How Dare Jesus Forgive Sin!

The world tries to stop good deeds in many ways, and especially those done by the Lord Jesus. Wicked men objected when He healed the sick on the Sabbath, claiming there was some law that outlawed it. They objected when Jesus ate with sinners and preached the Gospel to them, because they hated sinners, and thought them unworthy of salvation.

Wicked men tried to stop Jesus from doing these good things for the helpless and the sinner.

But there is another of Jesus' good deeds that is precious to each of His people, that was also opposed by wicked men: they objected to Christ forgiving sinners of their sins!

Christ implicitly offered forgiveness of sins to whoever trusted in Him. When He promised everlasting life to those who believe in Him, there is an implicit promise to forgive sin.

That is because death and eternal judgment are the just punishment for every sinner. The wages of sin is death, and the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

So when Jesus promised that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life, that implies that Christ has undertaken to forgive all such believers of their sin.

When Christ preached these promises of everlasting life, His enemies would find some other reason to mock and attack Him. Since the promise of forgiveness was implicit, they complained instead that He ought not to claim to be the bread of life that came down from heaven. They complained that He equated Himself with God, and sought to stone Him.

But these same wicked men also objected whenever Jesus explicitly forgave sin. He forgave the lame man let down through the roof. "Be of good cheer," Jesus told the poor man, "thy sins are forgiven thee!"