Which is not found anywhere in Scripture.
All your *penance* means nothing in terms of attaining forgiveness of sin. You can't earn forgiveness.
If you earn it, it's wages due for work performed and ceases to be forgiveness. You've simply paid a debt you owe. Which you can't anyway cause the wages of sin is death, not penance or suffering.
You either have the righteousness of Christ credited to your account, or you don't and you stand in your own filth.
8The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
9He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
10He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
11For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
12As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Psalms 103:8-12 NASB
Funny, I just finished preaching a sermon about exactly that yesterday.
Used the parable about the servant who owed the ten thousand talents (ludicrous money; probably about ten billion dollars if I did the math right, but the short version is that it’s an amount that no servant could repay). The sermon eventually spoke about forgiveness of our brothers, and how little the sin that we commit against each other is compared to the sin that we commit against the Lord.
But the point that matters is that in this thread is that in Jesus’ own words, the debt that we owe God CAN’T be repaid.
THIS!!!! Well said, Met!
Hoss
Yes, it is found in Scripture.
“Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them, whose sins you hold bound shall be held bound.” Paraphrasing —
Amen!