[This is the beginning of a three part series on God’s Forgiveness. Part two is “Does God Need Blood to Forgive?” and part three is “Jesus’ Death and God’s Forgiveness.”]

Did God forgive people, forgive sins, before Jesus? Of course.

In case you thought God specifically needed the death of Jesus to forgive sins, here are some people that the Bible specifically mentions that God forgave their sins before Jesus:

• The Israelite People (over and over and over again – See Old Testament)
• King David (2 Samuel 12)
• King Ahab (1 Kings 21)
• King Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 32:24-27)
• King Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33:1-20)
• The Assyrians of Nineveh (Jonah 3-4)
• King Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4:28-34)

Also, some of our most beautiful and beloved scriptures about God’s forgiveness were written hundreds of years before Jesus. Here are just a few:

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” – 2 Chronicles 7:14

“Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the guilt of my sin.”  – Psalm 32:5

“Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” – Psalm 103:1-5

“as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” – Psalm 103:12

And here are some more: Numbers 14:19-21. Psalm 32, Psalm 51, Psalms 78:36-39, Psalm 85:2,10, Psalm 103, Psalm 130, Isaiah 1:18, Isaiah 6:5-7, Isaiah 43:25-26, Isaiah 55:6-7, Micah 7:18-19.

How can this be? How could God forgive people of their sins before the life and death of Jesus?

Some Christians would try to explain this with theological gymnastics that would say that God was attributing the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross to the sins of people before the death of Jesus in order to be able to forgive them. This of course is convoluted and unbiblical. The fancy word for this is called eisegesis which means to read into scripture or put on scripture one’s own beliefs, agendas, or assumptions.  We all do it, but we try not to.

The answer to how God could forgive people of their sins before the life and death of Jesus is actually both simple and amazing. God has always forgiven people because God is forgiving! It is who God is (See: Psalm 86:5, Daniel 9:9, Micah 7:18-19)!

So if God was already forgiving sins before Jesus, what difference did Jesus make? What did Jesus do? To use the language of the apostle John, how then was Jesus the atoning sacrifice for our sins if God was already forgiving sins long before Jesus died or was even born? What about God’s need for blood? What about the sacrificial system?

Great questions! See part two is “Does God Need Blood to Forgive?” and part three is “Jesus’ Death and God’s Forgiveness.”