Which is Easier?

One of the greatest offences Christ caused for the Pharisees (next to His claims to be God and have God as His Father) was His display of the power to forgive sins. On more than one occasion, Christ absolved the sins of an individual, to the dismay of the religious elite.

Matthew 9

1 "And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city. 2 And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven." 3 And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, "This man is blaspheming." 4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts? 5 For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise and walk'? 6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"—he then said to the paralytic—"Rise, pick up your bed and go home." 7 And he rose and went home. 8 When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men."

The declaration Jesus made here to the paralytic man was not just the daily forgiveness that comes through the means of sanctifying repentance, but this is the very declaration of the justification of this man's soul before a Holy God. Whether or not it was at that moment that the man received the Holy Spirit through His sovereign, supernatural act of regeneration or whether Jesus was making this declaration sometime after that event, it is not clear. The one thing that is clear is that Jesus Christ forgave this man of the original sin he inherited from Adam; that sin which has separated us from the Living God by spiritual death; the forgiveness of sins that was a consequence of his being counted in Christ instead of being counted in Adam.

Today, as did Peter, Paul, James and other apostles, preachers of the Word of God who have been ordained to the ministry of that Word to God's people are standing in the place of Christ, as it were, to administer the same forgiveness that He gave while He was here on Earth. Not that the preacher declares us righteous and forgiven by his own power to justify us, but he assures all those who believe that we are forgiven in the eyes of God of all the sins we have and will commit, to His glory and our joy! After having heard the Law preached to show our utter dependence and the Gospel preached to show Christ's utter success, and after having seen and tasted the Word at the table in covenant feast, our broken consciences are absolved in the benediction established by Christ which is distributed in grace, by His servant shepherds.

There is another type of "absolution" practice in the secular realm. I'm sure that it has gone on as long as creation, because we know that Satan tempted Adam and Eve to believe in a presumptuous absolution. The absolution of our American culture manifests itself as a consequence of usurping morals with ethics. The ethics or the ethos of a given generation and culture are fluid and driven by popular thought, the "fama etho" if you will. On the other hand, morals or the moras of humanity are much broader, and are trans-cultural and trans-generational because they eminate from the very Holy character of the creator of humanity; they are absolute and immutable. But it is common practice for the world to tell us that certain things are OK, because "everybody" does that. They try to provide a temporal absolution to ease our conscience; this is exactly what Paul described in Romans 1, "18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen."