On the one hand, some New Testament teachings make it sound as if we cannot be forgiven and saved as long as we have sin in our lives. For example, Jesus teaches us to pray (in the Lord’s Prayer) “forgive us our sins AS we forgive those who sin against us” and then a few verses later explains this by saying: “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” On the other hand, passages such as Romans 8:31-39 make it sound as if nothing can separate us from the love and forgiveness of God. So how do we reconcile these teachings?
At Woodland Hills, we believe we first need to stop and refocus the question. When many Christians ask these kinds of questions about salvation, they make two mistakes. First, they think that “being saved” primarily means “being saved from Hell.” And second, they approach the question with a “legal” picture of God, meaning they frame the question in terms of a courtroom, where God is both the judge and the prosecuting attorney, and we are the sinful defendant.
We believe this is the wrong view of salvation, and not the best context in which to pose the question. Salvation is not primarily about “being saved from Hell,” but rather it is primarily about being restored to the image of God as we were created to be. This means being slowly but surely transformed into one who agape-loves God, other people, themself, and creation (what we call the “four directions of love”).
Rather than a legal/courtroom image, we see the more dominant image throughout the Bible as a marital image: God as the divine Groom seeking his wayward bride – first as Israel in the Old Testament, and then as the church in the New Testament (see Isaiah 54:1-8 ; Isaiah 62:5; Mark 2:18-20; John 3:27-30; Ephesians 5:25-32 ; Revelation 19:7-9). So, the real question we should ask is how a love relationship works in a good, loving human marriage, and use that as the best guide to how it works between God and us.
In a marriage, two people enter into a covenant where they promise to love each other until death. Now, we all know that no young married couple perfectly loves each other the way they promised to. There are ups and downs, mistakes made, anger expressed, selfishness that they both fall into. And yet, a good, healthy marriage is not one where both people are “perfect” from day one. Rather, a good marriage is one where both people are honest about their faults, confess when they have hurt each other and pledge to continue to grow as loving spouses into the years.
That is what God wants with his people. If we had to forsake all known sin in our lives before God was willing to love us, we would never have the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to begin to break away from habitual sin patterns. What God does require is what every covenant relationship requires—“faith and repentance” (Mark 1:14-15).
The biblical meaning of “faith” (pistis in Greek) is to put your covenant trust in your partner’s character and promises to you. The biblical meaning of “repentance” (metanoia in Greek) is to make a 180-degree change of mind, and turn from an old pattern of self-centered life to a new way of life as a covenant keeper. When we do this toward God through confession of sin and the making of a heart-commitment to God and his people, God meets us with the regenerating presence and power of the Holy Spirit. And then we spend the rest of our life growing more and more into the image of Jesus, who is the perfect image of God.
What does this mean for someone who struggles with an addiction, like a pornography habit or alcohol addiction? It means that they should come into covenant relationship with God through Jesus, expressing trust in his love and promises and confessing the sin that they are habitually trapped in. As God embraces such a person and the Holy Spirit takes residence, this provides the presence and power of God to progressively move out of the habitual sin.
