Forgiven but still unchanged

Here we come to one of the most important questions in this entire book: What does it mean to be saved? Many Christians understand forgiveness. They understand that Jesus died for our sins, that His blood provides pardon, and that we cannot save ourselves. All of that is gloriously true. But what happens next?

Suppose a criminal is pardoned by a king. The pardon removes the penalty, but does it automatically change the criminal’s character? No. He may be forgiven and still remain dishonest. He may be released and still be selfish. He may be free from punishment and still be controlled by his old desires. This illustration helps us see why salvation must involve more than pardon. God does forgive. But God’s purpose is not merely to release us from condemnation. He wants to restore us.

A forgiven man who would not forgive

Jesus told a story about exactly this problem (Matthew 18:23-35). A servant owed his master an enormous debt that he could never repay. When he begged for time, the master was moved with compassion and cancelled the entire debt. That servant then went out and found a fellow servant who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him by the throat and had him thrown into prison. When the master heard, he said:

You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?

He had received a complete pardon, and he was unchanged. That is the point of the story. Forgiveness that never touches the heart leaves a person with the same harsh nature in a larger house.

Another scene points the other way. In the house of Simon the Pharisee, a woman known as a sinner washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. Jesus said:

Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.

Forgiveness received truly produces love in return. A person who does not love much should ask how deeply he has understood what he has been forgiven.

Justification and transformation

The Bible presents salvation as both something Christ does for us and something He does in us. We need both. Christ’s death provides the basis for our forgiveness. Christ’s life provides the perfect revelation of righteousness. Christ’s Spirit works within us to transform us. Paul writes:

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Justification is God’s gracious declaration that the believer who trusts in Christ is accepted because of Christ. We do not earn that acceptance. But the same Paul who teaches justification also teaches transformation:

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

The Christian therefore does not remain spiritually static. Something happens. The mind is renewed. The desires begin to change. The attitudes, the priorities and the character begin to change. Paul reminded the Corinthians of the people they had been, and of what had happened to them:

And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

A useful biblical distinction is this: justification is God’s gracious work for us; sanctification is His transforming work in us; and glorification is His final work in us when Christ completes our transformation. See Romans 5:1; Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Philippians 3:20-21; and 1 John 3:2-3. Paul describes the change in terms of putting off and putting on:

That you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

Zacchaeus shows what this can look like. He had made his living by taking more than he should from others. Then Jesus came to his house, and Zacchaeus stood and declared that he would give half of his goods to the poor and restore fourfold anything he had taken by false accusation. Jesus said, “Today salvation has come to this house” (Luke 19:8-9). The tax collector’s wallet and the tax collector’s heart both changed.

Grace is not permission to remain the same

This is where grace is sometimes misunderstood. Some people hear, “You are saved by grace,” and conclude, “Then how I live does not really matter.” Paul anticipated that argument:

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

Grace is not permission to continue living under the dominion of sin. Grace is God’s undeserved favour toward sinners. But grace also becomes God’s transforming power in the life of the surrendered believer. Titus says:

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age.

Look carefully at the language. Grace teaches. Grace changes behaviour. Grace produces righteousness and godliness. Grace does not merely say, “You are forgiven.” Grace says, “Now let Me teach you how to live.”