How Could God Forgive Sins Before Jesus' Sacrifice?

A “Simple” Question

Sometimes a seemingly simple question can become more complicated when consider its real life application. The question of how God could forgive the sins of mankind prior to the sacrifice of Jesus can be one of those questions. The difficulty arises in attempting to understand forgiveness and sacrifice within the restraints of a timeline.

A common suggested answer to this question is a variation of the idea of the sins of mankind “rolling forward” to the time of Jesus on the cross. There are different ways of expressing this idea, but the common thread describes the sins of mankind in a way “piling up” or being “put on hold” until they can be “take care of” by Jesus. While this presents a more easily understanble figure, it is Biblically incorrect for two key reasons:

Two Reasons

1: Original grammar

Grammatically when God describes the forgiving of sins in the Old Testament, it is not a future idea (e.g. “your sins will at one point be forgiven”), but instead a present one: “your sins are forgiven” (ex. Lev. 4:20, 26, 35).

2: Unnecessary complication

This explanation is unnecessary and actually limits the power and nature of God. A key flaw in our understanding is the fault with lies in the premise that God is limited by the concept of time.

The Real Answer

The real answer to this question is the same as to any question of how God could forgive sin:

“but He, having offered on sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD” (Heb. 10:12, NASU)

This phrase “for all time” is commonly interpreted to mean for “the rest of time”, but it is not limited in such a fashion.

Because God is not limited by the concept of linear time, He is able to be past, present, and future all at once (and even that is an accommodation to our understanding). Why is God able to forgive sins today? Because He can look “back” to the offering made on the cross. So, why could God be able to do so before the cross? Because He could also look “forward”!

God’s plan was always in effect and came about just as He desired it to come about. Before even the creation itself (Eph. 1:3ff) God set His plan into motion. Why can God forgive sins? Because His Son came at the proper time (Gal. 4:4) to be a sacrifice for all sins, whether 3000 B.C. or A.D. 2016!