A Sinful Woman Forgiven all by Yeshua the Messiah! - Selah

Introduction

Have you ever wondered at the mystery of the handiwork of God in the heart of a sinner which brings them out of the darkness of sin and into the light of faith to His Son, Yeshua the Lord and Messiah? Those of us who by grace have ‘obtained like precious faith’ (2 Peter 1:1),as the first believers in Lord Yeshua know something of the marvel of this mystery but, I believe on this side of Heaven, we will never truly understand the mystery of this marvel. This grace, like God’s love, truly surpasses all understanding but is available to us all, including those whom, even a lost world would call one of the worst of sinners. It was Lord Yeshua Himself who said:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son
that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world
but that all through Him might be saved.”
(John 3:16-17).

Our ‘woman of the moment’ in our main Scripture reading below gives us the opportunity to review the truth that God will never reject anyone who comes to His Son Yeshua in true repentance and faith in Him.

May we, as believing women in the faith of Lord Yeshua, living out repentance towards Almighty God, be enabled to remember His grace and His will for unbelieving women of the sort that even the world would condemn. They may be, unbeknown to us, hidden within our own families, our communities or brought into our paths and notice in other ways. Let us not lose sight of the compassion and the truth of God which concerns us all, that ‘…Messiah died for the ungodly’ (Romans 5:6).

May you, whoever you may be, who have not yet come to saving faith in Messiah Yeshua be enabled to glimpse something of the grace which Almighty God holds out to you through His Son, the Messiah during this study and know this:

‘For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die;
yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.’
(Romans 5:6-8).

It may be that, because of the grace, mercy, love and power of God through Lord Yeshua the Messiah, you will never know how many believing women once walked in the shoes of this “sinful woman.” ‘For by grace [we] have been saved, through faith and that not of [ourselves]; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast’ (Ephesians 2:8-9). Praise the Lord!

WARNING! This is a rather lengthy study/conversation which, if you are able to read in one sitting would perhaps be better however, please do consider taking it section by section, however the Holy Spirit may lead.

Overview on ‘The Woman who was a Sinner’

We are not given the name of our woman of the moment; she is introduced to us merely as ‘a woman in the city who was a sinner’ (Luke 7:37). We can however be certain that whatever her name was, the “label” given to her by others was changed forever when she put her faith in Lord Yeshua. Please take the time to read the Scripture account of her.

Reading: Luke 7:36-50

From the above reading we learn that the woman:

was a city dweller (v.37);
had a bad reputation in that city which appears to have been widely known (v.37);
was given a moniker: ‘a sinner’ (v.37). For a Jewish woman living in Israel, under the law of Moses at this time, clearly this was not good! Although it is possible that we could be far off the mark in believing this woman to be either a prostitute or at least, a very promiscuous woman, Simon’s words at v.39 strongly suggests such was the case of this unhappy woman;
was a woman who had heard about Yeshua (v.37);
was a woman who had enough chutzpah to go into a home of a Pharisee despite her reputation (v.37);
was a woman whose heart had been touched by Lord Yeshua and was moved with faith, contrition and love towards Him, manifested in her humility, tears and anointing of the feet of Yeshua (vs.37-38);
though having ‘many’ sins, was forgiven by Yeshua the Messiah and Lord (v.47);
was a woman of faith (v.50); and
by grace through faith obtained the peace of God and peace with God (v.50).

Breaking the above down a little further, we might also consider the following:

A sinful woman in the darkness of sin

The Scripture says that this ‘ woman… who was a sinner’ (Luke 7:37) indeed had many sins (Luke 7:47). It is clear that whatever these sins were they were a repeated pattern of behaviour in this woman. It was, or had. become her practice. The darkness of her sinful lifestyle was sealed with this truth – it would allow her no admittance into the Kingdom of God, which as a Jewess, a daughter of Abraham, she was intended to have a portion of by inheritance. Galatians 5:19-21 gives this warning:

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. ( underlined for emphasis)

Uncomfortable reading for us all – for there is no one who does not sin, ‘no, not one’ (note Romans 3:10). The point however is that Paul speaks here of those who ‘practice’ sin – i.e. that which is what is done as a regular practice. It was not a “slip up” – as bad as slips into sin can be – it was a habitual doing of that which God calls sin. When you consider her habitual practice of her sins, one might well wonder whether this was a matter of “shame or fame.” Her sins were well known in her city – had she been secretly ashamed all along that she was bound in these sinful practices or had it been something she revelled in up to that point, self-deceived by her notoriety for sin? We should not be surprised by how people view their sins when challenged by it – we too were once deceived! Whichever was beating in her heart, somewhere along the line she came to hear of Yeshua – perhaps she was one of many in the multitudes who witnessed His ‘gracious words’ (note Luke 4:22) as He taught, performed miracles and showed notable acts of compassion.

A sinful woman who had heard of Yeshua

God has told us the truth of all our hearts in our natural state. Through His servant the Jewish prophet Jeremiah, for example, the LORD says: ‘The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?’ (Jeremiah 17:9). Through the writer of the letter to the Hebrew believers God also teaches something of the power of His word to expose the truth in our hearts: ‘..the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart’ (Hebrews 4:12).

A careful reading of our passage at Luke 7 strongly suggests the woman had heard something of the word of God and it had begun a work of grace in her heart. However little or however much she had heard, she knew enough to know there was a possibility of a way out of the terrible situation of deep degradation and shame of her sins. Can you imagine (or perhaps you can remember a time) the dawning realisation that the proverbial light at the end of a long dark tunnel was truly a light of hope – and not the lights of a speed train coming at you! You see, the Law of Moses under which she lived, could tell her about her sin and convict her, but it could not completely free her from it. The Holy Spirit lays it out for us, for example through Paul at Galatians 3:24 which states, ‘..the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith’ (see the whole of the letter to the Galatians for the exposition of this verse). Further, we are told at John 1:17 that, ‘.. the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.’ The law of God given through Moses had done its job in tutoring her about the sin in her life, but in some way, the grace and truth which comes from God, through Yeshua the Messiah, were the means by which this woman was drawn that she might be ‘justified by faith’ in Yeshua.

Whatever she had heard or seen, perhaps from a distance hidden within a multitude gathered around Yeshua, there was something about this ‘holy Man’ which stirred in her a desire to run to Him, rather than from Him. After all, He was not like the religious spiritual leaders of her day who would not deign to misadventure a toe-nail towards the direction of “those sinners.” In fact one of their accusations against Yeshua was that He was a friend to the sinners and tax-collectors [note e.g. Matthew 11:19; Luke 15:1-2). Many of these loved to hang around Yeshua – why? What was it about Him? Perhaps in Him they glimpsed something of the very precious light of truth recorded at Psalm 85:10, which says this:

‘Mercy and truth have met together;
Righteousness and peace have kissed.’

A sinful woman comes to Yeshua

This woman had chutzpah! It could not have been an easy thing for a woman of her repute to “front it out” – to coin an old London phrase – in gaining entrance into the home of a religious Pharisee. Yet the Lord drew her to Himself and she, perhaps unknowingly, responded to that work of grace. Let us be clear here: there can be no way for anyone dead in their sins and trespasses to come to the Lord apart from the grace of God working into them and/or in their lives something of His grace and truth. As the Lord Yeshua Himself said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44). Whatever she had heard or knew was powerful enough to enable the chutzpah to go to where she would find Yeshua. The very same Lord is the One who had said – and does say to all:

^“Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls.
For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
(Matthew 11:28-30).

He also said these precious words:

“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37).

And so the woman came to Yeshua.

This is what it is like for one who knows themselves a lost sinful sinner to draw near to Yeshua the Lord. This woman not only drew near, but she also bowed low at the feet of the Lord in repentance, faith and love.

A sinful woman at the feet of Jesus

The tears started as she stood at the feet of Yeshua. Was it the sight of Yeshua? Was it the fact that she was actually there – she had made it! Consider, what thoughts might have raged in her mind from the decision to arise from where she was, in order to go to Yeshua, to her actually being there. For sure, the enemy of our soul would have tried his best to discourage her – especially with fear, doubt and lies, some of his favourite tools!

Note that we are not told of her saying anything. Not a word. It is as though her tears were her opening speech and once she started there was no turning back. We see her faith, repentance and love being spoken through her actions: the weeping, so profusely it was enough to wet the feet of Yeshua; the stooping low to dry His feet, not with her hands, not with her garments, but with her hair, perhaps her one glory humanly speaking (consider 1 Corinthians 11:15); after the washing of the feet of Yeshua with her tears, the loving act of kissing and anointing them with the oil. Taken together, her actions speaks to me of a woman with genuine faith and humble love, surrendered to God at the feet the Lord.

The sinful woman forgiven

I would venture to say that it is likely that it was not so much any words which she may have spoken during this encounter which were important, as much as the precious words Lord Yeshua said of her and to her. As the word of God says, ‘For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart’ (1 Samuel 16:7). Of her, Yeshua said “she loved much” (Luke 7:47). She had a love that He could see from the inside out. To her, Yeshua said that she was forgiven and that she could go on from there in peace, for her faith, the precious gift from God, had saved her. What a day! I believe we may safely conclude that until that point, there had never been a day in her life like it. This is what it is like with a sinful woman is forgiven. She came to Yeshua as ‘a woman in the city who was a sinner’ but left a forgiven sinner, a woman who repented, put her faith in Yeshua and was forgiven all. Hallelujah!

The forgiven woman’s Legacy

The woman’s story is one of hope particularly to those who either have never heard the good news (the Gospel) of salvation through Lord Yeshua or who once came close to the kingdom, perhaps having been raised in the knowledge of truth but who turned away and fell into a sinful lifestyle. For believers it is an encouragement to grow in the grace bestowed to us in Messiah that we may be enabled by the Holy Spirit to choose humility and compassion when sharing the Gospel with women even this lost world would call lost. As the word of God says, for example at Titus 3:3-7:

‘For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.’

Let’s pick through a few of the gems left to us in her “legacy”:

The big issue – sin.

The account of “the woman who was a sinner” sets up for us nicely an opportunity to remind ourselves of a few things the Lord God tells us about our sin in His word. If, for any reason you believe you are sinless God says you are wrong! If you are wrong, you may like to read Genesis to The Revelation of Jesus Christ and note in particular Scriptures such as, 1 John 1:8 ‘If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.’ For the rest of us, saved and forgiven sinners or, as the case maybe, sinners seeking forgiveness from God, we are reminded, for example, that:

Sin separates us from God (see e.g. Genesis 3; Isaiah 59:1-2);
Sin cannot be reformed – we therefore need to be born-again (see e.g. John 3:1-8);
Sin earns and merits death – but the one true God gifts eternal life (see e.g. Romans 6:23);
Sin always leads to judgement – and there is but one escape: turning from sin to the Saviour, Lord Yeshua the Messiah, Son of the living God (see e.g. Acts 2:36-39, Acts 16:30-31; 1 Corinthians 15:1-5).

To any seeking woman who may be reading this, I hope the following words will be received with the love and care intended to accompany them: Whatever else may be going on in your life, whatever issues, stresses, problems and difficulties you are in right now, if you have never acknowledged and repented from sin, putting your faith in Lord Yeshua the Messiah who died and rose again for the ungodly, then the biggest issue you are facing is sin. Unless and until you have this dealt with before Yeshua, no other solution will ever be the enduring answer. Please get in touch and I will be happy to share further with you or, at this point, please see The Choice (The Choice. – Selah – with me (selahwithme.co.uk) or The Gift Revisited (The Gift – Revisited. – Selah – with me (selahwithme.co.uk).

Years ago, I heard a sister in the Lord, (Glenda Kaiser) mention a quote during a women’s teaching session, which comes to mind just at this point. I cannot remember the original source but she quoted these words:

‘Sin will take us further than we ever wanted to go,

Cost us more than we ever wanted to pay,

And keep us longer than we ever wanted to stay.’

There was no other issue on the mind of our woman of Luke 7 which she needed to be dealt with than her sins. She bids us to consider.

Condemnation or Grace – which saves?

Verses 39-47 gives us a very interesting and instructive “window” into the scene. To an uninformed outside observer it may appear that here are two men and a somewhat distressed woman. Of these two men we can note from this passage however that one professes holiness, righteousness and godliness but the Other is holy, righteousness and, in fact, God in the flesh. Consider for a moment Scriptures such as: John 1:1 ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’; John 1:14 ‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory…’ and 1 Timothy 3:16 ‘And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh,..’. Let’s now look at the scene from a different perspective concerning the woman.

What did Simon see?

Simon looks at this woman and sees someone he would not allow to approach him nor, probably, even speak to him! Moreover, he not only judges the woman, but he judges Yeshua Himself! He thinks to himself that he knows better than Yeshua and condemns the woman as a sinner, full stop! Note again his words: ‘..who and what manner of woman this is….a sinner’ (v39). It seems as though whatever Simon saw of the woman to his mind this was all that she was. As immoral, depraved or defiling as her sins and reputation may have been – he just could not see past it. As such, ‘what manner of woman’ she was – a sinner – in his eyes set her not at naught, but lower still. How might this woman have reacted to condemnation without grace in her time of need?

What did Lord Yeshua see?

Lord Yeshua on the other hand looks at the woman and sees a sinful, lost and needy soul but who demonstrates love for God far greater than the “righteous” Pharisee. Let us consider again the words of Yeshua to Simon at verses 44-47 to see what He saw:

‘Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.’

It is not that the Lord overlooked her sins – no, she indeed needed forgiveness of sins – but that He looked beyond her sins and saw her need.

In verses 39-40 we have a reminder that God sees our innermost thoughts as though they were audible speech. What Simon thought, Lord Yeshua answers. Note the measure of grace held out to Simon in Yeshua’s response to his self-righteousness and overweening sense of virtue. The Lord didn’t begin with the of enumerating Simon’s own sins, neither did He berate Simon harshly over his self-righteousness, pride and absence of compassion for this weeping broken woman. The Lord used a parable to bring Simon to see the wrong which Yeshua then showed sat squarely in Simon’s own lap! One can almost imagine that following Yeshua’s words to Simon, “You have rightly judged” (v.43), at his recognition of the wrong, were perhaps Nathan’s words to David, “Thou art the man!” (2 Samuel 12:7, KJV – see 2 Samuel 11-12:25 for full account) echoing in Simon’s conscience! Only then does the Lord point out to Simon the difference between how he received Him and how the woman at His feet treated Him.

It is indeed an account of contrasts! Can you see the contrast between the condemnation of Simon – an outwardly religious man – and the grace and truth through Yeshua the Messiah? Can you see the contrast – between the “religious” man and ‘the woman who was a sinner’? Can you see the contrast between what each of these needy souls received from the Lord? Simon’s self-righteous attitude earned him the Lord’s censure but the faith of the repentant woman who had been sinful brought the gift of forgiveness. It brings to mind another contrast – that of Romans 6:23: ‘For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Do we want our “natural earnings”, or do we want the Gift? Our woman of the moment wanted and received the latter.

I’m also reminded at this point of the words of Yeshua to some of the chief priests and spiritual elders in His day at Matthew 21:31c, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you.” Condemnation from others never saved anyone – salvation is by the grace of God. The word of God says this:

^‘For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves;
it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
(Ephesians 2:8-9)

The account of our woman bids us to consider.

Fruitful repentance: ‘She loved much’:

In verses 40-48 is a reminder that not only is repentance of work of faith but that in its genuine form it produces fruit. It prepares the way for the further and deeper work of God for salvation – that is why, for example, John the Baptizer preached repentance (see e.g. Matthew 3:1-3) and more importantly, why Lord Yeshua does too (see e.g. Matthew 4:17). This is still the call of God by His Spirit through the Church of His Son, Lord Yeshua today. At Acts 17:30-31, for example, the Apostle Paul said,

^‘Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked,
but now commands all men everywhere to repent,
because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness
by the Man whom He has ordained.
He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.’

At some point, this woman experienced the convicting work of God of her sins, believed upon Lord Yeshua and her outward works bore witness to that inward faith and trust in Yeshua. Let us again consider the snap-shot of this presented to us by the Scripture account.

Note that the woman prepared intentionally to go to Yeshua. Her choosing and taking with her the oil suggest she had given some thought about this. It seems to speak of her going to Lord Yeshua with a heart prepared. Prepared for what? Maybe she had heard that Yeshua forgives sins – and, on the face of it, how much better for her that this should be before one of the spiritual rulers of the people, that he should see ‘this holy Man’ had forgiven her. How could he, as a spiritual ruler, be then able to do less? How would anyone? Perhaps the oil represents a mistaken notion that she might in some way, pay for forgiveness or atone for her sins – she did not know that it was ‘by grace through faith’ in Yeshua the Messiah, Son of God, a gift to be received. The entire account suggests that she came prepared to humble herself before God. Let us consider her actions again.

Not only did she bend low to wipe the feet of Lord Yeshua with her hair, but ‘she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil’ (Luke 7:38). I don’t know how this looks to you, but to me it is as though through her actions she says something like:

‘I have no crown to lay at your feet for I am not royalty, I have no merit of my own to lay at Your feet for I am not a good person, I have no heroic deeds to lay at your feet for I am not a heroine, I have nothing but my sinful self and my sins to lay out your feet putting my faith in who You are and Your words of life; and this fragrant oil, my valuable worldly possession, I gladly give with my tears (of conviction of my sins and repentance) together with this use of my hair (my glory). I lay these before you as the manifestation of the genuine love in my heart for You, Lord Yeshua, which can find no other expression but these. Please ‘have mercy upon me, a sinner’ (see Luke 18:10-14) receive me, forgive me of my sin, make me clean, save me.’

This was no “hyper-emotionalism” nor was it an extraordinary work in some mistaken notion of attempting to earn or merit God’s forgiveness and salvation from the guilt and penalty of sin. This could never, can never and will never be earned or deserved by anyone. Yeshua alone took away the guilty of sin when He paid the penalty for our sins when He died for the ungodly and rose from the dead. Rather, this is what Lord Yeshua said of it:

“There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?” Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.”

Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Luke 7:41-48

The manner of her repentance speaks of a recognition of how great the mercy Lord Yeshua bestowed upon her in forgiving her of so much. This is what is like when a sinful woman is forgiven her sins.

The account of our woman bids us to consider.

Forgiven!

Consider again Luke 7:48: ‘Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Forgiven! Here is the breaking of the shackles of the bad and troubled conscience of a woman who knew she was a sinner – and an infamous one too! As with many trapped by the awful power of sin in them in a sinful lifestyle, this is not really what they want, not deep down under the layers of “defences”. This is not their “life’s dream” neither was it their ambition to end up in the particular situation of distress sins lead to, just as it likely was not this woman’s. Many therefore can only deal with the way their life has turned out by making themselves believe that they don’t care and so develop a hard exterior to deal with all the consequences following and/or turn to substances to enable them to deal with it. Often it just leads to the downward spiral of sin attracting sin and ultimately being truly enslaved and trapped into a lifestyle of sinfulness and degradation of body and soul – the spirit is dead in trespasses anyway.

For many caught up in a besetting degrading practice of sin. how well they know that life is not like the movies and that real life doesn’t stop happening with rolling credits! it goes on – same script, just a different cast, until destruction. Unless Yeshua, the living Word of God comes and we turn to Him.

But Yeshua has come. He came for such as this woman and He comes to all who call upon Him, who like this woman know we are sinners with no place to go with our sin. Accept to the Messiah. The One who is the Mediator between sinful man and the Holy God (1 Timothy 2:5), who became the sinless ‘Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’ (John 1:29; Isaiah 53). She turned to the One who had ‘…power on earth to forgive sins’ (Matthew 9:6;Mark 2:10; Luke 5:24).

He who ‘[i]n the beginning was the Word.. with God and [who is] God’ (John 1:1) and ‘Immanuel…God with us’ (Matthew 1:23) proved that He had power on earth to forgive sins by all the signs and wonders attesting to this during His earthly ministry. Today, the resurrection of Lord Yeshua from the dead on the third day after His crucifixion for our sins attests to Him being the Son of God (see e.g. Romans 1:4) and His sacrifice of His sinless life-blood in His substitutionary atoning death is sufficient for the remission of our sin (see e.g. Matthew 26:28; 1 John 2:2). As Hebrews 7:24-25 says, concerning our Lord, ‘But He, because He continues forever, has an unchanging priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.’

The question may be asked – if Yeshua could forgive sin merely by speaking it as He did for this woman and us having faith in Him could save us, why did He still need to go to the Cross? Why did He need to suffer in such an awful way throughout His earthly ministry (consider again Isaiah 53) culminating with such an agonizing and shameful death on the cross?

One reason is that the sacrificial death of our perfectly righteous and sinless Lord Yeshua not only made the way for our sins to be forgiven, but it also destroyed the power of sin itself and opened the way to salvation in its fullest sense, for all who believe upon Him. It destroyed the power of the devil (Hebrews 2:14-15), abolished death and brought immortality to light (2 Timothy 1:9-10; 1 Corinthians 15) , gave eternal life (John 17:1-4) and opened the door into the everlasting kingdom of God (John 10:7-10; John 14:6), with God (Revelation 21:1-7) for all who repent, believe upon Yeshua and obey God. Each account in the Scripture of Yeshua forgiving sins, including for the sinful woman forgiven all is a powerful declaration of His deity. A widely respected bible teacher said this, ‘[w]hen He [Yeshua] claimed authority to forgive sins, He emphasized His deity, and as the God-Man, He has the authority to forgive sins in a salvation sense.’, Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, Th.M., PH.D, Yeshua the Life of Messiah from a Messianic Jewish Perspective, The Abridged Version, published by Ariel Ministries, page 148.

It was always God’s plan to destroy sin, its power and its originator as Genesis 3:14-15 teaches us – there will one day be a completed fulfilment of this (note e.g. Romans 16:20; Revelation 20:10).

Another point of consideration – among many – is that without the death and resurrection of the Lord, the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit of God would not have been sent and we would not have the regeneration and sanctification He brings through the finished work of Yeshua, Son of God on the cross. Consider such passages as: John 15:26 where Lord Yeshua Himself says, “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me”; John 16:7, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you” and, 2 Thessalonians 2:13 ‘But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning, chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in truth.’ There are so very many passages in Scripture which speaks of the essentiality of the Spirit of God in becoming, being and living as ‘born-again’ (Spirit-born) children of God.

Ultimately, the Scripture says that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin (Hebrews 9:22) and that Lord Yeshua, the Son of God is ‘the Lamb slain from the foundation of the earth’ (Revelation 13:8; 1 Peter 1:18-20).

God, who sees the end from the beginning, does not make mistakes. When He forgave this woman her sins by His grace through her faith in Yeshua, taking in all the circumstances, I can well believe His last words to her endured and saw their fulfilment after His resurrection of His sacrificial death for our sins.

God’s forgiveness opens the way to His eternal salvation and peace – the account of our woman bids us to consider.

Peace at last!

Lord Yeshua said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.’(Luke 7:50). There is only one thing that a sinner needs more than God’s forgiveness and that is to experience God’s peace. Knowing God’s forgiveness through repentance and faith in Yeshua brings true peace. As we’ve been reminded through considering the account of this woman, forgiveness first requires an acknowledgement of the need for forgiveness. This itself first requires recognition of sin within, which also requires acknowledgement that sin is, above all else against Almighty God, in whose hands alone the forgiveness lies. Those who choose not to come to God to seek forgiveness in the manner He has laid down, that is, through faith in Yeshua and His sacrifice for us, can have no true peace. Earthly peace is a false peace, it is illusory and at the very most, temporary. It is not surprising that the natural man seeks so many “coverings” to try to give themselves a sense of peace – but let that covering be shaken, even just a little, and in a stroke the fragility of such “peace” is uncovered. Yet, Lord Yeshua is the Prince of peace (Isaiah 9:6), the Giver of everlasting peace which cannot be taken or shaken and which is solid, true and freely given to all who come to Lord Yeshua, God the Son, acknowledging their sin. So great is this peace it even ‘surpasses all understanding’ (Philippians 4:7) – it is the peace of God, peace with God (Romans 5:1) and peace in God through Messiah Yeshua our Lord (Ephesian 2:14).

The ‘woman who was a sinner’ could indeed go on, forgiven, saved and in peace. Praise the Lord! This is what it is like when a sinful woman is forgiven all.

Our woman bids you to consider.

Conclusion

The word of God does not record the rest of the life of our woman of the moment. No doubt she went through the ups and downs, the battles and victories, the trials and affirmations of faith in Lord Yeshua and God her Father, as do we all. Nevertheless, we can reasonably believe that her life was changed forever because we who repented and believe upon Lord Yeshua know this experientially.

In our parting look at this woman I set before you one final contrast for consideration which highlights an import of the point of this study. When Lord Yeshua, the living Word of God forgives your sin, take heed of the word which He speaks with His forgiveness – there will be important encouragement and/or needful warning for our next steps. The contrast is brought out in carefully noting the parting word of God to another sinful woman and that which was spoken to the woman of our study. Consider first the case of the unhappy woman caught in adultery, as recorded at John 8:2-11. Note that when the Lord forgave her of the sin of adultery, His word to her personally were “.and sin no more.” However to this ‘woman…who was a sinner’ (Luke 7:37), His word to her were “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace’ (Luke 7:50). His word to her was with certainty. She came to Lord Yeshua of her own volition, with ‘a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart’ (Psalm 51:17) in contrast to the woman who was caught in the act of adultery, and who had been dragged all the way to Yeshua (John 8:3-4). Our woman of our study bids you consider.

The good news (Gospel) is that for all who truly repent and believe upon Yeshua the Messiah, Son of God, His sacrificial, atoning, substitutionary death on the cross and resurrection, the salvation of God from sin is certain. May the word of God recorded in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 reassure and reaffirm the certainty of this to all who do believe upon Lord Yeshua and are trusting in Him concerning salvation. If you have not yet repented and believed upon Lord Yeshua for the same, may this final Scripture bring revelation to you. Our woman of this study bids you to consider.

Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures’.

Praise the Lord!