The Encourager
“Sin and Salvation”
Sin and Salvation
by Jeff Curtis
Like Cain, and like Adam and Eve, all people have sinned; but forgiveness and redemption are available in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:23,24). Jesus “appeared in order to away sins; and in Him there is no sin” (1John.3:5). Those who want to be “in Christ” and have eternal life must believe in Him as the divine Son of God (1John. 5:13) who came into the world to be the propitiation, or make atonement, for our sins (1John.2:2;4:10). “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1Corinthians 15:3), and we are asked to “die to sin and live to righteousness” (1Peter2:24). This requires repentance (Acts 2:38; 17:30).
The only way to be rid of past sins is to have them washed away in the act of baptism (Acts 22:16). Hebrews 9:22 says that “without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness,” but the text goes on to explain that Jesus “offered one sacrifice for sins for all time (Hebrews 10:12). Since “all…who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death” (Romans 6:3), “we have redemption through His blood” (Ephesians 1:7). Christians ---- those who have been baptized into Christ --- are “dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11) and have the opportunity to “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).
