Replies

Forgiveness is one of those things that most people don’t understand. Christ explained forgiveness in Luke:

Luk 17:3 Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.
Luk 17:4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.

All other passages on forgiveness must be understood by bearing this passage in mind. What’s being condemned in those other passages is hard heartedness in failing to forgive AFTER our brother has repented, when God DID forgive us after we repented.

-Does God forgive our sins and save our souls, without our repentance? Of course not. Repentance is a prerequisite to salvation.

-Does God forgive our backsliding and stop chastising us, without our repentance? Nope. Repentance is a prerequisite to getting back in God’s good graces.

-Does the church forgive a member being brought before them for church discipline, without their repentance? Again, no. The errant member must humbly repent or be cast out of the church and treated like a heathen and a publican (Matt. 18:17).

Forgiveness is one of those things that most people don’t understand. Christ explained forgiveness in Luke: Luk 17:3 Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. Luk 17:4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him. All other passages on forgiveness must be understood by bearing this passage in mind. What’s being condemned in those other passages is hard heartedness in failing to forgive AFTER our brother has repented, when God DID forgive us after we repented. -Does God forgive our sins and save our souls, without our repentance? Of course not. Repentance is a prerequisite to salvation. -Does God forgive our backsliding and stop chastising us, without our repentance? Nope. Repentance is a prerequisite to getting back in God’s good graces. -Does the church forgive a member being brought before them for church discipline, without their repentance? Again, no. The errant member must humbly repent or be cast out of the church and treated like a heathen and a publican (Matt. 18:17).

Bingo! This is a very misunderstood concept as most equate the failure to forgive without repentance to holding a grudge. It is no such thing; we must not be merely willing to forgive, but eager to forgive, once the offender expresses a desire to make things right.

Forgiveness is one of those things that most people don’t understand. Christ explained forgiveness in Luke:

That is a good point but we need to acknowledge that Jesus was training his Apostles and was warning them that there would be offenders against them.

The rest of us needs to realize it may be us that needs to be forgiven in our difficult situations with others, all too often it is so easy to blame it on to the other person.

So sometimes we just have to forgive no matter what.

And yet Christ Jesus did not follow what Luke is saying, when from the cross, Christ said, “Forgive them Father, they know not what they do.” He did not wait for their repentance to ask God to forgive the savage throngs who called for his crucifixion. Far from it.

My Christian obligation to forgive others is not contingent upon anything they do. Just upon my desire to please the Lord and behave the way he wants me to behave, as hard as that often is.