166. People believe that when our sins are forgiven they are washed away or rinsed off the way dirt is rinsed off with water. However, our sins are not washed away; they are just put aside. That is, we are held back from doing them when we are kept focused by the Lord on doing what is good; and when we are focused on doing good it seems as though our sins are gone and therefore as though they have been washed away. Further, the more we have been reformed, the more capable we are of focusing on doing what is good; how we are reformed will be explained in the treatment of regeneration that follows [§§173-186]. If we think that our sins are forgiven in any other way, we are sadly mistaken.

173. Regeneration

Anyone who does not begin to live a spiritual life-that is, who is not born anew by means of the Lord-cannot come into heaven. This is what the Lord tells us in John: "Truly, truly I say to you, unless you are born again you cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).