Is there a difference between being pardoned or acquitted

by Ucantnome 8 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Ucantnome

  In the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (revised 2013) at Romans 6:7 it uses the word 'acquitted'. In the Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures (1985) it also has 'acquitted' and in the Greek word for English word translation part in has 'has been justified'

  The Insight On The Scriptures (1988) under the heading Declare Righteous page 803 talking about the original Greek words that are translated as justify and justification and can be translated as declared righteous and pronounce righteous it says,

  '...basically carry the idea of absolving or clearing of any charge, holding as guiltless and hence acquitting, or pronouncing and treating as righteous'

  My understanding is that God forgives us on the legal basis of Christ sacrifice, we are acquitted, as if we never committed the sin. I see it different from being pardoned.

  In the footnote of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (revised 2013) Romans 6:7 it says 'Or released of pardoned'

  My question is, Am I wrong in thinking there is a difference between being acquitted and pardoned and as the Greek uses the word translated justified or in the English use of the words do they mean the same?
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  DwainBowman

  To be pardoned, dose not wipe the slate clean, but it brings an end to any and all legal action against a person or persons. But it dose not, totally wipe the record clean, like it never happened!

  President Nixon, was pardoned for any and all crimes he may have committed during his term in office! It did not remove guilt, it just stopped the legal system from going after him, in any wsy!

  A pardon, may also restore some or all civil privileges, that convictions may have removed!

  If one is in prison or jail, a pardon would release one!

  But again it dose not wipe the record clean!
• 

  Splash

  Rom 6:7 in other translations carries the thought that once you are dead you can no longer carry on sinning.

  This is entirely different from the NWT idea that once you are dead all your sins have been paid for.

  The two main differences are that
  1. Jesus is not needed to cover your sins if you cover them yourself
  2. If you die without covering your sins, you will still be judged on what you did in your lifetime.
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  Vidiot

  If I'm not mistaken, acquittal is basically being found "not guilty" due to lack of evidence.
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  Ucantnome

  Thanks for your comments helps me get a clearer understanding.

  When I was leaving the Witnesses I discussed this scripture with someone along with Armageddon and judgement. I looked it up in the only other bible that I had in the house The Living Bible and it says this'

  Romans 6:6-8

  Your old evil desires were nailed to the cross with him; that part of you that loves to sin was crushed and fatally wounded, so that your sin-loving body is no longer under sin's control, no longer needs to be a slave to sin; for when you are deadened to sin you are freed from all its allure and its power over you. And since your old sin-loving nature "died" with Christ, we know that you will share his new life.

  Then I got out my Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures and found the word justified, I then felt that this was a better way of understanding it.
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  Ucantnome

  I read last night that the word in Romans 6:7 translated as justified can translated or can mean free. I don't know how they know this. Maybe they have a first century dictionary
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  moggy lover

  I think the basic problem here is the way Watchtower theology construes the expression "died" at Ro 6:7. In this view, Paul is making reference to the literal, fleshly death that persons experience at the termination of life. Such a death wipes away the stain of sin, and like a prisoner who has done his time and paid his dues, he no longer has to account for those sins, despite the fact that he has not repented of them. Simply the physical act of death is enough to absolve him, or "acquit" him as the NW "T" has it.
  

  In this view, a person who dies in sin, need have no further worries about its application, because when he is resurrected, his life is wiped clean and he is raised to life, to sin anew. Thus a person who, in the Watchtower sense has been resurrected into the post Armageddon world must now be judged on what he does with his future, and the new sins he commits. I believe this view to be wrong because:

  1. Death does not wipe away the effect of sin. Only the blood of Christ does this. While in this life one needs to accept this provision by a conscious decision, else he will "die in his sin" and its effects remain for all time.

  2. What sort of "death" is Paul talking about?. In this brief section Paul twice refers to "having died". In verse 2 Paul talks about us who are "dead to sin", and in verse 8, he speaks of us who "died with Christ", and both, like verse 7, in the past tense. The "death" that Paul is referring to, then, is something in our past, while we are still alive in the present.

  Humanity, according to Paul has one of two options:

  In the present we can be alive to sin, but dead to God. Or

  We can be dead to sin, and alive to God. Which is his preferred option.

  The word "acquitted" used here by the Watchtower translator[s], is interesting. As mentioned above the word is closely allied to the concept of "justification" or "declaring righteous", but most translators feel that that the analogy of slavery is pertinent. A slave owner had authority over a slave only while the latter was alive. But once that slave was dead, the owner no longer exercised any authority over him.

  Paul's analogy seems to be that once we are dead to sin, while we are physically alive, sin has no authority over us. Like a corpse is incapable of reacting to physical stimuli, so those who are dead to sin, remain [or at least struggle to remain] immune to its blandishments.

  NEB: "He is no longer answerable to sin"

  NJB "He has finished with sin"

  TEV: "Free from the power of sin"
  
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  Ucantnome

  The word "acquitted" used here by the Watchtower translator[s], is interesting. As mentioned above the word is closely allied to the concept of "justification" or "declaring righteous", but most translators feel that that the analogy of slavery is pertinent. A slave owner had authority over a slave only while the latter was alive. But once that slave was dead, the owner no longer exercised any authority over him.

  
  

  Thanks moggy lover
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  sloppyjoe2

  If you read Romans 6:1-6 Paul is not talking about a physical death in this account. He is talking about being baptized into christ's death and therefore if you have done so you are acquitted or free from your sins. The watchtower sometimes uses just verse 7 to imply a physical death frees you from sin which they tie into Romans 6:23. They use this to say that all your loved ones are forgiven and will be resurrected. In fact this passage does not say that AT ALL as paul is saying in verse 2 that they had already died in the past tense. It is a spiritual death being discussed here, not a physical one.