FORGIVENESS

The act of Forgiveness?

The act of forgiveness is applied throughout the world, but it does not seem to be a common action by Mankind, all actions now days seems to be centered on "what can I get out of it?". Throughout the Old Testament a man’s forgiveness of another man is hardly mentioned. In each case the one asking for forgiveness was in a lower less important position and were asking, without any right, to the forgiveness.

Genesis 50:17

"So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him."

Exodus 10:16,17.

"Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you. Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and entreat the LORD your God, that he may take away from me this death only."

1 Sam 15:24,25

"And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD."

1 Sam 25:23-28.

"23 And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, ......
28 I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days."

Jesus, as recorded in Matt 5:43ff, spoke of the usual understanding of the law when he said,

"You have heard that it has been said, You shall love your neighbour, and hate your enemy."

These words showed the attitude and understanding of the Jews and the teaching of the Scriptures at that time. Jesus went on to say,

"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."

What is forgiveness?

There are two types of "forgiveness" talked about in the Bible, "Divine and Human Forgiveness." There is no basic difference between "Divine and Human Forgiveness.", though the Divine will always be more complete.

For the action of "forgiveness" to be given there must be a necessary first event, the person who causes the offence must have repentance, regret, a feeling of guilt for the action needing forgiveness.

True forgiveness should restore and return the relationship between the people involved before the event, Divine forgiveness is a complete restoration:-
Leviticus 19:17-18.

"Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.
18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD."

Isaiah 38:17.

"Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back,"

Micah 7:19.

"He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea,"

Jeremiah 31:34.

"34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

Isaiah 43:25.

"25 I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. "

Psalm 103:12.

"As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. "

Unfortunately, human forgiveness does not normally result in a complete forgiven situation because it may not be humanly possibly to remove the memory of the sin from all those involved, this memory will always create a barrier between them.
When God forgives, however, He restores man to the condition of full fellowship. Romans 5:1.

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: "

Forgiveness of Sin by God.

The sinner can receive forgiveness by an act of grace by God, as a pure and Holy God He cannot accept or tolerate sin, but by becoming a God Man, Jesus, who then gave His life on the cross as the Son of God, the price has been paid and forgiveness is possible, the sinner can be set free for ever from the guilt and penalty of his sins. See 1 John 1:6-9;

"If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. "

Acts 5:31;

"Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins."

Acts 13:38.

"Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: "

The Teaching of Christ.

Jesus spoke of this problem of forgiveness in Luke 17:1-10.

"Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!
It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.
Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.
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.
And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.
And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamore tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?
And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?
Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not.
So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do."

Matt 18:15-18.

"Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. "

Three facts come out of this passage, who is involved, that person will need to be challenged and the challenge must be done in the correct way:-

1) Who is involved?

The words of Jesus "If your brother sins," tells us who is involved in the problem. Jesus is indicating that the main area of forgiveness must be associated with the fellowship in the Church, though there is nothing in the words of Jesus which indicates that forgiveness outside of the Church cannot happen, consider the words of Jesus on the cross, Luke 23:34.

"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots."

The forgiveness from Jesus applied to all the people involved in the crucifixion, from the soldiers to the High Priest.

Jesus identified that the act of forgiveness is associated with the person "who sins against you." People may annoy, irritate or make someone angry, this may actually be due to the person receiving the reactions own attitude, like jealousy or ambition. If the behaviour was not due to a sinful action then forgiveness may not be involved, however, this does not mean that forgiveness cannot also apply to these problems. It does highlight the fact that in any act of forgiveness there has to be an examination of the hurt persons own attitude.

The act of forgiveness can never reduce or ignore any evil sinful action, forgiveness cannot be the first response to the act to occur, forgiveness is not an excuse or denying for the sin. Unfortunately, the sin may be hidden by this action and result in further hurt. Jesus was not telling the listeners to ignore or hide the sinful action with forgiveness.

Heb 10:17

"And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more."

This verse is often quoted as an example for forgiveness but our sins are not erased from the memory of God, He knows all so this is impossible, what the verse is saying is that God does not hold our sins against us, they have been covered and paid for by the blood of Jesus.

Consider Isaiah 43:25.

"25 I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. "

Jeremiah 31:34.

"34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

Jeremiah 31:34.

"34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

These verses are showing the wonderful gracious mercy of a forgiving God, but He has not forgotten their failures.

2) The person will need to be challenged.

Jesus continues with the instruction that then tells the people that "If your brother trespass against you, rebuke him." People must be prepared to challenge the sinful act before any act of forgiveness, "to rebuke him," they must be challenged for their wrong actions. Jesus is using the instructions of God in Leviticus 19:17-18.

"Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.
18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD."

3)The challenge must be done in the correct way.

Though Jesus does not go into details in the Luke 17 passage He does expand on this in Matt 18:15-17.

"Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. "

The initial exchange should be done privately, if this fails then it should be referred to the church leadership.

It is also interesting to note the comments in Matt 7:3-5,

"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye. "

You must make sure that you are right first and do it in a humble way.

"Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted."

Any rebuke must be done with and in a spiritual attitude.

In the teaching of Christ He does not set any limits to forgiveness, Luke 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. "

The answer Jesus gave to Peter shows that one should forgive not just seven times in each day, but seventy times seven Matt 18:21,22.

"Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven."

This shows that Jesus considered that there should be no real limit to forgiveness, subject to the situation. However, there is a sinful act which the scripture refers to as an unpardonable sin, Mark 3:22-30,

"And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.
And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?
And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.
No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.
Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:
But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:
Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit."

Matt 12:31,32;

"Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come."

"Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:
But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: "

Luke 12:10,

"And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven. "

1 John 5:16;

"If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. "

Note a very serious situation Heb 6:4-6.

"For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. "

The challenge by the Pharisees which caused Jesus to speak of the unpardonable sin was because of a good deed done by Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit of God, but said to be by the power of Beelzebub or Satan, Matt 12:27,28.

"And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges.
But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you."

This is an offense which God will not forgive, a sin against the Holy Spirit.