我们藉这爱子的血……过犯得以赦免。（弗一7）
别以为神既是父亲——他既是这样慈爱，祂当然必会赦免我们。这种情感作用在新约完全没有踪迹。神赦免我们，唯一的根源就是基督十字架上的大悲剧；若把赦免放在任何别的根据上，是无形的亵渎。神赦免我们的罪，让我们有恩宠得到儿子的名分，唯一原因是藉基督的十字架，此外别无他法。赦免对我们是多么容易接受的事，可是却付上加略山的苦楚。我们接受赦罪，接受所赐的圣灵，凭单纯的信心得以成圣，却容易忘记了是神付出极大的代价为我们成就的。
赦免是神恩典的神圣奇迹：他要付出基督的十字架的代价，才能赦罪，而仍不失为圣洁的神。切勿接受一个把赎罪祭删去，只以神为父的观点。神的启示是他不能凭空赦免罪；若赦免就违反他的本性。我们蒙赦的唯一途径，是藉救赎归回神。神的赦免惟有在超自然的领域里，才不反其自然。
若拿赦罪的奇迹来比较，成圣的经历就显得微不足道。成圣不过是人生命蒙赦罪之后奇妙的表现，在人心中挑起最深感激的，该是神赦免罪。保罗从未忘怀这一点。你一旦体会神为赦免你的罪所付出的，你就会被抓住，被神的爱深深激励。
祈祷◆噢，主啊，为着你透过主耶稣的恩典，向我显明你至高的父性，我赞美你。噢，我因此可以成为天父的孩子了！
November 20: The Forgiveness Of God
“In whom we have . . . the forgiveness of sins.” Ephesians 1:7
Beware of the pleasant view of the Fatherhood of God – God is so kind and loving that of course He will forgive us. That sentiment has no place whatever in the New Testament. The only ground on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ; to put forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy. The only ground on which God can forgive sin and reinstate us in His favour is through the Cross of Christ, and in no other way. Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony of Calvary. It is possible to take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and our sanctification with the simplicity of faith, and to forget at what enormous cost to God it was all made ours.
Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace; it cost God the Cross of Jesus Christ before He could forgive sin and remain a holy God. Never accept a view of the Fatherhood of God if it blots out the Atonement. The revelation of God is that He cannot forgive; He would contradict His nature if He did. The only way we can be forgiven is by being brought back to God by the Atonement. God’s forgiveness is only natural in the supernatural domain.
Compared with the miracle of the forgiveness of sin, the experience of sanctification is slight. Sanctification is simply the marvellous expression of the forgiveness of sins in a human life, but the thing that awakens the deepest well of gratitude in a human being is that God has forgiven sin. Paul never got away from this. When once you realize all that it cost God to forgive you, you will be held as in a vice, constrained by the love of God.