"And Peter said to them, 'Repent, and be baptized every
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your
sins . . .'" (Acts 2:38, Revised Standard Version).
How are we forgiven, and where do baptism and Jesus Christ fit in?
The Bible says God forgives our sins and mistakes. Through faith in
Christ's sacrifice, we have all of our sins and the guilt we harbor
entirely removed. We are then completely clean in God's sight (Acts 22:16). God is perfect, and He can forget perfectly. It is comforting
to know that He not only forgives our sins, but totally forgets them. "For
I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their
lawless deeds I will remember no more" (Hebrews 8:12).
David was awed by God's complete mercy and forgiveness. He wrote, "For
as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward
those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has
He removed our transgressions from us" (Psalms 103:11,12).
Through the prophet Isaiah, God tells us of the forgiveness that follows
when we repent and turn to Him: "Wash yourselves, make yourselves
clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to
do evil, learn to do good... Though your sins are like scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow" (Isaiah 1:16-18).
