vocabulary.com “A transgression is something that is against a commandment or law. Whether you are cheating on a test, or cheating on a spouse, you are committing transgressions that are not easily forgiven. A transgression can be a failure to do your duty.”
Transgression: “1. The act of transgressing; the violation of a law or a duty or a moral principle.” From vocabulary.com
Psalm 32:5 “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.”
Isaiah 53:5 “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
Proverbs 28:13 “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”
Trespass: “noun 2. A: a violation of moral or social ethics: Transgression – especially: sin” from Merriam-Webster
The Lord’s Prayer
Luke 11: 2b-4 “…Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.”
Considering the topic of ownership of guilt, awareness of shortfall, and then the need of a Saviour. Not only to forgive our trespass, but to lead us away from temptation, and to deliver us from evil. It is clear. We must acknowledge our sin. We are to turn away from it. Forsake it. Repent of it. There must also be a burden for our sin. We dare not abuse the grace; the bruises for our iniquities cost our Saviour, Jesus, death on the cross at Calvary.
We are to forgive our brother seventy times seven. This, it appears, then qualifies someone forgiveness for four hundred ninety sins against one individual! Evidently, Jesus’ teaching was that mankind was to not keep track. Not to keep a ledger of wrongs.
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The relationship of forgiveness as how it relates to current and eternal success involves an understanding of some of these details.
We cannot be forgiven for something we deny happened. Therefore, we must uncover our sin. We are not forgiven because of the shame or guilt of this uncovering of sin. God can only forgive something mankind acknowledges as a truth. We cannot demand forgiveness. It is something that others gift to us. It is not earned. It can’t be bought. Forgiveness is a gift.
When we seek forgiveness, we need to leave out any justification for the offense. We are not justified to sin. Two wrongs do not make a right. Sin that has been acknowledged, repented of, and brought to the cross of Christ, is cast into forgetfulness.
An item of sin and a sinful nature are two different things. We can rid ourselves of an item of sin. However, we will only be free of our sinful nature when we enter into heaven. This entry can only be realized by the grace of God and the blood shed on Calvary by Jesus our Lord.
As Christians we are not “past tense” sinners. I listen sometimes to professing Christians who appear to live in the past. They don’t seem to have “today” experiences. It’s very hard to listen to history when the speaker is unable to relate it to today. When Christians forget that they are currently sinners they become a “sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.”
James 1:23-25 “For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”
