Lee Moses
“Patriarch” Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, recently gave his encouragement to Vladamir Putin’s efforts to round up more soldiers for Russia’s prolonged invasion of Ukraine. Kirill said of such Russian soldiers, “We believe that this sacrifice washes away all the sins that a person has committed.” There is not much difference between his statement and the Islamic teaching that Muslim men who die waging jihad against non-Muslims are guaranteed salvation almost regardless of anything else they have done. Although to Kirill’s credit, he left out the false Muslim promise of seventy two virgins. Kirill’s pronouncement is not the first occasion of professed Christians claiming sins can be absolved by unscriptural means.
The Roman Catholic Church has a long history of doing just that. For one, they teach that a human priest has the power to pronounce sins forgiven, typically after a member of the Catholic laity has confessed sins to a priest and performed priest-assigned acts of “penance.” And note the words of the (Roman Catholic) Council of Trent: “The absolution of the priest…is equivalent to a judicial act, by which sentence is pronounced by him as a judge.” However, this is claiming for men a power held by God only. True, Jesus told the apostles, “Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained” (John 20:23). However, Jesus was not authorizing the apostles to remit sins using any means they saw fit. Jesus’ statement is parallel with the other Gospel accounts’ record of the Great Commission in which He commanded the apostles to preach the Gospel to all the world (cf. Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-20; Luke 24:47-48). When the apostles and other Christians would preach the Gospel, the sins of those who obeyed that Gospel would be remitted while the sins of those who rejected the Gospel would be retained (cf. Acts 2:36-41; 13:44-46; 18:5-6). from the Roman Church to avoid consequences of sin. Among the consequences they could allegedly avoid was punishment in Purgatory. As he peddled indulgences, Vatican-appointed salesman Johann Tetzel would recite his catchy advertising jingle, “As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs.” Recall what the apostle Peter said to Simon the erstwhile sorcerer: “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money” (Acts 8:20). The “gift of God” Simon sought to purchase with money was the ability to confer miraculous gifts on others—how much less could the gift of forgiveness from sins be purchased with money? (cf. 1 Pet. 1:18).
This is the point of Jesus’ statement, and no “absolution” pronounced by a Vatican appointed priest can remit anyone’s sins. The Roman Catholic Church also forgave the sins of those who participated in the Crusades. This is despite the fact that engaging in literal warfare is not the work of the church (John 18:36; 2 Cor. 10:4). This is also despite the fact that many of the soldiers who fought in the Crusades committed terrible and unrepented of atrocities. Jesus warned, “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).
The Roman “Pope” Gregory I developed the doctrine of Purgatory. According to this doctrine, the souls of the righteous yet require purification from their sins after death, which is accomplished in an intermediary place in the afterlife that Catholics call Purgatory. In this place, “There is a purgatorial fire, where the souls of the righteous are purified by a temporary punishment, that entrance may be given them into their eternal home” (Catechism of the Council of Trent). However, this teaches the cleansing of sins by a process unknown to the Scriptures. Furthermore, one’s final destination is sealed at death: “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27).
Related to the doctrine of Purgatory is the sale of indulgences. Roman Catholic laity could purchase these indulgences from the Roman Church to avoid consequences of sin. Among the consequences they could allegedly avoid was punishment in Purgatory. As he peddled indulgences, Vatican-appointed salesman Johann Tetzel would recite his catchy advertising jingle, “As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs.” Recall what the apostle Peter said to Simon the erstwhile sorcerer: “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money” (Acts 8:20). The “gift of God” Simon sought to purchase with money was the ability to confer miraculous gifts on others—how much less could the gift of forgiveness from sins be purchased with money? (cf. 1 Pet. 1:18).
The Bible clearly teaches that the blood of Jesus washes away sins: “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood” (Rev. 1:5; cf. Matt. 26:28; Eph. 1:7; Heb. 9:14; 1 Pet. 1:19; 1 John 1:7). Of course, each man and woman must do something to appropriate that blood’s cleansing power, as Jesus “taste [d] death for every man” (Heb. 2:9); yet not every man will be saved from his sin. As Jesus said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16). As Ananias told Saul of Tarsus, “And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). When Saul was baptized—following his belief (John 8:24), repentance (Luke 13:3), and confession of Christ (Rom. 10:10)—he would wash away his sins because Christ with His own blood would wash away Saul’s sins. As Saul, or Paul as he was later better known, would ask, “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” (Rom. 6:3). It is only at Scriptural baptism—immersion in water intended for the remission of sins (Acts 8:38; 2:38)—that one appropriates the blessings of Jesus Christ’s death and blood.
As such, those who teach salvation by “faith only” or by a “sinner’s prayer” teach a bloodless salvation. Intentionally or not, they are teaching that one is saved before he ever contacts the blood of Jesus. “Faith only” and the “sinner’s prayer” are unscriptural means of salvation just as surely as offering God’s forgiveness for fighting carnal warfare or any of the Roman Catholic “sin cleansings” mentioned previously. The question is often sung, “What can wash away my sins?” Remember, nothing but the blood of Jesus Christ appropriated by Scriptural baptism can wash away my sins.
