The Apostles' Creed

The Forgiveness of Sins

Near its end the creed confesses the forgiveness of sins, the heart of the good news. Because Jesus died and rose, God freely and fully forgives all who come to him. This is not something we achieve but something we receive. To confess the forgiveness of sins is to rest your whole hope not on your record but on the mercy of God, who is faithful and just to forgive.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.1 John 1:9 (KJV)

What this line confesses

The creed confesses that forgiveness is real, full, and freely given by God. The word sins names the true problem: not merely mistakes or bad feelings, but a real breach with the holy God we were made to love. And the word forgiveness names the astonishing remedy: that God himself, at the cost of his Son, cancels the debt and receives us home.

This forgiveness is not earned by good behavior or religious effort. It is God's gift, grounded in the cross, received by faith. It is placed in the creed right after the church and the communion of saints, because it is at baptism and within the fellowship of God's people that this forgiveness is announced, received, and lived. The whole Christian life begins and continues in the pardon of God.

Its biblical basis

John writes the promise plainly: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Notice that God is not only merciful but faithful and just to forgive, because the debt was truly paid at the cross; he forgives without ever setting justice aside.

The whole Bible sings of this pardon. The Lord is described as forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Jesus told the paralytic, thy sins be forgiven thee, and taught his disciples to pray, forgive us our debts. On the cross he prayed, Father, forgive them. Paul says that in Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. The creed gathers this ocean of grace into three words.

Why it mattered: guarding grace

The forgiveness of sins has always had to be guarded from two directions. On one side stands despair, the fear that our sins are too great, too many, or too repeated to be pardoned. On the other side stands a false confidence that treats sin lightly, as if it did not matter or did not need the cross.

The creed answers both. Against despair, it confesses that forgiveness is offered freely to all who come, without limit; the vilest sinner who turns to Christ is fully pardoned. Against complacency, it roots that forgiveness in the death of the Son, showing that sin cost God everything and is never trivial. The early church tied this line especially to baptism and to the daily return of the repentant, teaching that the door of mercy stands open. There is no sin so great that grace cannot cover it, and no life so long in sin that it is too late to come home.

How forgiveness is received and assured

The creed places the forgiveness of sins within the life of the church, and for good reason: it is there that this pardon is announced, received, and assured. From the beginning, forgiveness was tied to baptism, the washing that marks the start of the Christian life, of which Peter said, be baptized every one of you for the remission of sins. In baptism God says, in a sign we can see, that our sins are washed away in Christ.

The pardon is renewed all through the Christian life. Believers are taught to confess their sins to God, and to one another, and to hear again the promise that they are forgiven. At the Lord's table the words are spoken over the cup: this is my blood, shed for the remission of sins. Christians order these practices differently across the traditions, and differ on their forms, but all agree on the grace they proclaim, that in Christ our sins are truly and freely forgiven.

There is one more note the creed sounds by placing forgiveness beside the communion of saints. Those who have been forgiven so freely are called to forgive. Jesus taught us to pray, forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors, and warned that an unforgiving heart closes itself to the very mercy it needs. To live in the forgiveness of sins is to keep both hands open, receiving pardon from God and passing it on to others, so that the grace we confess becomes the air the whole family breathes.

Freedom from guilt and shame

The forgiveness of sins is not only a legal fact but a release the heart can feel. Guilt is the weight of what we have done; shame is the deeper fear that we ourselves are beyond love. The gospel speaks to both. Because Christ has borne our sin, God declares that there is now no condemnation to those who are in him, and what God has cleansed no accusation can make unclean again.

This is why the creed can be such good news to a troubled conscience. You do not have to hide, minimize, or endlessly punish yourself. You can bring even the things you are most ashamed of into the light of God's mercy and hear him say, your sins are forgiven. As far as the east is from the west, the Scripture says, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

Forgiveness received this deeply changes how we live. Freed from the exhausting work of proving ourselves clean, we can be honest about our failures and quick to extend mercy to others. We stop keeping accounts, because our own vast debt has been cancelled. To confess the forgiveness of sins is to lay down a burden you were never meant to carry and to walk in the freedom of the loved and the pardoned.

What it means for us

To confess the forgiveness of sins is to be set free. You do not have to carry your guilt or hide your failures. You can bring them all into the light, confess them, and find God faithful and just to forgive. The account against you was nailed to the cross and cancelled there, and nothing can un-cancel what the blood of Christ has paid.

This forgiveness is not only for the beginning of the Christian life but for every day of it. When you fall, you do not fall out of grace; you return to it. And having been forgiven so freely, you are able to forgive others, releasing the debts held against you as God has released yours. The forgiveness of sins is the fresh start God offers again and again, and the door is open to you now.

So do not stay away because of what you have done. The whole point of this line is that the door of mercy stands open, and it stands open now, to you. You do not have to clean yourself up first, or carry your guilt one day longer, or wonder whether you have gone too far. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive. Bring everything into the light, hand it to the Christ who died to take it away, and receive the fresh start he freely gives. The forgiveness of sins is not a distant doctrine but an open invitation, and the arms that were stretched out on the cross are stretched out still to welcome you home.

A note for all traditions: the creeds are not a fourth authority above Scripture but a faithful summary of it. Christians hold them in different ways, some reciting them weekly in worship and others rarely, yet the faith they confess is broadly shared across the church. Where believers differ on secondary matters, the creeds mark the ancient center that unites us: one God, and one Lord Jesus Christ, crucified and risen.

Related: The holy catholic Church and the communion of saints · The resurrection of the body and life everlasting · Who is Jesus? · The Christian creeds