In reading my title, most folks likely thought to themselves, “God, of course!” Really? As humans, with our incredibly strong inclination to be self-enthroned egoists, we attempt to assume many roles of the Almighty. Sitting in the judgment seat judging ourselves and others is but one of those roles. We find ways to excuse ourselves for our sins, a few less ways to excuse those whom we love, and ways to do the opposite with those whom we neither know nor love.
A case in point. Bobby Valentine posted a most interesting piece on his Facebook page June 8, 2026, with this title: “DELIGHTING IN MERCY: JESUS SAVIOR, JUDGE AND BAPTISM: Manic Theological Monday Theology.” I suggest you read it. Bobby and I have deep roots in what is referred to as the American Restoration Movement. This movement began with the noble premises of exalting biblical truths to replace man’s religious traditions, thus providing a plausible starting place for unifying the Christianity of its day. But sadly, that noble attempt degenerated into a doctrinal focus which damaged the effects it might otherwise have achieved.
One of the damaging results was to confuse what is most important to God for us humans. Jesus couldn’t have been clearer about the matter when speaking of the greatest two commandments. Love for God and love for others are at the top of God’s list of important matters for those who seek to please him. That being true, we would have to assume that his ultimate judgement of us would be focused on how faithfully we devoted ourselves to those two commandments.
But as Bobby showed in his article, our religious background had another focus, a doctrinal one, especially as it regards baptism and what is called “baptismal cognizance.” The bottom line – unless you are immersed in water in obedience to passages like Acts 2:38, Romans 6:1-4, and 1 Peter 3:21 with the clear understanding that this is when you are initially saved, then you are not a Christian. His observations reminded me of a Postscript I wrote to end my book, “God, Are We Good.” Here is the last part of that Postscript. I will follow it up with some applications in a subsequent article very soon.
A Final Question
But here is my question in closing: is forgiveness of both types of sins (life and doctrine) available in equal measure? We know and teach that God’s grace toward our personal life sins is exceedingly broad. When you consider that through sins of commission, we sin by our words, our actions, our thoughts, our motives; and through sins of omission, by what we leave undone, it is simply overwhelming to contemplate. Yet, we teach and preach that God will forgive us through the blood of Christ for all of it if we claim Jesus as Lord and have strong intentions to please him, with the direction of our lives demonstrating those intentions. Such grace is even more staggering than our sins, which is why the most popular Christian hymn ever written is “Amazing Grace.”
We stand amazed at the sins we commit even when trying to be righteous and far more amazed at God’s grace in being willing and able to forgive those sins in their magnitude. Moving over to the sins of a doctrinal nature, are we now in a different arena, where God’s grace is no longer quite so amazing? We base our hope for heaven not on our performance, but on God’s grace, a grace that shapes our desires to please him and determines the direction of our lives. Thus, his mercy shows itself in our lives as desire and direction rather than as performance and perfection. Will his grace motivating that same desire and direction be sufficient to overcome sins of a theological doctrinal nature? If not, why not?
God tells us not to sin in any of the ways his word describes as sin. The Apostle John begins his second chapter with that admonition: “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin.” However, that is not the last word on the matter and not the last word John wrote on it. He continues with:
But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1b-2)
Are those sins of the whole world only life sins and not theological sins? All I can say in closing is that I am a sinner and in need of abundant mercy, and am thus quite content to leave the ultimate judgment to God about who is right with him and who is not. I can do no more and no less than strive with all my heart to follow his teachings with both my life and my doctrine and urge others to do the same. Thankfully, God will take it from there. He may take it in a different direction than we think. He often does. Are you good with that? I believe my questions in this postscript are worth contemplating. In Jesus’ name, I offer them.
