In thinking about it further, let me ask you this: could it be possible for sins to be judged and forgiven before they've been committed?
You guys keep discussing these great subjects from a purely Temporal aspect.
You asked, if it were possible that sin was forgiven before it was committed? From the legal point of view - YES. From a practical point of view - NO. We commit sins and are told to seek forgiveness for those sins with our Intercessor, Jesus Christ. However, from the Father's point of view, He does not see them. He only sees the completed work of Jesus Christ, for the Elect. Thus, the Father sees the Elect through His Son's Redemptive work. To the Father - the Elect are and shall ever be, Justified and Righteous because He only sees them in His Son. However, that work does not start at the Cross, from a legal point of view, indeed, it ends at the Cross.
It started in the mind of God, It is Eternal with Him. It was completed in His mind. Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the Cross was the practical application of God's mind. His Purpose and Plan carried out in time. It had to be accomplished. It needed to be manifested before others. The sacrifice had to take on a real death and shedding of Blood. But - Judicially it started in the mind of God. God could apply the effects of the sacrifice, to the Elect, from the beginning of the fall because it was assured. Christ came at the time appointed from Eternity. He was born in the manner determined from Eternity. Christ did the deeds His Father gave Him to do from Eternity. Christ spoke the Words given to Him by the Father from Eternity. Christ died for those the Father gave to Him from Eternity. Nothing could stop Christ from accomplishing what the Father sent Him to do. This is what John meant when he wrote in the Revelation of Jesus Christ:
Rev_13:8b ..written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Also, the Psalmist wrote of this Redemptive Purpose as a given fact:
Psa 103:10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
Psa 103:11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
Psa 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
Psa 103:13 Like as a father pities his children, so the LORD pities them that fear him.
Much of New Testament Scripture, when it comes to the subject of Soteriology, is either explaining the "how" of something that has taken place or is looking back to the "application" of something and it's results. Very little of the Pauline Epistles is dealing with the now or future of Soteriology. Peter and John, in their Epistles, wrote about how we should live our lives because of what had taken place in our lives.
Always keep Eternity in focus, when reading Temporal texts. OIC1965 for example, did not like my eternal based answer about being "IN Christ" That there was never a time when the Elect were not in Christ. We were in Christ by the divine Covenant relationship, which was in the mind of God. This is what the writer of Hebrews meant when he wrote:
Heb_9:15 And for this cause he is the mediator of a new covenant, that a death having taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they that have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
Heb_13:20 Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, even our Lord Jesus,
Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant. The blood Covenant of the Lamb. Christ was the mediator of the FIRST Covenant, that moved forward the transgressions and sins of the OT Saints. Finally, Christ is the mediator of the Eternal Covenant. The Eternal Covenant - accomplished in the mind of God - and is the "Umbrella Covenant" that the other two Covenants rests under. If this were not true, then the Lord could not have moved the OT transgressions and sins by types and shadows. Animal sacrifices have no real "efficacy". Only God could appease God. Therefore, the fact that the OT Saints were forgiven before the actual carrying out of the Lamb's Sacrifice - Proves that the Sacrifice was already accepted before the world began.
So yes, the Elect enter this world a a fallen creatures, must be Regenerated at the appropriate time, place their belief on Jesus Christ and except the Gospel as God's Truth. BUT !!!! These things will happen to the Elect in time because it is Guaranteed from the mind of God from all Eternity.