What Is Positional Forgiveness and Is it Biblical?

Summary

Grace in Focus – What Is Positional Forgiveness and Is It Biblical?

Episode Date: February 25, 2026
Host(s): Bob Wilkin & Ken Yates
Podcast: Grace Evangelical Society

---

Episode Overview

In this episode of Grace in Focus, Bob Wilkin and Ken Yates have a candid discussion on the topic of positional forgiveness versus experiential (or fellowship) forgiveness in the New Testament. Challenging a commonly held view among evangelicals, they explore whether the Bible genuinely teaches that believers are "positionally forgiven" of all sins—past, present, and future—at the moment of faith. The conversation scrutinizes key scriptural passages, examines the implications for assurance, sanctification, and judgment, and encourages listeners to critically consider and pray about these theological distinctions.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Defining Positional vs. Experiential Forgiveness

[01:39-02:47]

• Positional Forgiveness:

  • The belief that "when we believed in Jesus, all of our sins were forgiven, past, present and future." (Yates, [01:53])
  • Commonly cited as essential for entrance into the kingdom; associated with the idea that all sins are placed on Jesus and believers receive His righteousness.

• Experiential (Fellowship) Forgiveness:

  • The ongoing need for forgiveness in the believer's walk; e.g., based on 1 John 1:9, believers must confess sins to maintain fellowship with God.
  • This view distinguishes between a one-time judicial forgiveness and a repeated need for restoration of closeness to God.

---

2. Justification vs. Forgiveness

[02:22-03:09]

• Bob and Ken clarify that "justification" is being declared righteous, not being made righteous ("That's the Catholic view." Yates, [03:10]).
• Notable Quote:

  "Declared righteous is what is called justification. But to say that I have received forgiveness is not the same as saying, I'm declared righteous or I've received his righteousness."
  (Wilkin, [02:47])

---

3. Calvinist and Lordship Views – Salvation as a Process

[03:31-06:10]

• The hosts critique modern Calvinists (e.g., Schreiner, Piper) for teaching a two-stage view:

  • "Initial salvation" at conversion, but "final salvation" (everlasting life) is only received if one perseveres.
  • John Piper's stark statement:

    "If you don't fight lust, you will go to hell."
    (Yates, [04:48])

• The concept is described as "mumbo jumbo" (Yates, [05:07]) and inconsistent, as it does not align with traditional views of new birth.

---

4. Prevalence and Appeal of Positional Forgiveness

[06:20-06:34]

• Even in grace circles, the idea of positional forgiveness is widespread ("99%," Yates, [06:25]).
• Suggestion to listeners: "Pray about it. Search the scriptures." (Yates, [06:34])

---

5. Scriptural Tension: Colossians and Ongoing Forgiveness

[09:19-11:16]

• Verses cited in support of positional forgiveness: Colossians 1 and 2 ("He's forgiven us all our trespasses," [09:22]) and 2 Corinthians 5:20.

• The hosts argue these passages may have been misunderstood:

  • Forgiveness may refer to past sins up to the point of belief.
  • Ongoing confession (1 John 1:9) is necessary for continued fellowship.

• Notable Reflection:

  "We're talking out of both sides of our mouths when we say positionally, we're forgiven of all our sins, but we need experiential forgiveness... it doesn't make any sense to me."
  (Wilkin, [10:31])

---

6. Human vs. Divine Forgiveness & Practical Implications

[10:35-11:46]

• Analogy: Unlike God, humans cannot forgive people in advance ("Biblically, we're not commanded to forgive people in advance. And there's no indication God does." Yates, [10:49]).
• Acts 10:43: Forgiveness at faith concerns "past sins."
• Fresh believers start the Christian life with "a clean slate," and only need to confess new sins as they occur.

---

7. Is the Case for Positional Forgiveness Strong?

[11:46-12:04]

• The biblical support for positional forgiveness is described as "awful weak... extremely thin." (Wilkin, [11:59])

---

8. Distinction Between Eternal Life & Forgiveness

[12:32-12:37]

• Forgiveness of sins and receiving eternal life are not identical, though often conflated among evangelicals.
• 1 John 1:9 and Luke 15 (Prodigal Son) demonstrate that believers can be out of fellowship and in need of ongoing forgiveness.

---

Memorable Quotes

• On Justification vs. Forgiveness:

  "Declared righteous is what is called justification. But to say that I have received forgiveness is not the same as saying, I'm declared righteous or I've received his righteousness."
  (Wilkin, [02:47])

• On Calvinist Perseverance:

  "If you don't fight lust, you will go to hell. That's a direct quote."
  (Yates, [04:48])

• On the Practical Tension:

  "We're talking out of both sides of our mouths when we say positionally, we're forgiven of all our sins, but we need experiential forgiveness... it doesn't make any sense to me."
  (Wilkin, [10:31])

• On Scriptural Basis:

  "It's awful weak. The support for positional forgiveness is extremely thin."
  (Wilkin, [11:59])

• On Ongoing Fellowship:

  "When you believe, you start in fellowship with the Lord. And when you sin in the future, you need to confess those sins to continue to walk in the light."
  (Wilkin, [11:37])

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:39] – Introduction to positional forgiveness and experiential forgiveness
• [02:47] – Distinguishing justification from forgiveness
• [04:48] – John Piper's comment on fighting lust and hell
• [06:20-06:34] – Prevalence of the positional forgiveness view in the church
• [09:19] – Scriptural passages (Colossians, 2 Corinthians) and their interpretation
• [10:31] – Critique of the two-fold forgiveness model
• [11:46] – Exhortation to consider the biblical basis for these doctrines
• [12:32] – The distinction between forgiveness and eternal life

---

Tone & Closing

Bob Wilkin and Ken Yates urge listeners to wrestle with these teachings, examine the scriptures afresh, and not simply accept theological traditions. They emphasize grace, encourage thoughtful consideration, and highlight the meaningful distinction between initial forgiveness at belief and the ongoing need for relational restoration with God—while rejecting the notion that positional forgiveness of all future sins is biblically explicit.

---

For further study, visit: faithalone.org

Transcript

[A]

The following is a listener supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society. What is positional forgiveness? And what about experiential or fellowship forgiveness? How should we think biblically about forgiveness? We'll have a discussion about it today. We're glad you're with us, friend. This is Grace in Focus, a radio broadcast and podcast ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. Our web site is faithalone.org we have hundreds of articles there that you can read and research. Also a bookstore where you can get Bob Wilkins latest book, the Gospel is Still under siege. That's faithalone.org and now with today's question and answer discussion, here are Bob Wilkin and Ken Yates.

[B]

Welcome back to Grace and Focus. I'm Ken Yates and we're here with Bob Wilkin and we're talking about some of the plenary sessions that we're hoping to deal with in our upcoming National Conference, May 18 through May 21. If you're not signed up, go on faithalone.org and sign up for this and this session. We're going to talk about the session that I've signed up for. And I do it with fear and trembling.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

And as Bob and I were talking about this, we want to put a disclaimer in here. You may not agree with what we're about to say.

[C]

And actually we didn't agree with what we're about to say until about two years ago. Right.

[B]

Yeah. Bob and I and others, we've talked about this topic in different Zoom classes and with other believers and stuff. So we're going to throw it out here.

[C]

And what is the topic?

[B]

The topic is does the New Testament teach positional forgiveness? And let me define that.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

What we mean by that.

[C]

Yes, please define it, not yes, that it does.

[B]

Yeah. All of us, if you've been an evangelical for any amount of time and you've done any studying at all, you've heard something like this, that when we believed in Jesus, all of our sins were forgiven, past, present and future. And that's called positional forgiveness.

[C]

And part of the reason people say that is because they think that is the issue in terms of getting into the kingdom.

[B]

Exactly.

[C]

You need your sins forgiven in order to get into the kingdom.

[B]

Right.

[C]

And you need all of them forgiven to get into the kingdom.

[B]

And you'll hear it said like this, that all of my sins were placed upon Jesus and I received all of his righteousness. Right. Not that I was declared righteous, but that I received his righteousness.

[C]

Yeah. Declared righteous is what is called justification. But to say that I have received forgiveness is not the same as saying,

[B]

I'm declared righteous or I've received his righteousness. And Hodges talks a little bit about this in his commentary on Romans, where he points out that when Paul says, we were justified or what you just said, declared righteous, it's a judicial announcement, right? It's not, okay, I've been made righteous.

[C]

That's the Catholic view.

[B]

Now, some people say, man, you're slicing the bologna real thin. You're getting into the weeds. But this really is important because sometimes you'll talk to lordship and Calvinist people who will say, if you receive the righteousness of Christ, not declared righteous, but if you've received his righteousness, then you're going to live righteously.

[C]

Which is essentially the Catholic view, right? Basically, there's a lot of Protestants who think the same way, that basically you need to live righteously in order to get into the kingdom, right?

[B]

And you will. The Calvinists will say, you will because you've been given that righteousness.

[C]

Well, there's two types of Calvinists. There's the old Calvinists that speak the way you're talking. But Tom Schreiner has written a book with Ardell Canada called the Race Set Before Us. And in that book, he shows a picture of a runner running a race, and he says, the prize is everlasting life. And he says, if we run the race to the end, then we win the prize of everlasting life, which they also call final salvation. The new Calvinists, like Shriner and Canada and John Piper does the same thing. They say, when you believe in Christ, you get. Or in their case, when you commit and surrender and all those things, or when you get the gain gift of faith, which is what they believe, then at that moment, you have initial salvation. But you don't have everlasting life yet you have initial salvation. And then if you persevere to the end, you win final salvation. For example, John Piper famously said to a group of young people, like in their teens and twenties, he said, if you don't fight lust, you will go to hell. That's a direct quote. If you don't fight lust, you. You will go to hell. That's a Calvinist saying. That doesn't sound like the Calvinism we were taught when we were in Dallas Seminary.

[B]

And it's so bizarre and it's just mumbo jumbo to say, well, you can have initial salvation but not final salvation.

[C]

Right?

[B]

It makes no sense.

[C]

It doesn't. I've also read Calvinists, you know, in the parable of the four soils, they have trouble explaining how soils two and three spring up. The seed is clearly generated, has resulted in a sprout coming up. So life is there. And yet Calvinists want to say the second and third soils are not born again.

[B]

They don't have life.

[C]

And so what I've seen some Calvinist commentators say is they have some kind of spiritual life, but it is an everlasting life.

[B]

Is that what they mean by initial salvation then? Would they say that.

[C]

I think they mean something like that. Remember, Calvinists also believe because of the second soil, believes for a time and entire temptation. They say that's temporary faith. So they say the unregenerate can believe for a time, even though of course they're supposed to be like cadavers according to their view of total depravity. But they say they can believe for a time and they can even do works for a time. And so it's only when they fall away that they reveal their truth.

[B]

They can have joy because in the parable they receive the word with joy.

[C]

They can do that too. You know, Calvinists are kind of inconsistent, but with this idea of positional forgiveness. It's basically the idea.

[B]

And by the way, wouldn't you say, Bob, that this is. Even among grace people, this is the

[C]

predominant view, almost 99%.

[B]

This is very common. Positional forgiveness versus experiential forgiveness. Right.

[C]

So let me say, if you don't agree with what we're saying here, pray about it. Search the scriptures. When I first heard somebody say there's no such thing as positional forgiveness, my response is, okay, show me. This person did. He gave me a lot of things to think about. And I meditated on it and thought about it. And over the course of several months, I became convinced it's coming.

[A]

It'll be here before you know it. What am I talking about? The Grace Evangelical Society's National Conference 2026, May18 through the 21st at Camp Kopas, an absolutely beautiful campground in North Texas, right on the lake, with lots of recreation, great food, a great place to stay, wonderful fellowship and wonderful free Grace Bible teaching Information and online registration [e-mail] events. First timers waive registration fees. Faithalone.org events When I came to faith,

[C]

I was told, if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you're saved once and for all. You can never lose it. You're saved forever. You have everlasting life that can never be lost. But I was also taught that when you believe in Christ, you're Forgiven of all your sins, past, present, and future? Well, like a week or two later, when I was going through initial discipleship, I was taught first John 1:9, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And I remember thinking, wait a minute, I've already been forgiven of all my future sins. I don't need forgiveness.

[B]

Right.

[C]

And they were saying, no, no, no. First John 1:9 clearly shows you do

[B]

need it as believers. Believers, we need forgiveness, but that's a

[C]

different kind of forgiveness. We call that fellowship or experiential forgiveness. So you have a total forgiveness that includes all your future sins, and then you need ongoing forgiveness. So in this view, could a believer die unforgiven? Yes and no. They could die out of fellowship with God, but they couldn't die unforgiven because they have positional forgiveness.

[B]

This is also why I think a lot of people say, at the judgment seat of Christ, our sins won't come up because we've been positionally forgiven.

[C]

Of course, it's true there's no mention of sins in the judgment seat of Christ passage, but there are works, and even bad works. 2nd Corinthians 5:10. So we need to recognize all our works will be judged. But here's the thing. How do people get the idea of position? Is there any verse in the Bible that tells us he's forgiven us all our sins?

[B]

Well, I mean, they do some. There's a verse in Colossians that does it.

[C]

Colossians 1 and Colossians 2 both say, he's forgiven us all our trespasses.

[B]

Right. And then 2 Corinthians 5:20, he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. And that verse is, I think, almost universally taken to mean all of our sins are placed upon him, and then we received his righteousness.

[C]

Yeah. Which it should be understood to say, the Lamb of God took away our sin so that it wasn't a barrier anymore.

[B]

Right. But those are the verses that come to my mind initially.

[C]

And how do we explain the two in Colossians that say, he's forgiven us all our trespasses?

[B]

Well, first of all, let's go back. I'm just going to say to me, one of the reasons that got me thinking I was like you, I'd always been told, positional, experiential, there's two kinds of forgiveness. And when I was first confronted with this, I had to think about it as well. And I realized that we're talking out of both sides of our mouths when we say positionally, we're forgiven of all our sins, but we need experiential forgiveness. When you think about it, well, what does that really mean? And it doesn't make any sense to me.

[C]

It doesn't.

[B]

Positionally, I'm forgiven, but experientially I need forgiveness.

[C]

So God has already forgiven me of things I'm going to do in the future.

[B]

Right.

[C]

And do we do that as humans? Do we forgive our friends and loved ones before they do it?

[B]

No.

[C]

Biblically, we're not commanded to forgive people in advance. And there's no indication God does. I would say that these verses in Colossians, past sins. Yeah. He has forgiven us all the sins up to this point because we're in fellowship with him. If I'm in fellowship with God, I'm forgiven.

[B]

Right. And when I believe all my past sins have been forgiven, I'm in fellowship with him.

[C]

That's Acts 10:43. Whoever believes in him receives the forgiveness of sins.

[B]

Right.

[C]

We start the Christian life with a clean slate. That's why we don't tell a new believer. Okay. I want you to make a list of every sin you've ever committed, and you're going to confess them. All.

[B]

Right. Which would be impossible.

[C]

Which would be impossible. And it would also drive them nuts.

[B]

Exactly.

[C]

So what we do is we tell them. No. But going forward, when you recognize you sin, just tell God.

[B]

When you believe, you start in fellowship with the Lord. And when you sin in the future, you need to confess those sins to continue to walk in the light.

[C]

And so here's what I would challenge. All of you. Stop and think. Is it just these two verses in Colossians and maybe 2 Corinthians 5, 20? Is that it? I don't think any of those verses actually teach that.

[B]

It's awful weak. The support for positional forgiveness is extremely thin.

[C]

You sure don't find it, and I would encourage you to pray about it. But the truth is, on a practical level, it's hard to lay out why it's so big. But you can talk about this at the conference. I do think in my own thinking, it has helped me, because it has helped me to say no. I want ongoing forgiveness. That's what I want. This positional forgiveness, I don't need that because I have everlasting life and I'm going to be forever with the Lord.

[B]

And let me just close on this. Forgiveness of sins is not the same thing as receiving eternal life.

[C]

It's not. I think we know from 1st John 1:9 or Luke 15 with the prodigal Son that it's possible for a believer to be out of fellowship with God if we don't confess our sins, if we don't walk in the light.

[B]

Well, again, Bob and I both hope that you at least think about this, even if initially you disagree with us. But remember, keep grace in focus.

[A]

Be sure to check out our daily [e-mail] they are short and full of great teaching just like what you've heard today. Find [e-mail] resources blog. We would like to thank all of our financial partners who help us keep this show going. All gifts are tax deductible and very much appreciated. If you'd like to find out how you can be a financial partner, Visit [e-mail] on our next episode. What is the Book of Romans all about? Please join us and in the meantime, let's keep grace in focus. The proceeding has been a listener supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society.