There’s a teaching going around that says that God has only half-forgiven us. If it sounds wacky, that’s because it is. But partial forgiveness is what you have if you think there are things we must do to stay forgiven. Sure, Jesus forgave us at the cross, but to stay forgiven we need to forgive others or keep confessing our sins or do other stuff. The implication is that if we fail to do these things, we fall out of God’s mercy and forgiveness. Three arguments are usually offered in support of this teaching: (1) Jesus said, “If you forgive others, your heavenly Father will forgive you” (Mt 6:14), thus forgiveness is conditional on what we do (2) Peter refers to being forgiven from our “past sins” (2 Pet 1:9) implying that our present and future sins are yet to be dealt with (3) John seems to say that Jesus will only cleanse us from our sins if we confess our sins (1 Jn 1:9) – so if we don’t confess, we don’t get forgiven Let’s look at each argument in turn. (1) Jesus said forgiveness was conditional During the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught the Lord’s Prayer and … Continue reading God Doesn’t Do Half-Jobs: Why Partial Forgiveness Is Completely Bogus