Question of the Week
When we are saved, are ours sins forgiven past, present & future? In that case, can we lose our salvation by our sins? For instance, if we once again sin and do not ask forgiveness for that sin before we die, but continue worshipping and are in frequent fellowship with God, will we go to heaven or hell because we hadn't asked forgiveness for that particular sin? I am finding that many of my friends feel differently about it. I was taught our sins were forgiven past, present, future, once saved - always saved unless we denounce our love of Christ. Do different denominations look at it differently?
It is wonderful to see your desire to learn and understand God and Scripture more. I will do my best to answer your question. The answer is yes and no! Yes - all sins are forgiven, in that Jesus died on the cross for all the sins before Him, and all after Him. The small print in this is that each person has to receive His gift of forgiveness and payment of all our sin, which enables him/her to receive eternal life.
Once one has believed and accepted Christ as their Savior they still will fall to sin.
Christians are still sinners even though they have been redeemed ultimately to eternal life. But when one sins there is a spiritual separation from God because we are, in a sense, rejecting Him.
In order to make our relationship right with God again we need to confess, ask for His forgiveness, and literally turn from our sin. To really repent means we literally turn from our sin and do the opposite - be in complete obedience to God. One's relationship with God will not be as it should until a person has repented and asked forgiveness - from God, and if appropriate - from anyone they have wronged (which is obedience to God as well).
So yes - once saved, always saved. If a person has genuinely made a commitment to Christ, the Holy Spirit lives in them, and they become a child of God.
But when one sins, although they are paid for by Jesus, we need to continually accept the payment by repenting and obeying God. This does not mean we forfeit eternal salvation, but it does mean that we need to get our relationship right with God again.
There are only a few Christian churches that do not believe in assurance of salvation.
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