Category:Forgiveness (subject)

Forgiveness of sins

Overview

Parables of Enoch

The Last Judgment according to chap. 50:

On the day of distress, evil will be stored up against the sinners, but the righteous will be victorious in the name of the Lord of the Spirits.

And He will cause the others to witness this, so that they repent and abandon the works of their hands. They will have no honor in the presence of the Lord of Spirits, yet in His name they will be saved, and the Lord of the Spirits will have mercy on them, as great is His mercy.

And yet he is righteous in his Judgment, and in the presence of His glory unrighteousness will not stand: at his judgment the unrepentant will perish in his presence. “And hereafter I will not have mercy on them,” says the Lord of the Spirits.

The end of times will be not only a time of vengeance, but also a time of forgiveness. The righteous will be separated from the sinners, but the sinners will be divided in two groups: the repentant and the unrepentant. The repentant will join the righteous in paradise, only the unrepentant will perish.

The act of forgiveness is attributed neither to God nor to the Messiah Son of Man but to the archangel Phanuel who in the Parables of Enoch replaces Uriel as one of the four angels of the presence, along with Michael, Raphael and Gabriel. He is "the angel of repentance", the one "who is set over the repentance unto hope of those who inherit eternal life" (40:9). His task will be that of "fending off the satans and forbidding them to come before the Lord of Spirits to accuse them who dwell on the earth" (40:7-8). Th satans mentioned here are neither the rebellious angels nor the evil spirits but the accuser angels who will act of prosecutors in the last judgment by reporting the evil deeds of individuals (cf. Zech 3:1-7).

Life of Adam and Eve

Adam spent 40 days immersed in the waters of the Jordan River as a prayer to God to receive forgiveness.

John the Baptist

In the imminence of the Last Judgment, John the Baptist invites people to be baptized 'for forgiveness of sins" as a prayer to God. For John the Baptist the prophecy of 1 Enoch no longer belongs to the distant future, since the end of time is imminent. Facing the Judge and the fire of judgment means certain annihilation for sinners. The solution is baptism as an invocation to God by repentant sinners. "Be baptized with water; otherwise, you will be baptized with fire."

Christian Origins

In the Synoptic tradition, the episode of the Paralytic at Capernaum culminates in Jesus' declaration that "the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" (Mark; Matthew; Luke). In all Synoptics, the narrative of the Recruiting the Tax Collector follows, in which healing is equated to forgiveness; Jesus is the doctor sent to the sinners: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.

In similar fashion, Luke reinterpreted the Anointing of Jesus as an episode in Jesus' ministry of forgiveness.

These are the only two episodes in which the historical Jesus is said to have explicitly affirmed his authority to forgive sins. Some scholars have questioned the historicity of these narratives. Luke's narrative is clearly secondary; and in the episode of the Paralytic Jesus may have referred not to himself but to the forthcoming "Son of Man." It remains undisputed the fact that the earliest Christian community firmly believed that Jesus was the Son of Man and forgiveness of sins was a central feature in his ministry as well as a strong component of his authority. They also believe to have inherited from Jesus the authority to forgive sins through Baptism.

"Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)

"God has exalted [Jesus] to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins." (Acts 5:31)

"To Jesus all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins" (Acts 10:43).

"Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins." (Acts 13:38)

"[Jesus came] to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.” (Acts 26:18)