One of my seminary professors, the late Dr. Harold O. J. Brown, was also one of the fathers of the pro-life movement in America. He told the story of speaking decades ago on abortion, and noticing a woman on the front row abruptly leave. When he asked someone about it later, he found out that she had had an abortion, and his speaking on the evil of abortion had overwhelmed her. After that day, he never failed, when speaking on abortion, to quote 1 John 2:1: “If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous,” and emphasize that no matter how grave our sin, there is forgiveness with God through faith in Christ.

I’ve been thinking– and therefore writing– about abortion a lot lately, and since that’s true I want to make it clear that I believe this. Abortion is a terrible evil, and is, like all sin, an offense against a holy God. But the same God who is infinitely holy, who is too pure to look at sin, has done what we cannot: he has bridged the gap between our sin and himself; he has provided for reconciliation through Jesus Christ. No sin– not abortion, not any other– is too bad for God to forgive.

If you’ve had an abortion, if you’ve encouraged someone to have an abortion, if you’ve performed abortions, know this: If you are in Christ, if you’ve repented before God and trusted in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sin, then this is his word for you: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). Your sin has been taken away from you as far as the east is from the west (Ps 103:12); God chooses not to remember it any more (Isa 43:25). And if you haven’t trusted in Christ, all this is for you when you repent and believe in him. There is no sin, including abortion, that is too powerful for the blood of Christ to overcome it.