I Believe in the Forgiveness of Sins — The Apostles' Creed, Article of Faith 10

Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), King David playing the harp; image from Wikimedia Commons; .

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Editor’s note: This is the nineth installment of a series on the Apostles’ Creed. Rev. Campbell Markham is a Presbyterian minister in Perth, Australia.

“[I believe in] the forgiveness of sins.” (The Apostles’ Creed, Article 10)

The author of a large part of the Bible did some desperately wicked things.

I’m talking about David, Israel’s greatest general and king, and author of at least seventy-three of the Psalms.

God’s justice demands that sin be punished.

It is about 1000 BC, and David has been king for some time. His realm is expansive, his rule is secure, and his armies are off campaigning.

We find him strolling on his rooftop (2 Sam. 11). The sun sets over Jerusalem. The scent of smoke and evening meals fills the air.

David sees a woman bathing on her rooftop, a very beautiful woman. He makes inquiries.

She is Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, one of David’s greatest soldiers—a friend and brother-in-arms. Uriah is away with the army.

David orders Bathsheba to be brought to his chambers…

Weeks later she sends him a note: “I am pregnant.”

David attempts a coverup. He calls Uriah back to Jerusalem for “news from the frontline.” He then sends him home to his wife Bathsheba with a gift.

But there’s no way that Uriah will enjoy an evening with his wife while the Ark of the Covenant and his brothers-in-arms are out in the field. Uriah sleeps outside.

Frustrated, David tries again. This time he gets Uriah drunk before sending him home to his wife. Again, Uriah sleeps outside. He is a good soldier, a man of principle.

David writes an order to Joab, his general: “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die” (2 Sam. 11:15).

David has Uriah carry the order himself. He makes a faithful friend carry the instructions for his own murder.

As planned, Uriah is struck down in battle. David marries Bathsheba. The Lord is displeased. He presses on David’s conscience.

We all may, and must, seek God’s forgiveness with humble confidence.

Later, David wrote about this time: “My bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me” (Ps. 32:4).

For a year David refused to confess his sin, but his God-stricken conscience groaned. Finally, David relented:

I acknowledged my sin to you,
    and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
    and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. (Ps. 32:5)

David confessed his lust, betrayal, scheming, manipulation, cruelty, adultery, and murder.

And God forgave him. Literally, he “covered” David’s sins; he did not count his evil against him.

This is what Christians believe, that if we humble ourselves before God and “confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

The Bible shows God forgiving a very great sinner like David his very great and foul sin so that no one will think that they are beyond redemption. We all may, and must, seek God’s forgiveness with humble confidence.  

This costs us nothing but our pride.

It cost God the lifeblood of his only Son.

Justice demanded that David’s sin be punished, and it was punished in the sacrificial crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Jesus bore David’s sin and condemnation so that David could be forgiven. The wickedness of all who confess their sins and believe in Jesus Christ is forgiven. “His blood makes the foulest clean.”

May we, the forgiven, in turn forgive. Pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

Related Articles:

• I Believe in the Holy Catholic Church — The Apostles' Creed, Article of Faith 9

• I Believe in the Holy Spirit — The Apostles' Creed, Article of Faith 8

• He Will Come to Judge the Living and the Dead — The Apostles' Creed, Article of Faith 7

• The Third Day He Rose Again from the Dead — The Apostles' Creed, Articles of Faith 5 and 6

• Jesus Suffered Under Pontius Pilate; Was Crucified, Dead, and Buried; He Descended Into Hell — The Apostles' Creed, Article of Faith 4

• Jesus Was Conceived by the Holy Spirit, Born of the Virgin Mary — The Apostles' Creed, Article of Faith 3

• I Believe in Jesus Christ, His Only Begotten Son, Our Lord — The Apostles' Creed, Article of Faith 2

• I Believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth — The Apostles' Creed, Article of Faith 1

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