Can a really bad person just ask for forgiveness and go to heaven?
According to Christianity, a murderer can repent on his deathbed and go to heaven, while a kind, generous person who never believed goes to hell. That makes a mockery of justice. It seems to let the worst people off the hook and tells everyone that how you live doesn't really matter.
Yes, Christianity really does teach that anyone who truly repents and trusts Christ can be forgiven, even at the end of a terrible life. That is not because evil doesn't matter, but because Jesus paid its full cost on the cross. No one is let off: every sin is either paid for by Christ or answered for by the sinner. And real repentance isn't a magic formula; it is a change of heart that turns from evil. Grace offends us partly because it means our own goodness can't save us either.
What Scripture says
39One of the criminals who hung there heaped abuse on Him. “Are You not the Christ?” he said. “Save Yourself and us!” 40But the other one rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same judgment? 41We are punished justly, for we are receiving what our actions deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” 42Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!” 43And Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
A crucified criminal, with no time left to make amends, turns to Jesus and is promised paradise 'today'.
1“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. 3About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4‘You also go into my vineyard,’ he said, ‘and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5So they went. He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. 6About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ he asked. 7‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. So he told them, ‘You also go into my vineyard.’ 8When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last ones hired and moving on to the first.’ 9The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. 10So when the original workers came, they assumed they would receive more. But each of them also received a denarius. 11On receiving their pay, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’ 13But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Did you not agree with me on one denarius? 14Take your pay and go. I want to give this last man the same as I gave you. 15Do I not have the right to do as I please with what is mine? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
The parable of the vineyard workers. Those hired at the last hour receive the same wage, and the early workers grumble.
11Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger son said to him, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13After a few days, the younger son got everything together and journeyed to a distant country, where he squandered his wealth in wild living. 14After he had spent all he had, a severe famine swept through that country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. 16He longed to fill his belly with the pods the pigs were eating, but no one would give him a thing. 17Finally he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have plenty of food, but here I am, starving to death! 18I will get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’ 20So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still in the distance, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. 21The son declared, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. ’ 22But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us feast and celebrate. 24For this son of mine was dead and is alive again! He was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate. 25Meanwhile the older son was in the field, and as he approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26So he called one of the servants and asked what was going on. 27‘Your brother has returned,’ he said, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has him back safe and sound.’ 28The older son became angry and refused to go in. So his father came out and pleaded with him. 29But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I have served you and never disobeyed a commandment of yours. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours returns from squandering your wealth with prostitutes, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 31‘Son, you are always with me,’ the father said, ‘and all that is mine is yours. 32But it was fitting to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
The prodigal son is welcomed home. The older brother's resentment is the point of the story's ending.
15This is a trustworthy saying, worthy of full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst. 16But for this very reason I was shown mercy, so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His perfect patience as an example to those who would believe in Him for eternal life.
Paul, once a violent persecutor, calls himself the foremost of sinners and an example of Christ's patience.
21But if the wicked man turns from all the sins he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die. 22None of the transgressions he has committed will be held against him. Because of the righteousness he has practiced, he will live. 23Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Lord GOD. Wouldn’t I prefer that he turn from his ways and live?
If the wicked turn from their sins, their past offenses will not be remembered against them. God delights in their turning.
21But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, as attested by the Law and the Prophets. 22And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25God presented Him as an atoning sacrifice in His blood through faith, in order to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had passed over the sins committed beforehand. 26He did this to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and to justify the one who has faith in Jesus.
God remains just in forgiving because Christ's death dealt with sin. Justice is satisfied, not set aside.
1Then Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2And there was a man named Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector, who was very wealthy. 3He was trying to see who Jesus was, but could not see over the crowd because he was small in stature. 4So he ran on ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see Him, since Jesus was about to pass that way. 5When Jesus came to that place, He looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6So Zacchaeus hurried down and welcomed Him joyfully. 7And all who saw this began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinful man!” 8But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I will repay it fourfold.” 9Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Zacchaeus, a corrupt tax collector, meets Jesus and immediately pledges to repay those he cheated. Real repentance bears fruit.
1What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer? 3Or aren’t you aware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life.
Paul anticipates the objection: shall we sin so grace may abound? 'By no means!' Grace transforms, not excuses.
The case
The objection is right about one thing
This objection deserves respect, because it gets something right: Christianity really does teach that a person who has done terrible things can be fully forgiven. Jesus promised paradise to a dying criminal (Luke 23:43). Paul, who had hunted down and imprisoned Christians, called himself the worst of sinners and yet received mercy (1 Timothy 1:15-16).
The gospel is scandalous on this point, and Jesus knew it. Two of his best-known parables are built around people who are offended by grace: the workers who labored all day and resent those who came at the last hour (Matthew 20:1-16), and the older brother who refuses to celebrate his prodigal brother's return (Luke 15:25-32). Jesus seems to expect that his hearers will find grace unfair. His question is whether we will join the celebration.
Is evil being let off the hook?
No. This is the most important point. Christianity does not say that God overlooks evil. It says that every sin will be dealt with in one of two ways:
- Paid for by Christ, for those who turn to him, because he bore the judgment for sin on the cross (Isaiah 53:5-6; 1 Peter 2:24).
- Answered for by the sinner, for those who refuse him (Romans 2:5-6).
No one gets away with anything. When a murderer repents and is forgiven, it is not because his crimes didn't matter. It is because they mattered so much that the Son of God died for them. God remains "just" while forgiving the guilty (Romans 3:26). See the entry on why God can't simply forgive without the cross.
What repentance really means
The objection often pictures repentance as a magic formula: say the right words, collect your ticket. That is not what the Bible means.
| Fake repentance | Real repentance |
|---|---|
| Sorry about the consequences | Sorry about the sin itself, as an offense against God and others |
| A loophole to avoid punishment | A turning toward God because he is good |
| Words without change | A changed direction, bearing fruit (Luke 3:8) |
| Excuses and blame-shifting | Honest confession (Psalm 51:3-4) |
| Indifferent to victims | Seeks to make things right where possible (Luke 19:8) |
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor executed by the Nazis in 1945, warned against "cheap grace": forgiveness preached without repentance, discipleship or the cross. He contrasted it with costly grace, which calls a person to follow Jesus (The Cost of Discipleship, ch. 1). Grace is free, but it is never cheap, and it always changes the person who receives it.
Grace in real lives
History is full of people transformed this way. Augustine describes in his Confessions how he lived for years in pride and self-indulgence before coming to faith. John Newton worked as a captain in the Atlantic slave trade, later became an Anglican minister, wrote the hymn "Amazing Grace", and eventually published Thoughts upon the African Slave Trade (1788), a public confession supporting the campaign to abolish it. Grace did not excuse his past. It led him to face it.
Why grace offends us
The deepest reason this objection feels so strong may be that grace levels everyone. If heaven were a reward for good people, then good people could take some credit. But the gospel says that no one, however decent, can stand before a holy God on their own record (Romans 3:23). The "good" person and the "bad" person both need the same mercy. That is humbling for the respectable, and it is the only hope for the desperate.
Why it matters
If grace is real, no one is beyond hope. Whatever someone has done, the door is open. And no one is above needing it. The question is not whether others deserve forgiveness, but whether we will receive it ourselves. As the father tells his resentful older son, "it was fitting to celebrate and be glad" (Luke 15:32).
Word study
greek · “repentance, change of mind” · Luke 3:8
Literally a change of mind, but in the New Testament it means a turning of the whole person away from sin and toward God. John the Baptist demands 'fruits in keeping with repentance' (Luke 3:8). Repentance is not just saying sorry; it is a reorientation of life.
“But what about…?”
So a person can live however they like and repent at the last minute?
Anyone who plans that has misunderstood repentance. Repentance is turning from sin because you see it as evil and see God as good. Someone who treats grace as a loophole doesn't yet want God; they want to avoid consequences. And no one knows when their last minute will come (Luke 12:20).
What about the victims? Don't they deserve justice?
Yes, and God's forgiveness does not erase earthly justice. A converted criminal should still face the law (Romans 13:1-4) and, where possible, make restitution, as Zacchaeus did. In God's court, the sins against victims were not ignored but paid for by Christ, who suffered for them. And the victims, too, are offered the same grace and the promise that God will wipe away every tear (Revelation 21:4).
Doesn't it matter that some people were good their whole lives?
Good lives matter enormously to God and to the people around them. But Scripture says no one is good enough to earn God's acceptance (Romans 3:23). The difference between a 'good' person and a 'bad' person is real, but from God's perspective both need forgiveness, just as a strong swimmer and a weak one both fall short of swimming across the Pacific.
Will the forgiven person face any consequences at all?
Forgiveness restores the relationship with God; it does not always remove the natural or legal consequences of what we have done. David was forgiven, yet his family suffered from his sin (2 Samuel 12:13-14). Scripture also speaks of believers' works being evaluated (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).
Where Christians differ
Go deeper
- book · 1937The Cost of Discipleship (Discipleship)Dietrich Bonhoeffer
- book · 2008The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian FaithTimothy Keller
- book · 2005Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of GraceMiroslav Volf
- book · 1997What's So Amazing About Grace?Philip Yancey
- ancientConfessionsAugustine of Hippo
Sources (3)
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Nachfolge (1937), ch. 1, on 'cheap grace' and 'costly grace'
- John Newton, Thoughts upon the African Slave Trade (1788)
- Augustine, Confessions, books 2–8
Related questions
Why can't God just forgive everyone without Jesus dying?
Real forgiveness is never free; someone always absorbs the cost of the wrong. When we forgive, we bear the loss ourselves instead of making the offender pay. On the cross God did exactly that, on a cosmic scale. Jesus is not a third party punished by an angry Father; he is God himself, freely bearing the cost of our sin. In this way God can forgive without pretending evil doesn't matter. He is 'just and the justifier' of those who trust Jesus (Romans 3:26).
How could a loving God send people to hell?
The Bible never pits God's love against his justice. A God who shrugged at cruelty, abuse and injustice would not be loving. Hell is God's final judgment on evil and, in a real sense, his granting of what people have chosen: life apart from him, the source of all good. Jesus spoke of judgment more than anyone, yet he also went to the cross so that no one has to face it. God does not want anyone to perish, and the way out has been opened at his own cost.
How can I know I'm really saved?
Scripture wants believers to have real confidence: John wrote 'so that you may know that you have eternal life.' That confidence rests first on Christ's finished work and God's promises, not on the strength of your feelings or the perfection of your performance. Scripture also points to the Spirit's witness and a changed life as signs of genuine faith. Christian traditions explain assurance differently, but all agree the place to look is Jesus himself.
Isn't karma fairer than grace?
Karma takes moral consequences seriously, and so does the Bible: we really do reap what we sow. But karma, by itself, has no room for forgiveness, and it leaves us carrying a debt we can never fully pay. Grace is not a loophole that ignores justice. At the cross, God himself bears the penalty of sin, so justice is satisfied and mercy is free. Grace is fairer than it looks and kinder than karma can be.
This entry is a draft and has not yet been theologically reviewed.