God’s Complete Forgiveness

Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim

And when the wicked person repents of all the sins that he committed and keeps all My laws and does what is just and charitable, he shall live; he shall not die. All his transgressions he committed shall not be remembered to him because of the righteousness he practiced, he shall live. (Ezek. 18:21,22)

And when the righteous person turns from his righteousness and performs evil as all the abominations the evil man performs, should he live? [No], all his righteousness he performed will not be remembered in his rebellion that he rebelled and in his sin that he sinned, he shall die (Ezek. 18:24).

We wonder, how can God act as if either person never sinned or never acted properly? History cannot be erased. 

Anyone who regrets the mitzvas he has performed and regrets the merits, saying in his heart, “What value was there in doing them? I wish I hadn't performed them,” he loses them all and no merit is preserved for him at all (Maimonides, Laws of Repentance 3:3).

Each and every person has merits and sins. A person whose merits exceed his sins is righteous. A person whose sins exceed his merits is wicked. If [his sins and merits] are equal, he is an in-between (baynoni). The same applies to an entire country: if the merits of all its inhabitants exceed their sins, it is righteous. If their sins are greater, it is wicked. The same applies to the entire world.

This might give the impression that the number of merits and sins we perform are recorded and remain in existence, like dollars or debts in a bank. And we must pay for sins we commit, even if we repent, those sins remaining in existence demanding retribution. 

However, God says He won’t recall any sin of the sinner when he repents. What then happens to all his sins? Doesn’t he deserve punishment? I mean, he committed crimes. This crimes don’t vanish. History cannot be erased. 

Here is where we mature to God’s system of justice. God punishes to correct us. But if we correct ourselves, there is no poor character remaining requiring correction. That is the meaning behind “All his sins are not remembered.” God judges not the sins, but our character, our current values. Have we repented and abandoned our evil ways? If so, we are identical to one who never sinned. Nothing remains in us requiring correction. But what of all our criminal and evil actions?  The answer is, we are no longer identified with that previous person. Maimonides even says the ways of repentance include changing one’s name (Ibid. 2:4): he is not that former man. This idea aligns perfectly with God’s view.

Thus, God views a person at each moment: what is his state, what are his values? If he repented from all his evil, he does not deserve any corrective measure, although he must return stolen goods and plead for forgiveness from his victims. Having done all this, a penitent person is as pure as one who never sinned.