FORGIVENESS
An act of God's grace to forget forever and not hold
people of faith accountable for sins they confess; to a
lesser degree the gracious human act of not holding
wrong acts against a person. Forgiveness has both divine
and human dimensions. In the divine relationship, it is,
first of all, the gracious act of God by which believers
are put into a right relationship to God and transferred
from spiritual death to spiritual life through the
sacrifice of Jesus. It is also, in this divine dimension,
the on-going gift of God without which our lives as
Christians would be "out of joint" and full of guilt. In
terms of a human dimension, forgiveness is that act and
attitude toward those who have wronged us which restores
relationships and fellowship.
Everyone Needs Forgiveness
The basic facts of the Bible are God's creative power
and holiness, human rebellion, and the efforts of our
merciful God to bring us back to an intended
relationship of Sonship and fellowship. The need of
forgiveness is first seen in the third chapter of
Genesis, as Adam and Eve wilfully disobeyed God,
choosing rather to satisfy their own self-will.
The result was
a) Guilt (Gen. 3:8, 10),
b) Separation from God, loss of fellowship (Gen. 3:8,
23-24),
c) And a life of hardship, anxiety, and death (Gen.
3:16-24)
David expressed this terrible condition of the
un-forgiven sinner graphically in Psalm 51. He spoke of
being unclean (v. 2, 7, 10), of being sinful by his very
nature (v. 5), of his grief and sorrow at being
separated from God (v. 8, 11, 12), and of his guilt (v.
14). Sinners cannot live rightly without God, and yet as
a sinner a person is cut off from the holy God. Only
through the mercy of God can one find peace and
forgiveness.
Forgiveness in the Old Testament
The primary means of obtaining forgiveness in the Old
Testament is through the sacrificial system of the
covenant relationship, which God established when He
brought His people out of Egypt. The sacrificial system
expressed the dynamics of the sinful human condition.
The bringing of the sacrifice showed the sense of need;
the laying of the hands on the living sacrifice
symbolised identification of the person with the
sacrifice, as did the releasing of the life of the
animal through the sacrificial slaughter. Emphasis on an
unblemished sacrifice stressed the holiness of God
contrasted with human sinfulness. The forgiveness of
God, channelled through the sacrificial offering, was an
act of mercy freely bestowed by God, not purchased by
the one bringing the offering.
An emphasis upon God's demand for a repentant heart as
the basis for forgiveness, while not totally absent
earlier (see Ps. 51), gained its full expression in the
prophets (Isa. 1:10-18; Jer. 7:21-26; Hos. 6:6; Amos
5:21-27). This element does not negate but rather
deepens the understanding of the sacrifice. The Old
Testament sacrificial system could never give
once-for-all forgiveness. It had to be repeated over and
over (Heb. 10:1-4).
Forgiveness in the New Testament
Jesus is the perfect and final Sacrifice through which
God's forgiveness is mediated to every person (Rom.
3:25; Heb. 10:11-12). The connection of Jesus with
forgiveness is seen in His own self-understanding.
According to the Old Testament, only God could forgive
sins; yet Jesus declared that He could do so, and He did
(Mark 2:1-12; John 8:2-11). He saw His own death as the
fulfilment of the Old Testament sacrificial system. At
the Last Supper He spoke of His death as "my blood of
the New Testament [covenant]" (Mark 14:24). Jesus
Himself is the unblemished Sacrifice (Isa. 53:3-7),
offered once for all (Heb. 9:28) not by a human being,
but by God Himself in Christ Jesus for the sins of
mankind (Heb. 9:14; Rom. 3:25; Acts 13:38). Forgiveness
through the sacrifice of Christ is available for
everyone who truly repents (Luke 23:39-43; John 8:2-11).
This is the message of the early church. The promised
new age has arrived; old things have passed away (Acts
2:36-39; 3:13-19, 26; 5:31).
The Sin which is Unforgivable
It is true that Jesus spoke of an unforgivable sin
(Matt. 12:22-32; Mark 3:22-30; Luke 12:10). It is not a
question of God's ability or desire to forgive, but
rather a matter of human willingness to meet the
conditions for forgiveness. The background of the saying
was the controversy between Jesus and the religious
leaders of His time. The Pharisees refused to see the
merciful hand of God in the work of Jesus, and rather
attributed His miracles to the power of Satan. For such
who deliberately closed their minds to the work and
invitation of God in Christ to draw near, repent, and
receive forgiveness, there is no hope. But the fault
lies with them, rather than with God.
Human Forgiveness in the New Testament
As a part of His teaching about human need for
forgiveness and the means of receiving it, Jesus spoke
of the human dimension of forgiveness. A firm condition
for the receiving of God's forgiveness is the
willingness to forgive others. In the Lord's Prayer
(Matt. 6:12; Luke 11:4) and the parable of the
Unforgiving Servant (Matt. 18:12-35) Jesus clearly
indicated such is the case: "But if ye forgive not men
their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses" (Matt. 6:15).
The forgiven life is the forgiving life
Human forgiveness reflects our experience and
understanding of divine forgiveness. Love, not wooden
rules, governs forgiveness (Matt. 18:21-22). Jesus
powerfully demonstrated this teaching on the cross, as
He asked for forgiveness for His executioners (Luke
23:34). Paul reminded the church at Ephesus of both the
grounds of their forgiveness and the basis on which they
must forgive one another (Eph. 4:32). |