Forgiven Your Trespasses. Colossians 2:13. Not only have we been made spiritually alive through Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, but we now live differently because our sins and guilt have been forgiven. Our condemnation has been removed. Spiritual defilement caused by sin can be cleansed, and we are “alive together” with our Lord Jesus Christ. The only way this was possible is if our trespasses were taken away, which was only possible through legal forgiveness.
We have died to our sins and have been made alive in Christ. Forgiveness that makes us acceptable to God does not mean that God chose to overlook and forget who we were and what we have done, but by His grace, He forgave us by taking our guilt upon His own perfect Son. “He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes are we healed.
I cannot review every day of my life and remember every sin I have committed. I must confess them when sin happens, but I am sure I have missed many. When I read a verse like this and realize God has forgiven all my trespasses, it affects me deeply and purifies me as faith takes hold of what it believes in. New life, that quickening process, didn't come without a cost. That could only happen through Christ's death and His saving grace. I have been made alive in Him alone, and I am forgiven. Thank God! Because all those trespasses have been dealt with by Him, I can go to heaven.
Forgiveness is not something to take lightly, nor should it be taken for granted. Many people have been misled into thinking that forgiveness is something only a person does or that it is something they have already done themselves. Confessing sin to another person does not remove the sin problem. When a person commits a sin, guilt is involved, and there is a cost to be faced; someone has to pay. If I sin against someone and want their forgiveness, I must go to them, honestly confess the wrong I did, and make restitution if necessary. Hopefully, they will grant forgiveness as I seek to restore what was lost. This might be something tangible, or it could be false information or a statement I made. They may grant forgiveness and absorb the loss themselves or do so after restitution is made.
When the Lord forgave all my trespasses, He was aware of them. He paid that price by giving His life; the blood of Christ atoned for all the sins I committed. He left none out—atonement by His divine omniscience; nothing escapes His eyes. As a human, I can only partly grasp the virtue of His person and work. But this I know and will forever be grateful for: He freely forgave me all. It humbles me to think it was for my sin—He paid, and He still answers me when I call upon His name. His grace is enough for every need, and forgiveness is one of my greatest needs. It stirs my soul to praise and worship Him, for His forgiveness is truly forgiveness.
Forgiveness is not just a word we use but the motivation for our new life. Someone who knows they have been forgiven will show evidence of that through their conduct in the new life in Christ – “Alive in Christ!” The moral and spiritual state of being dead has changed to a life empowered by the resurrection of Christ. Life becomes rich in its fullness when spirit and soul are united in Christ, and the deeds of the body are more controlled by the power of the Spirit of God. When we are yielded to and filled by the Spirit of God, these mortal bodies can be brought into captivity to be used by God. We can consciously do the will of God from the heart when we treat the desires of the flesh as dead. “Reckon yourselves dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” We have been made alive together after the moral and spiritual part of our old nature died and was buried.
Now we live "with Him," united with Him. The "law of ordinances (bond)" has been abolished, and the signed and sealed certificate of a debt that needed to be paid is now dismissed by a higher level of grace. The work of the cross, which Christ accomplished, has wiped out the decrees of the law. It made demands that no one could fulfill, to make us aware of sin. The law condemned us and opposed us, but on the cross, our Lord Jesus Christ took care of every charge by taking our place. The debt is forgiven, and the blank slate of a new life begins. The signed confession of the old debt is canceled, and it has been "nailed to His cross" as a testimony of the great victory there.