUTURE Sins are forgiven. Those sins may be judged if you continue to be sinful. One must pray for the forgiveness of sins as we commit them and attempt to be sinless from the baptism on according to.Rev 2:15. Have a wonderful week!
Thank YOU,
Eds



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Answer 10

The Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians that "So we praise God for the wonderful kindness he has poured out on us because we belong to his dearly loved Son. He is so rich in kindness that he purchased our freedom through the blood of his Son, and our sins are forgiven. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding (Ephesians 1:6-8, NLT). This is referring to salvation where God has taken our sins and as the Psalmist says put them as far as the East is from the West (Psalm 102:12). This is the judicial forgiveness that God gives us upon receiving His Son Jesus Christ. All the past, present, and future sins are forgiven on a judicial basis meaning that we will not suffer eternal punishment for our sins. We still often suffer consequences of sin while we are here on earth - which brings us to your question.

The difference between Ephesians and 1 John is that 1 John is dealing with what we call "familial" forgiveness like that of a father and a son. For example if you do something wrong to your father, that is fall short of his expectations or rules, you have a hindered fellowship but you are still a son. That fellowship is hindered until you admit to your father that you have done wrong. The same way works with God, your fellowship is hindered with God until you confess that sin. Then the fellowship is restored.

During that time of brokenness you can experience doubt, frustration and even discipline from the Father. See what the writer of Hebrews says about discipline: "As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Whoever heard of a child who was never disciplined? If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children after all. Since we respect our earthly fathers who disciplined us, should we not all the more cheerfully submit to the discipline of our heavenly Father and live forever. For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always right and good for us because it means we will share in his holiness. No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it is painful! But afterward there will be a quiet harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way" (Hebrews 12:7-11, NLT).

Confession of sin according to 1 John 1:9 will help to keep us from the discipline of the Lord. If we fail to confess that sin the discipline of the Lord is sure to come until we do confess that sin. As you can see our sins are forgiven at salvation but our fellowship with God on a daily basis needs to stay in close fellowship. Therefore you need to confess your sin as it occurs to keep that right fellowship with God.

Recommended Resource: The Freedom and Power of Forgiveness by John MacArthur.

Answer 11

1 John 1:5-2:9
Christians are forgiven past and present sins.Jesus is our advocate with the Father (He will forgive if we ask).