Understanding God’s Forgiveness

     “And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.” (Luke 11:4)

     Jesus next teaches the disciples a hard lesson – which, in order to receive God’s forgiveness, it is required first to forgive others.  The importance of this point is often overlooked by most “Christians”: to have a prayerful relationship with the Father, our sins must first be removed.

     God would not expect humans to do something He was unwilling to do, so He set us an example that we should follow in His steps.  Jesus acted first.

     “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

     It is real easy for us to say, “I’m sorry,” so we can get on to other things.  We should be careful, however, not to take this request “ forgive us our sins” for granted.  When we say “Forgive us our sins,” we are, first of all, admitting that we are sinners worthy of eternal death.

     Indeed, there can be no relationship with the Father until we have obtained forgiveness for our sins.  Reconciliation with the Father must take place – the breach must be mended. Our own sins prevent a relationship with God.  Isaiah was inspired to explain the broken relationship this way in Isaiah 59:2.  “Your iniquities [sins] have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear [answer].” 

     How can we get back in God’s good graces?  How can we be close to God once our relationship with Him has been destroyed?  We are wholly incapable of making amends for the irreparable damage our sins have caused to the plan of God.  We cannot afford to pay the price to make things right with God – only Christ can do that.  We deserve to die – we have earned the death penalty for warring against God.  When we implore God to forgive us, we are asking Him to apply the sacrifice of Christ to cover our sins.

     “Therefore, in all things He [Jesus] had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation [payment] for the sins of the people.” (Hebrews 2:17)

     Just as we ask our heavenly Father to forgive us our sins, He absolutely requires us to forgive others also.

     “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors… For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Matthew 6:12-15

     For many of us, the hardest thing to do is to forgive someone who has wronged us or hurt one of our loved ones.  Godly forgiveness is impossible without God’s Holy Spirit.  When Christ explained the concept to the apostles – that they must forgive an offender no matter how many times he repents – they realized it was humanly impossible.   Being frank, the apostles could only say, “Increase our faith,” because, humanly speaking, it was just too much to ask. (Luke 17:5)

     God only forgives sin after repentance.  To be forgiven of sin, the sinner must stop sinning.  People in the world would rather skip this requirement.   They indulge in a “false forgiveness” where they just overlook the sin and say, “just love everybody.”  God requires us, on the other hand, to cease from sin before He forgives.  Jesus set the record straight for us when He said in Luke 17:3, “ If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.”

      When a person is obedient to God’s command to repent, and demonstrates that repentance by ceasing to sin, we have a moral obligation to forgive.  Jesus made it clear: forgiveness is an absolute requirement for true Christians.  In the same way that the Father is willing to reconcile with us, we must be willing to reconcile with others.  Paul put the responsibility on us to rebuild broken fellowships.

     “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.”  (2 Corinthians 5:18)

     On the other hand, if a member of the church continues in a blatant sin, not being repentant, we are obliged to cut off all social interaction with him.  1 Corinthians 5:11: “But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother… not even to eat with such a person.”

     This is not a self-righteous action.  God commands it for a purpose.   Our sinful brother is in danger of losing his salvation – and we are our “ brother’s keeper” –  in spite of what Cain said.  Out of true Christian love, we are obligated to turn him away from eternal death. 

     “Let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death…” (James 5:20)

      If we were to continue to socialize with him, we would in effect be saying, “We approve of your actions.”  God would hold us as guilty as the sinner himself.  As far back as the Old Testament, God made it plain that, when there is wrongdoing going on, and we know about it, we have to become a part of the solution – or become as guilty as the perpetrator himself.  (Leviticus 5:1)

     Incredulously, for the apostles (and for us), we are to forgive no matter how many times an offender repents and asks to be forgiven.  This forgiveness on our part is an absolute requirement by God because He wants us to be like Him – He is a forgiver.  So, in fairness and justice, He makes the very forgiveness He extends to us contingent upon our forgiveness of others.  The scripture reads “as we forgive” – it means, in the same manner, or to the same degree as we forgive others.

     If we are not willing to forgive, we will not be forgiven – we condemn ourselves.  Our forgiveness of others is an obligation if we are to enter the Kingdom of God. 

Chapter 10 - Trails and Temptations