Can those who have sinned after Baptism receive forgiveness?
Thanks to God’s mercy, it is possible to receive forgiveness for one’s sins committed after Baptism. As the beloved Apostle testifies:
My little children, I am writing this to you so that you may not sin; but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous; and he is the expiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world (1Jo 2:1–2). Likewise, St James exhorts: Is any among you sick? Let him call for the presbyters of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord… and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. (Jas 5:14–16)
Repentance and the confession of sins are therefore the appointed way by which the Lord restores us to “the joy of salvation” (Psa 51:12 [50:14 LXX]). As Lactantius writes:
All the separate assemblies of heretics call themselves ‘Christians’ before others and think that theirs is the catholic church. But it must be known that the true catholic church is that in which there is confession and repentance, which treats in a wholesome manner the sins and wounds to which the weakness of the flesh is liable. (Lactantius, Divine Institutes, IV.30; see the section on Penitence and Reconciliation, below)
By their teaching, pastoral care, and ministration of the Church’s Mysteries, the presbyters serve under the chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ (1Pe 5:4; see Q259, Q358), so that all who have been baptized into Christ and have put on Christ may say with the Apostle: “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. I now live this life in the flesh, but I live it by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and who gave himself up for me” (Gal 2:20; see Q383, Q607).
