Be it known unto you therefore, men [and] brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses (Acts 13:38-39 KJV).
In Acts 13, after Paul concludes his masterful sermon that he had preached in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia, he extends an invitation to his listeners to accept the offer of salvation through Jesus Christ.
The offer, based on Christ’s finished work, is twofold:
- Forgiveness Is Offered
“Be it known unto you therefore, men [and] brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.”
Consider what a profound statement this would have been to this predominately Jewish congregation.
He told them their sins could be forgiven, and that forgiveness was available through Who?
“Through this man…” That would be Jesus who Paul had just spent so much time speaking about.
What a concept this must have been for them. “This man” is the very man Paul explained in his sermon that the Jews hated, rejected, falsely accused, and murdered. Yet Paul is telling them Jesus is the only One Who can truly forgive them.
The Jews certainly had a concept of forgiveness, but what Paul is saying here is completely new to them.
Throughout the centuries, tens of thousands of animals had been killed, their blood shed by Jewish priests to offer a covering for their sins.
But Paul is revealing to them that animal sacrifices are no longer needed.
Jesus, the Messiah, confirmed to be the Son of God through the resurrection, had shed His blood as a once and for all sacrifice, to offer the forgiveness they so desperately needed.
If the idea that forgiveness could be offered through a man wasn’t enough to shock their system, what Paul is about to say next is no doubt unlike anything they had ever heard before.
- Righteousness Is Offered
“And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:39).
In the invitation Paul extended, though the Christian church had been growing in number and expanding in reach for nearly 20 years by this point, Paul introduces a new word into the Christian lexicon – justified.
By using the word, he wants them to understand that their concept of forgiveness and the justification offered through Christ are two different realities.
As always when interpreting Scripture, we need to try to hear through the ears of those being spoken to in order to fully grasp the weight of what’s being said.
And for a predominantly Jewish audience to hear that a man could be forgiven or justified, but that it couldn’t come through the law of Moses, would have been enough to make a devout Jew lose their mind.
To grasp what a shock this would have been to their theology, we need to understand how the Jews understood forgiveness, and what forgiveness meant in the Old Testament.
There is a key verse that brings much clarity here:
For [it is] not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins (Hebrews 10:4 KJV).
Notice the writer of Hebrews doesn’t say the blood of bulls and goats couldn’t atone, or cover sins. He says the blood of bulls and goats cannot “take away,” or remove sin. There is a huge distinction.
Make no mistake about it, forgiveness was offered in the Old Testament. That’s what the sacrificial system was put into place for. There are a number of examples, but Leviticus 4 makes that abundantly clear.
Throughout Leviticus 4, we read of sin offerings for the priest, the congregation, rulers, and the common people. There were specific details as to how to conduct the relevant sacrifices, but the purpose for them all was the same.
For example, Leviticus 4:31 says “… the priest shall make an atonement …” for the sinner, and his sins “… shall be forgiven him.”
The word used to describe the forgiveness that took place in the Old Testament is atonement, which means “to cover.”
It is the same Hebrew word used in Genesis 6:14 for “pitch” when the Lord is instructing Noah on how to build the ark: “Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.”
So what am I saying?
In the Old Testament sins were forgiven in that they were covered, but they were not removed.
Why? As the writer of Hebrews said in Hebrews 10:4: “For [it is] not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.”
Their sins were atoned for in order to cover them or put them out of God’s sight for the purpose that a Holy God not punish the sin.
In Psalm 32:1-2 (KJV) David said “Blessed [is he whose] transgression [is] forgiven, [whose] sin [is] covered. Blessed [is] the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity …”
In other words, their sins were forgiven, by being covered from God’s sight, and because they were covered from God’s sight, He was not holding it against them.
Praise God for His grace in the forgiveness He offered, but that atonement was never meant to be the ultimate solution.
It was only ever meant to be a shadow of a better way that would come through Jesus Christ.
As wonderful as their forgiveness, or covering was, there were some things it couldn’t do.
For example, The writer of Hebrews makes it clear that Old Testament sinners could never fully get rid of the guilt of their sins.
Consider Hebrews 10:1-2 (KJV):
For the law having a shadow of good things to come, [and] not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
Why could the sacrifices not put them in perfect standing with God? Because they were only a covering, a covering that had to be reapplied continuously.
If the sacrifices had actually removed the sins, the worshipers would have been out from under the weight of the guilt of their sin, but they weren’t, thus the need for repeated sacrifices.
John Phillips says,
“The law could not justify the guilty person. The law could corner him, convict him, condemn him, but it could never cancel his sin. It could cover it, but it could not remove it. It could never make him not merely forgiven, but justified. No such position was possible under the law.”
That their sins were only covered, awaiting a future day to be removed, is made abundantly clear in Hebrews 9:15:
And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions [that were] under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance (KJV).
Their sins were covered, until Jesus, the better sacrifice came, when their sins could finally be removed.
Paul is drawing the distinction between forgiveness and justification because he wants his Jewish audience to know that a better Way has come, and His name is Jesus.
They no longer had to put themselves under what Peter, speaking of the law of Moses, would later describe as a “… yoke … which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear” (Acts 15:10 KJV).
They could have in Christ what the law of Moses could not, nor ever would, give them. They could now have their sins removed, and be justified before God.
What does it mean to be justified?
I can’t say it any better than the way it’s been explained for ages. To be justified means, from God’s vantage point, when we trust in Jesus, it is “just as though we had never sinned.”
Our sins are not merely covered, but they are taken away – something the blood of animal sacrifices could never do.
What happens at the moment of salvation is the greatest transaction that could ever occur.
God removes our sin debt, and clears our account, while simultaneously imputing the righteousness of Christ to the account He just emptied.
Positionally, we are secure in Christ, and when God looks at us, He sees the righteousness of Christ. Simply put, Jesus takes all our sins, and in turn, He gives us all His righteousness.
That’s justification.
Remember that salvation is about more than just receiving a pardon.
Think about it this way:
We all know that most presidents, before they leave office, usually grant a slew of pardons.
A person has been convicted and being punished for their crime, and with the stroke of a pen, the president has the authority to pardon them and set them free.
In an instant, they are absolved, and no longer forced to deal with the penalty for their action. They are free to go. They are forgiven, in a legal sense.
However, though they are forgiven, everyone still knows what they’ve done.
Their crime hasn’t been removed from their record in man’s eyes, it’s just been covered to the degree they are no longer facing the penalty.
That’s a pardon.
Justification goes further. Not only is the penalty removed, but the record is as well.
My friends that is what happens the moment we are saved.
Our sins are pardoned, our record is expunged, and our account is filled with the righteousness of Christ.
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: (2) By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:1-2 KJV).
