{"id":356,"date":"2012-06-03T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-03T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/2012\/what-does-the-bible-say-about-forgiveness-by-separation-ofthe-sinner-from-his-sin\/"},"modified":"2012-06-03T07:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-06-03T12:00:00","slug":"what-does-the-bible-say-about-forgiveness-by-separation-ofthe-sinner-from-his-sin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/2012\/what-does-the-bible-say-about-forgiveness-by-separation-ofthe-sinner-from-his-sin\/","title":{"rendered":"What does the Bible say about forgiveness by separation of\nthe sinner from his sin?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. (Psalm 103:11–14—NKJV)<\/cite> <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

For most people, forgiveness amounts to nothing more than a desire to escape from the consequences of sinful actions at the lowest possible price. This is true in relation to God as well as to their fellow man. While many sins are loathsome to most individuals and are regularly shunned, there tend to be other sins that appear less egregious, less public, less destructive, less influential to others, or less offensive because they were driven by a \u201cgood\u201d motive. Such sinfulness has deep roots in the soil of the soul and requires diligent measures to remove. In these \u201cprivate\u201d matters, desired forgiveness most often takes on the form of desiring to \u201cwipe the slate clean.\u201d Personal distance from that sin and shunning sinful actions may not enter the request for forgiveness. <\/p>\n

The English dictionary definition of forgiveness follows a similar track: \u201cto give up resentment against or the desire to punish; stop being angry with, pardon; to give up all claim to punish or exact penalty for (an offense), overlook; to cancel or remit (a debt).\u201d Psalm 130:3–4 expresses the truth upon which our real definition must rest all its weight: \u201cIf you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.\u201d God\u2019s is the power to forgive, not to be presumed upon. Such divine forgiveness is dispensed only to those with true-hearted craving to be spared and to be pardoned. <\/p>\n

Scofield\u2019s Reference Bible has a helpful note on the subject: \u201cThree Hebrew words are translated forgive, forgiven: kaphar<\/i>, to cover; nasa<\/i>, to lift away; salach<\/i>, to send away (cf. Lev. 16:21, 22), the fundamental O.T. idea of forgiveness being not the remission of penalty, but the separation of the sinner from his sin. Psalm 103:12 expresses this.\u201d This is the plan of God that is illustrated in the Old Testament offerings and is realized in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ upon the cross of Calvary, bearing a believer\u2019s sin away. <\/p>\n

Jeremiah 50:20 reads, \u201cIn those days and in that time, says the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found; for I will pardon those whom I preserve.\u201d Jeremiah also states, in 31:34, \u201cNo more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, \u2018Know the Lord,\u2019 for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.\u201d It is this work of God that Isaiah declares as: <\/p>\n