I’ve been a Christian for over 58 years. In that amount of time I’ve had several “Aha!” moments, which I like to call “hermeneutical epiphanies“. One passage that particularly sticks in my mind from years past is Psalm 32:1-2, as quoted by the apostle Paul in the book of Romans:

“Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.” Romans 4:7

Now that actually sounds pretty good — “they whose transgressions are forgiven”. He’s just talking about all Christians then, right? Well yeah, sort of. But…

1. That couldn’t have been whom David was thinking of when he originally wrote the verse. It could have been a prophecy about Christians, of course, but I don’t believe it was. The full context of Psalm 32 certainly wouldn’t lead one to that conclusion.
2. That wasn’t the verse that caused me to really think about forgiveness anyway.

“Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.” Romans 4:8

Nowwaitjustaminutehere. Are you telling me there are people (David and Paul both used the masculine noun, but the context here is clearly gender-neutral and includes both male and female) who, when they sin, are already cleansed?

Yes, that’s exactly what I believe it means.

Let’s take that thought to its logical conclusion. That means that whoever “the man” is Paul is writing about, when he sins, it’s immediately as if he never sinned — and that’s before the “Lord, please forgive me. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

Yes, that’s right.

But won’t that lead one to conclude that he doesn’t have to really be concerned about sinning — that since he’s immediately forgiven anyway, it doesn’t really matter? Yes, it certainly may lead one to conclude that, but that would be a very immature, very un-Christian attitude, wouldn’t it? (And a very incorrect conclusion, I might hasten to add.)

Let’s look at another Scripture that may help us further understand justification (which was Paul’s subject in Romans 4 anyway):

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7

So for those who “walk in the light” (and it doesn’t take a great amount of study to understand what “in the light” means), the blood of Jesus “purifies” us when we sin? Right, but it’s important to notice what word John used here — purifies. Not purified. Not will purify. Purifies. Present tense — meaning that when we sin, that’s when Jesus’ blood purifies us. It’s immediate. Don’t take verse 7 of the chapter in isolation though. I encourage you to read the entire chapter of 1 John 1 for the full context. In that vein, please understand I’m not minimizing our confessing our sins and asking for forgiveness. Both of those are aligned with Scripture and are things someone in a right relationship with God will just naturally do.

So, back to the question that brought us here: “When is a Christian forgiven?” A Christian is forgiven at the moment that person sins. The work of Jesus on the cross has already seen to that. And that, my friend, is cause for rejoicing!