Forgiveness or deliverance from sins?

Originally posted on October 27, 2007 – by Andre Piet

It may surprise many readers, but the expression “forgiveness of sins” appears only twice in the letters of Paul. For those who believe this phrase more or less summarizes the evangel, this must be, at the very least, an incomprehensible fact.

In Whom we are having the deliverance through His blood, the forgiveness of offenses, in accord with the riches of His grace…
Ephesians 1:7

…in Whom we are having the deliverance—the forgiveness of sins.
Colossians 1:14

Yet who could describe my astonishment when it became clear to me that even these two occurrences are actually two too many! Allow me to clarify. According to nearly all translations, we read in both of these passages that we “have deliverance, the forgiveness of sins.” That sounds familiar to the ear, but what is the logical connection between deliverance and forgiveness? Let’s take a closer look at both words.

1. The word deliverance (Gr. apolutrōsis) literally means buying free. The idea behind it is that a ransom is paid in order to release a prisoner or a slave.
2. The meaning of the word forgiveness (Gr. aphesis) is primarily letting go or release. We see this, for example, in Luke 4:19, where we read: “…to be heralding to captives release…”

It goes without saying that release (or letting go) logically follows from buying free. But why is this connection not reflected in the common translations of Eph. 1:7 and Col. 1:14? The answer is: in the rendering “the deliverance through His blood, the forgiveness of sins,” a centuries-old theology is carried along. That theology amounts more or less to this: our sins were paid for on Golgotha, and now God is able to deliver — that is, forgive — us.

In my view, however, this idea completely misses the mark! Because the price was not paid to God, but to the power that held us captive: death (or: the one having the power of death; Heb. 2:14). A ransom is paid to the one who holds the prisoner (cf. Rev. 5:9: “Thou dost buy us for God…”).

Only through dying could Christ rise and thereby conquer death. By paying the price (“the death, yes, the death of the cross”), the power of death (and with it also that of sin) could be broken! Since the stone has been rolled away from the tomb, we may go free! That is what Paul is talking about — not about forgiveness but about release! Not about “the deliverance, that is the forgiveness of sins,” but about “the buying free, that is the release [letting go] from sins”!

Delen: