# “What forgiveness of sin is” by Thomas Watson

- Link: https://tollelege.net/2017/10/26/what-forgiveness-of-sin-is-by-thomas-watson/
- Published: 2017-10-26T12:00:59-05:00
- Author: tollelege

“The nature of forgiveness will more clearly appear by opening some Scripture-phrases.

**1. To forgive sin, is to take away iniquity. ** ‘Why dost thou not take away my
iniquity?’ (**Job 7:21**). It is a metaphor taken from a man that carries an heavy
burden ready to sink him, and another comes, and lifts off this burden. So when 
the heavy burden of sin is on us, God in pardoning, lifts off this burden from the
conscience, and lays it upon Christ: ‘The Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of
us all’ (**Isa. 53:6**).

**2. To forgive sin, is to cover sin.** ‘Thou hast covered all their sin,’ (**Ps.
32:1**). This was typified by the mercy-seat covering the ark, to show God’s covering
of sin through Christ. God doth not cover sin in the Antinomian sense, so as He 
sees it not, but He doth so cover it, as He will not impute it.

**3. To forgive sin, is to blot it out.** ‘I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions,’(**
Isa. 43:25**). The Hebrew word, to lot out, alludes to a creditor, who, when his
debtor hath paid him, blots out the debt, and gives him an acquittance. So God, 
when He forgives sin, blots out the debt, He draws the red lines of Christ’s blood
over our sins, and so crosseth the debt-book.

**4. To forgive sin, is for God to scatter our sins as a cloud.** ‘I have blotted
out as a thick cloud thy transgressions,’ (**Isa. 44:22**). Sin is the cloud interposed,
God dispels the cloud, and breaks forth with the light of His countenance.

**5. To forgive sin, is for God to cast our sins into the depths of the sea.** ‘
Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea,” (**Micah 7:19**). This
implies God’s burying them out of sight, that they shall not rise up in judgment
against us. God will throw them in, not as cork that riseth again, but as lead that
sinks to the bottom.”

–Thomas Watson, _[The Lord’s Prayer ](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0851516645?tag=toletaupanre-20)_(
Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1662/1999), 214-215.

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