by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
I don’t know how many times I have heard preachers when talking about getting full forgiveness of sins, say, “That means all past, present, and future sins are forgiven at the cross.” Let us study the scriptures on this matter. The Bible does not <\/b>say or imply that all past sins, all present sins, and all future sins are already forgiven. Think about that. It does not say <\/b>it anywhere. That ought to cause us to hesitate to say what the Bible does not say. Speak as the oracles of God (I Peter 4:11). If the oracles of God never say it, then we have no business saying what the Bible does not say.<\/p>\n
Secondly, the Bible does not imply <\/b>it. In fact, it says and implies the opposite. Simon, who had been a sorcerer before his baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus, sinned again after his initial forgiveness (Acts 8:13,18-24) and was told to repent of his new sin “that the thought of your heart may be<\/strong>\u00a0forgiven you.<\/em>” His past sins were forgiven through faith and baptism, but his new ones were not forgiven until he repented and prayed for forgiveness. This shows that when preachers say, “All past, present, and future sins are forgiven,” they teach the opposite of the Bible. The Bible never says it, and the Bible actually denies it. A red flag ought to go up in your mind when you hear someone today say what the Bible denies.<\/p>\n Thirdly, if all sins, past, present, and future, are already forgiven, then all sins of unbelief are forgiven-even high-handed sins. I sinned high-handedly in my past. But only when I repented were my past sins forgiven. No sins are forgiven automatically without repentance and confession (I John 1:7-9). If all sins (past, present, and future) are forgiven, then all men<\/strong> are forgiven automatically. Thus, universal salvation is automatically in place. Yet Jesus said that the majority of people are going the road to destruction (Matthew 7:13f). How can anyone<\/strong> go to destruction if all sins (past, present, and future) are already forgiven?<\/p>\n Be careful of those who teach things that directly and indirectly go against clear Bible teaching. We are forgiven of all our past sins when we repent through faith in Jesus and are baptized in His name “for remission of sins<\/em>” (Acts 2:38-41). You are then forgiven of actual sins committed, not future sins. In Christ, you have the blessing of forgiveness as you sin, then confess them penitently (Acts 8:22-24; I John 1:7- 2:2). As we seek forgiveness, we receive forgiveness, but all present and future sins are not automatically forgiven, else we can even develop an evil heart of unbelief (Hebrews 3:12) and still be saved. The Bible shows that we can fall from grace (Galatians 5:1-4; II Peter 2:20ff) and be worse off than before. There is no such doctrine in the Bible that all people are automatically forgiven of all past, present, and future sins. That is false assurance, and nobody needs false assurance.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton I don’t know how many times I have heard preachers when talking about getting full forgiveness of sins, say, “That means all past, present, and future sins are forgiven at the cross.” Let us study the scriptures on this matter. The Bible does not say or imply that all past sins,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1571,179],"class_list":["post-80660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-forgiveness","tag-sin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":49560,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-continue-to-ask-for-forgiveness-if-jesus-died-for-all-our-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":80660,"position":0},"title":"Why continue to ask for forgiveness if Jesus died for all our sins?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: A friend and I found a small church to attend, but their pastor prays at the beginning of their service asking for forgiveness of their sins. This made me wonder: Jesus died on the cross for us and he put the past, present, and future sins on that cross\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93564,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-sins-rolled-forward\/","url_meta":{"origin":80660,"position":1},"title":"Were Sins “Rolled Forward”?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 28, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ney Rieber via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 20 No. 2, June 1994 Was there forgiveness of sins for those under the Old Testament? This question is frequently answered in the negative. It is stated that their sins were not forgiven, but were \"rolled forward\" year by year. The primary passage used\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53233,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-baptism-for-the-remission-of-future-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":80660,"position":2},"title":"Is baptism for the remission of future sins?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When one is baptized into Christ by water baptism, is it for the remission of past sins only? Or is baptism for all sins (past, present, and future sins)? 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When we sin, we offend God. 2.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39700,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-willful-sins-irremissible\/","url_meta":{"origin":80660,"position":4},"title":"Are willful sins irremissible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I repented wholeheartedly and believed that I would never (willfully) sin again.\u00a0 I was determined to not sin.\u00a0 I was overjoyed to be baptized for the forgiveness of my sins because I knew what Jesus went through to make it possible, and I thought that surely I would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23588,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-didnt-you-say-that-the-girl-who-was-living-with-her-boyfriend-could-be-forgiven-of-her-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":80660,"position":5},"title":"Why didn’t you say that the girl who was living with her boyfriend could be forgiven of her sins?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just read over\u00a0your response to a girl who lives with her boyfriend and she asked why you called it a sin. 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