Does God have no memory of the sins we have repented?

Answer 1

God is omniscient, by definition. That means He knows everything there is to know. He knows everything that have happened in the past. He knows what is happening at present. And He knows what will happen in the future.

This means that our sins are all known to Him. He has perfect memory of each and every sin that we've committed. Only by the miracle of His grace (free, unmerited pardon towards us), shown through the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, can He "passover" our sins and forgive us. If we confess and repent of our sins to God, putting our complete trust in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus on the cross, can God judge all our sins and pass a judgment of "not guilty!" on us. The reason is that our punishment for the sins we've committed have been judged as already taken place on the cross, when Jesus paid for these sins with His life.

God does not mysteriously and suddenly "forget" our sins when we repent. He considers our sins so serious and damaging to us and our eternity that He took the extraordinary step of laying all the sin and all the punishment of these sins on His own Son, the Lord Jesus. So, when we sinners confess and repent of our sins, having faith in the Lord Jesus, God "exchanges" the Lord Jesus' life and righteousness for our punishment (our death) and our sinfulness. The sins are now put into the account of the Lord Jesus, and what is credited to our own spiritual account is Jesus' righteousness, His perfect holiness and His love from God the Father.

Short answer: Our sins are not forgotten! They have been taken away and now belong to the Lord Jesus, and by God's grace, the life and righteousness of Jesus is given to us as a free, unmerited gift. God bless!ANSWER

Proverbs 28:13 assures us that when we manifest genuine heartfelt repentance, Jehovah is willing, yes ready, to forgive. Regarding those in the new covenant Jeremiah 31:34 says "I shall forgive their error, and there sin I shall remember no more." The Hebrew verb rendered "I shall remember" implies more than simply to recall the past. It includes "the additional implication of taking appropriate action." So in this sense, to "remember" sin involves taking action against sinners. Hosea said concerning wayward Israelites, "He, Jehovah, will remember their error," the prophet meant that Jehovah would take action against them for their lack of repentance. Hosea 9:9 says "He will give attention to their sins." When Jehovah says, "Their sin I shall remember no more," he is assuring us that once he forgives a repentant sinner, he will not act against him for those sins at some future time. (Ezekiel 18:21, 22) He thus forgets in the sense that he does not bring our sins up again and again in order to accuse or punish us over and over. Psalms 103:8-13 says " He will not for all time keep finding fault and as far off as the sunrise is from the sunset he has put our transgressions."

King David said at Psalms 32:5 "My sin I finally confessed to you, and my error I did not cover. I said: 'I shall make confession over my transgressions to Jehovah.' And you yourself the error of my sins." Pardon translates a Hebrew word that means to lift up ,bear, carry. Its use here signifies 'to take away guilt, iniquity, transgression.' Jehovah lifted up David's sins and carried them away, as it were.( Leviticus 16:20-22.) This no doubt eased the feelings of guilt that David had been carrying. (Compare Psalm 32:3.) We can have full confidence in the God who pardons the sins of those who seek his forgiveness on the basis of their faith in the ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ. (Matthew 20:28, Isaiah 53:12.) Those whose sins Jehovah thus lifts up and carries away need not continue to carry the burden of guilt feelings for past sins. Acts 3:19 says, "Repent, therefore, and turn around so as to get your sins blotted out." The phrase 'get blotted out' translates a Greek verb that, when used can mean "to wipe out, obliterate, cancel or destroy." When something is blotted away it's gone, not there anymore. When Jehovah forgives our sins, it is as though he takes a sponge and wipes them away. We need not fear that he will hold such sins against us in the future, When Jehovah forgives, he forgets if we're truly repentant.