Question: Are these the same?
Second question(s):
If some are the same, why have different words?
If they are different, which of these (if not all) did Yeshua tackle with His death?
We’ll start with a few definitions to determine bleedover (if it exists):
This is the release of debt. We have violated Abba’s Word and we are guilty. Our blood is the cost of forgiveness but that would require us to die. So an animal can be used in our stead each and every time we violate His directions. Of course, we all know Yeshua took this place once and for all. All we have to do is receive this Blood and stop sinning.
Ephesians 1:3 Praised be Adonai, Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who in the Messiah has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heaven. 4 In the Messiah he chose us in love before the creation of the universe to be holy and without defect in his presence. 5 He determined in advance that through Yeshua the Messiah we would be his sons — in keeping with his pleasure and purpose — 6 so that we would bring him praise commensurate with the glory of the grace he gave us through the Beloved One.
7 In union with him, through the shedding of his blood, we are set free — our sins are forgiven; this accords with the wealth of the grace 8 he has lavished on us. In all his wisdom and insight 9 he has made known to us his secret plan, which by his own will he designed beforehand in connection with the Messiah 10 and will put into effect when the time is ripe — his plan to place everything in heaven and on earth under the Messiah’s headship.
Always used in a legal context. This is your guilt when viewed by God -- it’s an outward appearance. The Adversary has you in a heavenly court, and proclaiming the truth about you and your sinfulness. He’s correct in his accusations but Yeshua has taken the punishment you deserved so in God’s eyes, you are righteous. Even though you aren’t righteous, you are considered righteous.
Romans 5:6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time, the Messiah died on behalf of ungodly people. 7 Now it is a rare event when someone gives up his life even for the sake of somebody righteous, although possibly for a truly good person one might have the courage to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in that the Messiah died on our behalf while we were still sinners. 9 Therefore, since we have now come to be considered righteous (justified) by means of his bloody sacrificial death, how much more will we be delivered through him from the anger of God’s judgment! 10 For if we were reconciled with God through his Son’s death when we were enemies, how much more will we be delivered by his life, now that we are reconciled! 11 And not only will we be delivered in the future, but we are boasting about God right now, because he has acted through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, through whom we have already received that reconciliation.
This word is the same as holiness -- set apart. You have been set apart for God’s use. With sanctification, a change occurs within you. Being declared “not guilty” in court is being justified, whereas, being sanctified means we are actually “not guilty”. Our sin has been removed through justification, and with sanctification the stain of our sin is washed clean. We are not only considered righteous in the heavenlies, but we are righteous in the earth. You are a new creation (one that doesn’t sin, by the way). This is a new you and the old you has been put down.
1 Thessalonians 4:1 Therefore, brothers, just as you learned from us how you had to live in order to please God, and just as you are living this way now, we ask you — indeed, united with the Lord Yeshua, we urge you — to keep doing so more and more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you on the authority of the Lord Yeshua. 3 What God wants is that you be holy (sanctified), that you keep away from sexual immorality, 4 that each of you know how to manage his sexual impulses in a holy (sanctified) and honorable manner, 5 without giving in to lustful desires, like the pagans who don’t know God. 6 No one should wrong his brother in this matter or take advantage of him, because the Lord punishes all who do such things — as we have explained to you before at length. 7 For God did not call us to live an unclean life but a holy (sanctified) one. 8 Therefore, whoever rejects this teaching is rejecting not a man but God, indeed, the One who gives you the Ruach HaKodesh, which is his.
Here, you are purchased back into the priesthood/family. You are no longer your own. The life you’ve always wanted and craved for yourself is of zero consequence. The life you were created for is now coming into being.
If you are a random person, you can do whatever you want to do with your life. But if you are the offspring of the High Priest, guess what your job in life will be. Likewise, if you are the offspring of the King, what do you think your job in life will be? Being placed in these high-profile positions means you have surrendered the choices you had before. But it is all for the greatness of the Kingdom and the King’s dwelling place that you have dedicated your life.
1 Peter 1:13 Therefore, get your minds ready for work, keep yourselves under control, and fix your hopes fully on the gift you will receive when Yeshua the Messiah is revealed. 14 As people who obey God, do not let yourselves be shaped by the evil desires you used to have when you were still ignorant. 15 On the contrary, following the Holy One who called you, become holy yourselves in your entire way of life; 16 since the Tanakh says,
“You are to be holy because I am holy.”
17 Also, if you are addressing as Father the one who judges impartially according to each person’s actions, you should live out your temporary stay on earth in fear. 18 You should be aware that the ransom paid to free you from the worthless way of life which your fathers passed on to you did not consist of anything perishable like silver or gold; 19 on the contrary, it was the costly bloody sacrificial death of the Messiah, as of a lamb without defect or spot. 20 God knew him before the founding of the universe, but revealed him in the acharit-hayamim for your sakes. 21 Through him you trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory; so that your trust and hope are in God.
Clean. You are in a state to be inside the Tabernacle. The dirt and filth that had attached to you has been washed away. All connection with death has been dealt with and there is no longer any death attached to you. Darkness is gone, and light reigns in your life.
1 John 1:6 If we claim to have fellowship with him while we are walking in the darkness, we are lying and not living out the truth. 7 But if we are walking in the light, as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of his Son Yeshua purifies us from all sin.
Romans 6:1 So then, are we to say, “Let’s keep on sinning, so that there can be more grace”? 2 Heaven forbid! How can we, who have died to sin, still live in it? 3 Don’t you know that those of us who have been immersed into the Messiah Yeshua have been immersed into his death? 4 Through immersion into his death we were buried with him; so that just as, through the glory of the Father, the Messiah was raised from the dead, likewise we too might live a new life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was put to death on the execution-stake with him, so that the entire body of our sinful propensities might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For someone who has died has been cleared from sin. 8 Now since we died with the Messiah, we trust that we will also live with him. 9 We know that the Messiah has been raised from the dead, never to die again; death has no authority over him. 10 For his death was a unique event that need not be repeated; but his life, he keeps on living for God. 11 In the same way, consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive for God, by your union with the Messiah Yeshua.
12 Therefore, do not let sin rule in your mortal bodies, so that it makes you obey its desires; 13 and do not offer any part of yourselves to sin as an instrument for wickedness. On the contrary, offer yourselves to God as people alive from the dead, and your various parts to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will not have authority over you; because you are not under legalism but under grace.
15 Therefore, what conclusion should we reach? “Let’s go on sinning, because we’re not under legalism but under grace”? Heaven forbid! 16 Don’t you know that if you present yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, then, of the one whom you are obeying, you are slaves — whether of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to being made righteous? 17 By God’s grace, you, who were once slaves to sin, obeyed from your heart the pattern of teaching to which you were exposed; 18 and after you had been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. 19 (I am using popular language because your human nature is so weak.) For just as you used to offer your various parts as slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led to more lawlessness; so now offer your various parts as slaves to righteousness, which leads to being made holy, set apart for God. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in relationship to righteousness; 21 but what benefit did you derive from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end result of those things was death. 22 However, now, freed from sin and enslaved to God, you do get the benefit — it consists in being made holy, set apart for God, and its end result is eternal life. 23 For what one earns from sin is death; but eternal life is what one receives as a free gift from God, in union with the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord.
It seems we tend to clump a lot of concepts into one big pot and have the Blood of Jesus cover it all. While this isn't wrong, it can be easy to ignore some of the details in our own lives. An assumed jump to completeness without walking out what is necessary to be complete can leave us in an odd tension in our lives. We know what our life is supposed to be like but it isn’t quite there (and if your life currently is in its fullness, I have a few questions for you but those are best reserved for a private conversation). We will table a full discussion on the latter progression presented above (aren’t you glad?) and just consider the topic of forgiveness.
Regarding forgiveness, we tend to live in a sliding combination of four positions:
There may be more than 4 types of people but I’d argue they fall somewhere in a mix of these 4.
Some people have a “screw you” mentality intertwined with a “get over it” attitude as they repent for their mistakes. As an example,
“Yeah, I messed up. Now get over it -- I did. Oh, you can’t move as quickly as I do? Then screw you. God’s forgiveness is the only one I care about anyway. It’s time for you to mature and be a real Christian.”
This comes across as harsh but it isn’t necessarily a negative thing. Having a rearview approach is actually quite freeing and I think most of us wished we operated here. Instead, a lot of people (to varying degrees) tend to hold onto unforgiveness because they just can't get past the offense. These people are then judged by the Type-A due to their weak faith and/or relationship with Abba. Through that judgment, they then sin against others at which point they need to repent again (or they don’t because they think their judgment is right and true).
A cycle is then created where self-justification and pride fuel a snide view of humanity as a whole. Summary: people are idiots.
Let’s call this individual person A (for Type-A).
They are forgiven by God and they are assured of it. Being somewhat immature, this person will find a way to be released from any guilt and project that guilt to other sources (people, excuses, justification, etc).
As this type of person matures, however, they become increasingly hard on themselves (they know they shouldn’t behave this way and it makes them mad at themselves when they do). Their forgiveness of self becomes difficult to come by because they know they shouldn't do what they do.
This person needs to forgive themselves and return to their first love (or first attitude) regarding forgiveness. Yes, other people need to forgive you. And yes, God has forgiven you (if you’ve repented). The lesson for the mature Type-A is to learn how to hold themselves to a very high standard while not expecting themselves to hold that standard. Screwing up does not make you a screw up.
A very mature person may look indistinguishable from the immature in their ability to not internalize the guilt but the actual difference between them is a lightyear apart. You can (sometimes) tell the difference between them based on the following: the immature is intolerable due to their pride whereas the very mature is intolerable due to the conviction others feel.
On another corner of the square spectrum, you have people that absorb tremendous guilt when they do anything that could be construed as hurtful (even when doing the right thing). They tend to self-punish and can never find a good enough reason to be released from their guilt. No amount of reasoning will allow them to be released so it seems counseling falls upon deaf ears -- but it doesn’t. It’s just they are immobilized due to the extreme feeling of guilt.
A savior complex can be instilled into these individuals but every time they try to save, it seems things get worse. By wanting to save, there is little to no correction that ever comes forth. An attempt to love or encourage someone across the finish line always gets met with dishonor and disrespect -- and no subsequent change in the person they want to save.
A cycle of defeat is created which forces a strive to win in other arenas. We all need some level of victory in our lives so they construct a system where they can win where people’s salvation is not involved. Video games can be a good inanimate out here.
This is person B (for B-leeding heart).
Are they forgiven by God? Absolutely (if they repent). Can they receive it? Maybe. Can they let themselves off the hook? No chance. Are they weak believers as a result? No way. In fact, I think they encompass the truth of repentance more so than all the others combined. They have an intimate understanding of what it means to be guilty and the rest of us need to learn from them.
An immature Type-B carries a very strong Eeyore-complex -- feeling guilty and making sure everyone knows it. Not to show off, but simply because they can’t hide their guilt. Left unchecked, this will gravitate into shame.
A mature Type-B still carries the guilt but they have learned how not to bring everyone down around them. They tend to reach a point of release but it takes a very long time. But progress is progress and that’s a good thing.
A very mature Type-B has learned that guilt is a tool of repentance, not a virtue. Allowing the guilt to do its job to turn you from your mistake, then releasing that guilt once it has done its work within you. The ability to release guilt is key and forgiveness of self is crucial to this happening.
Yeah, Type-3. This is that person that says one thing, believes something else, then projects this conflict onto those closest to them. They want to be someone that forgives but they don’t. They even go through the verbal motions in front of others but the inner turmoil boils over into personal relationships. It then turns into a game of management and that act alone prevents true repentance and forgiveness from coming forth. It seems it’s more important to convince others you’ve forgiven than actually forgiving. In order to maintain balance, something “more important” needs to always be in play. And any distraction will do. Silence is also a tell-tell sign that this is in play. Staying quiet and letting others believe an outcome is desired allows a clever deflection from confronting what really needs to happen.
Immaturity is likely the full-time expression of this type of person due to image management. Getting to the point of being able to claim you are seeking forgiveness while actually releasing unforgiveness is key to growth here.
A sign of maturity of someone that won’t forgive is when they begin to publicly forgive. Not only a lip service of generics but specific areas where forgiveness is needed. Not staying quiet, but speaking up and being honest.
A very mature Type-3 will use every opportunity to repent and forgive. Walking in unforgiveness is more painful than forgiving so they embrace the chance to be free every chance they get.
The final type we’ll consider is the person that wants to forgive, tries to forgive (with mixed-results), but continually revisits the crime. It’s a mix of low-level guilt and genuinely trying to release others -- with mediocre results. The trouble with this type of person is that they just can’t seem to let things go. It’s not like the guilt of Type-B’s, but instead it’s a continual rehashing of the event.
No matter if they are the guilty party or it’s someone else, they can’t forgive because they replay the crime and it renews the pain (or embarrassment) each and every time. The self-condemnation paints this person into a corner and they need to learn to let themselves off the hook.
An immature Type-? likely hides their pain and pretends that they aren’t bothered by it at all. Suppressing feelings to the point of numbness is the go-to for someone in this corner. They also internalize quite a bit and fail to express their true condition to anyone -- even themselves.
A mature Type-? has learned to express their feelings and not internalize their own condemnation. They are good at unburdening themselves and capturing thoughts when the rehashing comes back around. But it does take time.
A very mature Type-? can forgive once and move on. Remembering but not rehashing. Capturing thoughts before they are given birth. Forgiveness comes easily because they have learned to keep the past behind them.
See that white dot in the center?
That’s where we want to be. Letting guilt do its job (Type-B), choosing to forgive (Type-3), forgiving (Type-?), then putting it in the rearview mirror (Type-A).
The danger in all of this is assuming everyone else should act and respond as you do. We are all coming from a different perspective, a different disposition, a different upbringing, a different church teaching, and varying levels of maturity. We can’t do much to change any of these in others so we need to throttle back and do whatever we can to address it in ourselves.
The other thing I’ve come to realize is that maturity is something with which we need to tread very carefully. If you assume you are mature, that’s the proof you aren’t. And if you “humbly” acknowledge you are immature, it’s often a play to get others to combat that by claiming you are mature. Again, proof you are immature. We should all be working towards maturity and that requires work. Work which most of us are simply unwilling to do.
We know we shouldn't sin but we do anyway. How do we reconcile that with what we know to be true regarding Yeshua’s sacrifice? Why do we continue to sin?
A casual approach that claims “I’m only human” or “nobody is perfect” is a cop-out. We know we shouldn't do some of the things we do but need a way to rationalize our own shortcomings. How do we practically get away with that? The easiest thing would be to keep applying His Blood each and every time we make the same mistake but this is incredibly dangerous.
Of course, if it’s unintentional sin, then yes, we can seek forgiveness. But cussing somebody out that ticked us off -- again? Judging someone -- again? Gossiping -- again? Watching porn -- again?
If you have no control over your own body or thoughts, then you should be seeking help from your brothers or sisters. Failure to do so means you are choosing to sin.
Hebrews 10:26 For if we deliberately continue to sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but only the terrifying prospect of Judgment, of raging fire that will consume the enemies.
Heeding this warning in Hebrews, you know there is no excuse for continued “mistakes”. Now, knowing this to be the case and still sinning can cause some people to start criticizing themselves secretly. They start wondering if there is something wrong with them and perhaps they are broken. This isn’t a public display for us to detect and run to the rescue on their behalf. No, it’s pushed down and hidden from all of those around us. It’s only magnified when you’ve been a believer a long time because everyone knows you should have your life sorted out by now -- which is false.
That tension of knowing what you should not be doing versus what you should can create an internal battle for most people. They can’t admit their troubles because, well, who do you tell? What do you say? Do you even know what areas are gummed up in your life? There are decisions we make often that we know are wrong, and when we do, we can blame ourselves and hold ourselves in contempt. This is the place of release we’re talking about.
If I were a betting man, I’d guess that each of us here are harboring something within ourselves that is an embarrassment. We don’t want to talk about the things that are tormenting us the most because we don’t want our friends to think we are broken (or evil).
(Of course, if this isn’t you, and you are free and clear, then I’m really expecting to see some remarkable things in your life.)
In closing, let’s read something John wrote TO BELIEVERS:
1 John 1:8 If we claim not to have sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we acknowledge our sins, then, since he is trustworthy and just, he will forgive them and purify us from all wrongdoing. 10 If we claim we have not been sinning, we are making him out to be a liar, and his Word is not in us.
We have a few options from which we can now choose for ourselves:
The Blood Covenant Yeshua established with us is a two-way street and we need to be sure we understand it BEFORE using it to justify our actions.