Forgiveness: Part 6 - One Goat or Two?

INTRO: We have covered what I believe to be the key portion of Scripture in the OT regarding forgiveness. The key word for forgiveness is 'nasa', to bear or carry away. The idea is that of bearing or carrying away sin, to a place where it will never be found again. We said that two goats were required to give the proper picture of forgiveness. One was the 'for the Lord' goat. It's blood was shed to picture the payment of sin. The other goat was the 'sending away' goat. On it the sinner's sins were confessed and then to picture forgiveness it was sent into the wilderness where it would never be found again. Thus forgiveness requires that the payment for sin be made and that repentance take place before forgiveness could be extended.

A key passage on forgiveness in the NT is Matthew 18 It comes in the form of a parable, and we had it read earlier as given in verses 21-35. The key NT word for forgiveness is ‘aphiemi'. It occurs in this chapter in verses 21 and 35. This word means to 'send forth' or to 'send away'. The concept is basically the same as that of the OT. In the parable of the NT, again we will have the concept of repentance before forgiveness.