I remember the confusion that I felt the first time I saw someone with an ash cross on their forehead. I wasn’t raised in a family that observed Ash Wednesday so I assumed that it was some sort of weird religious ritual that wasn’t for me.
A few years ago I learned that wasn’t true at all. Ash Wednesday was for me. In fact it’s important that I don’t ever let it NOT be for me. Why? Because Ash Wednesday is all about repentance.
The ash cross on the forehead is a symbol of something ancient. In the Old Testament ash was a sign of repentance and mourning over our sin. If you saw someone covered in ash you would have known that they were admitting that, when left to their own works, they were sinful and unable to achieve righteousness on their own. It is a mark of our depravity.
The ash does not make us “more forgiven” or “cleaner.” It is important to remember that when Christ forgave us He forgave ALL sins, past, present and future, so our focus is on repentance and not forgiveness.
Here is a great example of the difference between the two:
1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
There are two actions at the end of that verse “forgive our sins” and “purify us from all unrighteousness.” We tend to read those as happening at the same time, but that isn’t what the text actually says. In Greek, the language of the New Testament, this first statement (forgive us our sins) is in the “aorist tense.” The aorist presents the action as happening at a point in time. The second part (purify us from all unrighteousness) is the “present tense” which in Greek signifies durative action, something that is ongoing over a period of time.
Forgiveness happens once in the life of a Christ follower. Purification from unrighteousness however is an ongoing process that will not be completed until Jesus comes. So on Ash Wednesday as we focus on repentance, it is the admittance that we need an ongoing “purifying of unrighteousness” that we are taking part in.
A lyric in a David Crowder Band song says “When our depravity meets His divinity it is a beautiful collision.”
May Ash Wednesday be a beautiful collision of your depravity and the amazing divinity of our God. And may these truths not end on Ash Wednesday but may they be an ongoing purification process as Christ continues His work in our lives.
Ash Wednesday Service
We are not holding an Ash Wednesday service at ChangePoint so I invite you to join me at Trinity Presbyterian Church at 7PM on Ash Wednesday (Feb 22). Trinity is located at the corner of Huffman and Lorraine at 12310 Lorraine Street.
Adam Legg
Communications Director
(Thanks to ChangePoint Teaching Pastor Dan Jarrell for the brief Greek lesson that exposed the importance that the aorist and present tense play in 1 John 1:9 when looking at the difference between forgiveness and repentance)
A few years ago I learned that wasn’t true at all. Ash Wednesday was for me. In fact it’s important that I don’t ever let it NOT be for me. Why? Because Ash Wednesday is all about repentance.
The ash cross on the forehead is a symbol of something ancient. In the Old Testament ash was a sign of repentance and mourning over our sin. If you saw someone covered in ash you would have known that they were admitting that, when left to their own works, they were sinful and unable to achieve righteousness on their own. It is a mark of our depravity.
The ash does not make us “more forgiven” or “cleaner.” It is important to remember that when Christ forgave us He forgave ALL sins, past, present and future, so our focus is on repentance and not forgiveness.
Here is a great example of the difference between the two:
1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
There are two actions at the end of that verse “forgive our sins” and “purify us from all unrighteousness.” We tend to read those as happening at the same time, but that isn’t what the text actually says. In Greek, the language of the New Testament, this first statement (forgive us our sins) is in the “aorist tense.” The aorist presents the action as happening at a point in time. The second part (purify us from all unrighteousness) is the “present tense” which in Greek signifies durative action, something that is ongoing over a period of time.
Forgiveness happens once in the life of a Christ follower. Purification from unrighteousness however is an ongoing process that will not be completed until Jesus comes. So on Ash Wednesday as we focus on repentance, it is the admittance that we need an ongoing “purifying of unrighteousness” that we are taking part in.
A lyric in a David Crowder Band song says “When our depravity meets His divinity it is a beautiful collision.”
May Ash Wednesday be a beautiful collision of your depravity and the amazing divinity of our God. And may these truths not end on Ash Wednesday but may they be an ongoing purification process as Christ continues His work in our lives.
Ash Wednesday Service
We are not holding an Ash Wednesday service at ChangePoint so I invite you to join me at Trinity Presbyterian Church at 7PM on Ash Wednesday (Feb 22). Trinity is located at the corner of Huffman and Lorraine at 12310 Lorraine Street.
Adam Legg
Communications Director
(Thanks to ChangePoint Teaching Pastor Dan Jarrell for the brief Greek lesson that exposed the importance that the aorist and present tense play in 1 John 1:9 when looking at the difference between forgiveness and repentance)
Adam Legg is the Communications Director at ChangePoint church in Anchorage, Alaska
and a regular blogger at www.AdamLegg.com
and a regular blogger at www.AdamLegg.com
A JOURNEY THROUGH LENT POSTS:
#1 - An Introduction
#2 - What is Lent
#3 - Ash Wednesday
#4 - Freedom
#5 - Frailty
#1 - An Introduction
#2 - What is Lent
#3 - Ash Wednesday
#4 - Freedom
#5 - Frailty
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