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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.

9 posted on 03/28/2017 9:29:24 AM PDT by awelliott (What one generation tolerates, the next embraces....)

Exactly. God doesn’t want us to be arrogant and abusive in our dealings with others, and that’s what an unrepentant person is. God desires, above all, a repentant, humble heart.

It’s therefore not doing our brother any favors, nor our church body any favors, by letting them remain in their abusive attitude toward others/us. They simply can’t be in communion/fellowship with God or the church itself, and they’re therefore hindering everybody else’s communion/fellowship with God and among the brethren. So it’s not good for the body of Christ to have that “leaven” in our “lump.” Hence the need for church discipline to remove the unrepentant from the midst of the church.

11 posted on 03/28/2017 1:06:16 PM PDT by afsnco (18 of 20 in AF JAG)

we must not be merely willing to forgive, but eager to forgive, once the offender expresses a desire to make things right.

Which begs the question of what we do if they don’t repent?

16 posted on 03/29/2017 3:04:58 PM PDT by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)

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