A Kingdom of Forgiveness

Introduction

Forgiveness is one of most important concepts of our Faith.

The Question at Hand

After detailing the way in which sin must be dealt with in the previous text, which we will look at next week, Peter notices correctly that the purpose of confronting one another of our sin is reconciliation, which presumes a forgiving spirit. Peter’s question, then, is about the extent of this forgiveness. How far does it reach? At what point is withholding forgiveness understandable?

What is Forgiveness?

Before we look into Jesus’ response to Peter’s question, it may be helpful if we first see what forgiveness is. There is a lot of misunderstanding about this concept, so let us look into it.

The Greek word translated “forgive” is a very broad term that generally means to let go, give up, or let something be. It can be used in all kinds of contexts, and even is a euphemism for divorce at times (usually translated “send her away”). In the context of forgiveness, the main idea is that to forgive is to let go of your claim of guilt on someone else. Someone may have wronged you in some way, and to forgive means to let go of any recognition of guilt you have against them. In a word, they are no longer guilty of sin in your eyes.

This does not mean that you forget that the sin took place, as if God could forget anything and yet he forgives. Instead, it means that you no longer associate that person with the guilt of committing that sin.

This also doesn’t mean the results of the sin don’t exist. Trust may be broken that will need to be built up over time. Reconciliation needs to grow out of forgiveness, but may take time because of the hurt done by the offense. We should not feel bothered by the fact the someone else’s sin still hurts as and that we cannot trust them yet.

However, forgiveness does say this to the sinner, “I no longer think of you as guilty of committing that sin. I do not think you need to pay for it, that you owe me, and I do not harbour feeling of wrath and hatred towards you because of your guilt.” In other words, while forgiveness doesn’t forget that the sin was committed, it does not charge the sinner as guilty or in debt to the person they sinned against.

This is why sin is seen in this parable in the metaphor of a financial debt. As long as you are in debt to someone, they hold a claim over you and your money. Christ uses this as an analogy to how a sinner is in a sort of moral debt to the person they sinned against, to make it right or earn righteousness. Righteousness is right standing, and if someone has sinned against another person, they must be able to satisfy the requirements of the person they sinned against to be made right in their eyes. For example, if I stole your phone, you would expect several things of me. You would expect me to apologize, then buy you a new phone of the same or better quality, and then somehow make up for the time your property was lost. Essentially, I would have to make you losing your phone an experience that leaves you better off so that you feel that justice has been done. So debt works as a helpful metaphor for sin, where there is an expectation of righteousness owed to the person sinned against to make up for the loss the person experienced as a result of your sin.

Forgiveness removes this debt, no longer holding that moral obligation over their heads to make everything right. We could say that the very act of forgiveness itself provides the righteousness to cover for the sin committed.

The Parable

Now lets look at what is notable about this parable.

The King in the story represents God, and the servants represent those in his Kingdom. The opening scene represents a Christian’s full realization of how sinful they are and how impossible it is for our own righteousness to suffice for the payment of sin. The servant here owes ten thousands talents. To understand how big a sum of money it is, one talent was about 20 years wages for a labourer. This means it would take this servant 200,000 years to pay off this debt if he spent all of his money paying it off. Needless to say, the servant’s promise of paying the King are unrealistic, but what else can he do? He and his family are to be sold into slavery to pay for the debt.

This reminds us that God requires confession and repentance for forgiveness to happen. It is possible to forgive someone from your heart even if they do not confess, such as Jesus did on the cross when he prayed for the forgiveness of his persecutors. However, for forgiveness to lead properly to restoration and reconciliation, confession is necessary. This is why it says in 1 John 1:9

1 John 1:9 ESV

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The surest way to secure assurance of your forgiveness in Christ is to confess your sins to other trusted Christians. Their prayers for you and reassurance that you are forgiven speak the words of Christ to us, words of forgiveness and reconciliation.

The King’s forgiveness of the debt comes from deep feeling of pity and compassion, reminding us of how willing our Father is to forgive us when we confess our sins and plead to him for mercy. Like the King, he is generous in his forgiveness and it springs from a place of genuine love and compassion.

Now when the first servant confronts the second, we notice that the second owes only 100 denarii, which might be equivalent to around $20,000 at most. Not a small debt, but not unrealistic to pay off in time. This debt is truly trivial compared to what the servant owed the master, and it certainly is disturbing how blind this servant is to his own hypocrisy. After putting the second servant in debtor’s prison, the other servants see this and tell the Master. This represents the prayers of the saints who, upon seeing loveless behaviour in the church, pray that God would restore love and peace among his people through a spirit of forgiveness. It shows that, not only is unforgiveness not tolerated by God, is should not be tolerated in the Church.

The King, of course, rebukes the wicked servants for his callous and hypocritical behaviour and hands him over to the jailers, who will keep him until he has paid the debt he could not pay in a hundred lifetimes.

One thing we may note, although I do not want to make a big deal out of it, is the first servants initial promise to pay off his debt. This already hints at how removed from reality his thinking is. This promise was empty, and his only hope was to be forgiven. The fact that he extorted his fellow servant proves that his heart had not been moved by grace, and still operated on the belief of works righteousness. Perhaps he imaged that securing the sum from his fellow servant could go towards his own debt, even though it was forgiven. So it is that often those who are unloving in the church have the gospel all wrong, and operate on a paradigm of works rather than grace.

The Point: The Kingdom is Characterized by a Spirit of Forgiveness

Of course, this parable leaves a few questions for us. The first may confront our reformed theology, which states that once we are forgiven in Christ, those sins have been paid for on the cross. Does this passage teach that someone can lose their salvation if they are not forgiving enough?

I do not believe so. Remember that parables are usually trying to teach one main point, and not every detail can be derived into a doctrine. However, this certainly does show that someone can lose their assurance of salvation. That is, they can lose any biblical evidence that they are, indeed, forgiven by God. When someone is baptized, having confessed their sins, the Church declares them forgiven in Christ. However, if they then go on living a life not characterized by love and forgiveness, this assurance can go away until the church may excommunicate them and declare that there is no sufficient evidence of their true conversion. Just as the fellow servants cries to the master brought about about justice for the wicked servant, so the church’s declaration of excommunication, when exercised biblically, results in God’s judgement on the sinner until there is true repentance.

The most chilling part of this passage is, indeed, verse 35. He speaks this, not to the crowds, but to his disciples. We are reminded of the words in the Lord’s Prayer back in Matt 6:12

Matthew 6:12 ESV

and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

One again, the language of “debt” is used, and the prayer is conditional. A Christian is told to add this condition to their prayers, “forgive me to the extent that I forgive others.” This sits uncomfortably with us, and it is meant to. I am reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 11:22

Romans 11:22 ESV

Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.

The doctrine of eternal security is not at stake here, for Christ knows those who are his and those who are not just as Christ knew Judas when he saw him. Nevertheless, security in Christ is abused if it stops us from seeing the real possibility of us failing the reach the end of our salvation. Surely, Christ knew what Judas would do before he knew himself, and he knows whether your heart will make it through to the end or not. A litmus test of continued, genuine faith is a lifestyle of forgiveness. Every Christian should be able to say, “as far as I am aware, I have sought to be forgiving to any who have wronged me. If there is someone I have not forgiven, I pray the Spirit reveal it to me so that I may forgive it.”

We going back to Peter’s question, how often shall he forgive his brother who sins against him? Up to seven times? The question itself is unclear, as seven could refer to perfect forgiveness or to forgiving as much as possible, rather than literally seven times.

There is a very interesting correlation here, however. Peter’s question and Jesus’ immediate answer reflects a pattern found in Genesis 4. After Cain kills his brother Abel, Cain is driven away and, afraid of his own death, is given a promise by God that his death shall be avenged 7 times. Later in the same chapter, Cain’s descendant Lamech kills a young man for injuring him. He boasts arrogantly to his two wives in Genesis 4:24

Genesis 4:24 ESV

If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech’s is seventy-sevenfold.”

In other words, both these men sought revenge on anyone who would hurt them. Jesus, on the other hand, takes Peter’s question and turns this degeneration into hatred on its head. While Cain’s wicked line descended into greater and greater malice and suspicion in a desire for revenge, the life-giving spirit of Christ leads us up to greater and greater forgiveness. While Lamech seeks a circle of revenge if he should be killed for his murder, Christ seeks to establish a church which reaches greater and greater heights of love through forgiveness. Revenge is a powerful thing, but it is powerless when there is forgiveness. The question left for us is, will we follow in the footsteps of Cain or the footsteps of Christ?

Forgiveness in Practice

But what does forgiveness look like in practice? How does the rubber meet the road when it comes to forgiving one another? Next week, we will look more closely at how dealing with each other’s sin should work in the church. For now, we can establish a few basic principles for living with forgiveness.

The Christian must always strive to have a heart of forgiveness that is unbounded by the gravity of the sin. Any sin committed against us is deserved, for we are sinners ourselves. Our sins against God will always outmatch them, and so what they owe us is never greater than what we owe God. With that in mind, the heart of the Christian is a forgiving heart which seeks reconciliation with those who have wronged them.

For reconciliation to happen, there must be confession of sin. While Joseph had already forgiven his brothers, he had to see a genuine confession of their guilt before he could openly show them that forgiveness. We will see that this is the principle in the church. In order to show forgiveness outwardly, there must be confession. Without it, a healthy relationship cannot exist. Nevertheless, our hearts are always forgiving, as was the heart of Christ on the Christ.

We must “forgive from our hearts”. Forgiveness cannot be merely external, and this requires speaking truth to ourselves. Forgiveness should be motivated by compassion. Compassion? For the person who did so much wrong to me? Yes! The Gospel teaches us the heart of Christ, which is a heart of compassion for guilty sinners. We should pity those who sin against us, recognizing the their sin will lead them to death unless they are freed from it. This is especially true for unbelievers who hurt us, or people unwilling to confess they have sinned. Their sin is a cancer that eats away at their soul and leads to death. It causes them to live a lie and it brings great pain to their lives. We must actively put on these lenses of compassion and pity if we are to forgive from our hearts.

Take the loss. It is better to be defrauded than to lose our gospel witness. This is why Paul condemns the Corinthian who was suing their fellow church member. Even if they were in the right, the gospel witness would be lost. Jesus also taught us to turn the other cheek, and both Paul and Peter warn us against revenge or spite of any kind. You don’t fight fire with fire, you fight fire with water. Forgiveness willingly takes a loss in order to establish a Gospel witness. This may look different in different scenarios, and it certainly doesn’t mean being a pushover. However, just because you have the right, doesn’t mean it is the Christ-like thing to do, for Christ gave up many rights more important than your for our salvation.

If you are in the wrong, be quick to confess your sin humbly and sincerely. I know Christians who have a very hard time saying sorry, and when they do it is always in a way that tries to shift blame to someone else in some way. Confess your sin openly, freely, fully. Don’t attach any strings, no saying “well we all make mistakes”, no go to your brother or sister quickly and humble yourself before them. Mention what you have done wrong and make it right, even if they also did something wrong. You can address that after, but first fully and clearly and without reservation confess your own wrongdoing.

Also be quick to confess “secret sins” for these sins are against the church and Christ. You private sins damage the Spirit’s witness in the church, just like the hidden treasure from Jericho brought defeat to Israel until it was exposed.

Conclusion

Jesus makes it clear in his teachings about the church that sin will always remain in her while she lives on earth. Part of the reason for this is so that we may learn to forgive as Christ forgives us. See the length to which he went to forgive. In the OT, forgiveness came through the sacrificial rituals as a picture of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. He bore our sins and publicly showed the extent of his forgiveness and love. He forgives all who come to him confessing and repenting of their sins, but those who do not repent he casts out. Nevertheless, forgiveness in Christ is unmeasurable and beyond the gravity of any sin. God’s mercy is more clearly revealed in the sacrifice of Christ and his resurrection. Baptism and the Lord’s Table are powerful means of grace by which the power of forgiveness is displayed and experienced.

Have you come to reckon with your sin? Have you confessed it openly to Christ? Are you confessing your sins to one another as the Scriptures command us? And has the power of God’s grace and compassion for you flowed over into love and mercy for your fellow Christian? If we are not an example of the forgiving love of Christ, we are not his Church.

So is there a grudge you have not dealt with? Is there a sin you haven’t confessed? Before we take the table this morning, clear your conscience of any unforgiveness or unrepentance so that you make take of Christ’s table full of the assurance of his grace and mercy to you. And do you know Christ? Do you know his grace that releases you from the power of guilt and shame that you know weighs on you, though you try to hide from it? Come to Christ with faith that he, like this King, is full of mercy. It is a mercy for the humble, meek, those who recognize their inability to pay God back with righteousness of their own. You need his righteousness, that of Christ on the cross. Will you humble yourself before him as a sinner in desperate need of a Saviour? If you would, be sure to speak to me or any member about how you may know the forgiveness of Christ by faith and presently be united to his church through baptism. Come and know a God of mercy. Indeed, blessed are the poor in heart, and blessed are the merciful. Blessed are those who see their need of mercy, and blessed are those who give that mercy to others because they have experienced it themselves.