I don’t know about specific Bible verses … Perhaps Colossians 2:12-14:
12and you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13And you, who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
But there is some truth to their statement. The
Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1263 says:By Baptism
all sins are forgiven, original sin and all personal sins, as well as all punishment for sin. In those who have been reborn nothing remains that would impede their entry into the Kingdom of God, neither Adam’s sin, nor personal sin, nor the consequences of sin, the gravest of which is separation from God.
Of course, when it says *all personal sins *it means *all
past personal sins. *Any future (post-baptismal) personal sins and their corresponding punishments, eternal and/or temporal, are not considered in this paragraph but in the section on the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation and the section on Indulgences, especially paragraphs 1472-1473, which says:
- To understand this doctrine and practice [of indulgences] of the Church, it is necessary to understand that sin has a *double consequence. *Grave sin deprives us of communion with God and therefore makes us incapable of eternal life, the privation of which is called the “eternal punishment” of sin. On the other hand every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory. This purification frees one from what is called the “temporal punishment” of sin. These two punishments must not be conceived of as a kind of vengeance inflicted by God from without, but as following from the very nature of sin. A conversion which proceeds from a fervent charity [a.k.a. an act of perfect contrition] can attain the complete purification of the sinner in such a way that no punishment would remain.
- The forgiveness of sin and restoration of communion with God [obtained in the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation] entail the remission of the eternal punishment of sin, but temporal punishment of sin remains. While patiently bearing sufferings and trials of all kinds and, when the day comes, serenely facing death, the Christian must strive to accept this temporal punishment of sin as a grace. He should strive by works of mercy and charity, as well as by prayer and the various practices of penance, to put off completely the “old man” and to put on the “new man.” (Ephesians 4:22, 24.)
