Forgiveness

Content of this study adapted from The Freedom and Power of Forgiveness

Introduction

“Vengeance is popular; forgiveness is not”

— Retaliation is often seen as a virtue reflecting healthy self-esteem

— Our society is drunk on vengeance

— Road Rage

— Drive by Shootings

— People who seeks counseling usually fall into one of two categories

— They need to understand how God’s forgiveness extends to sinners

— They need to learn to be forgiving

Questions to answer

— Can we be sure of God’s forgiveness?

— If Christians are forgiven already, why do they need to confess sins in their daily lives?

— How are we supposed to confess our sins?

— Do we confess to other people, or to God?

— Does God ever withdraw His forgiveness from someone who has received it?

— Should the forgiveness we extend to others be unconditional?

— How do we reconcile Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness with His instructions for carrying out discipline against people who willfully live in sin?

— If we are to forgive seventy times seven, as Jesus taught Peter, do we ever have cause for questioning the legitimacy of a repeat offender’s repentance?

— Isn’t God concerned about justice too? If I simply forgive those who have wronged me, where is the justice in that?

The Ground of all Forgiveness

Forgiveness. Nothing is more foreign to sinful nature. And nothing is more characteristic of divine grace

— Our attitude toward forgiveness tends to vary, depending on which side of the equation we look at

— When we are on the receiving end of mercy, we naturally esteem forgiveness as one of the highest of all virtues

— When we are the aggrieved party, forgiveness seems a gross violation of justice

First, the Bad News

— God does not forgive by simply looking the other way at sin

— The Bible repeatedly stresses that God will punish every sin

— “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” ( Gal 6:7 )

— “For I will not justify the wicked.” ( Ex 23:7 )

— “The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, And will not at all acquit the wicked.” ( Nahum 1:3

— “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” ( Rom 1:18 )

MacArthur

— Scripture describes the relationship between God and the sinner as enmity ( Rom 5:10; 8:7 )

— God hates sin, and therefore all who sin have made themselves God’s enemies

— “God is angry with the wicked every day” ( Ps 7:11 )

— He hates those who do iniquity ( Ps 5:5 )

— To violate one minor sin is as if you had broken them all (Jas 2:10 )

— All are born with an insatiable penchant for sin ( Pr 58:3 )

— They are spiritually dead ( Eph 2:1 ), reveling in their own sin, objects of God’s holy anger ( v. 3 ), and utterly without hope ( v. 12 )

— By nature we are “children of wrath” ( Eph 2:3 )

— We are utterly enslaved to our own sin ( John 8:34 )

— We have no innate ability to love God, to obey God, or please Him by our own means ( Rom 8:7-8 )

— Every person is a sinner, caught under the looming sword of God’s judgment

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

— Johnathan Edwards, the great Puritan preacher, brought his congregation to tears describing the great predicament of the sinner

The bow of God's wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood.

The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you was suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God's hand has held you up.

God is Holy

— Unlike us, God on the other hand is perfect, infinitely holy, thoroughly righteous

— His justice must be satisfied by the punishment of every violation of His law

— Nothing we could offer could possibly atone for our sin, because the price is too high

— Any hope of the sinner’s ever being justified by any means would seem to be out of the question

— God says that to justify a sinner is an abomination

— “He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, Both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord.” ( Prov 17:15 )

— Again and again, God Himself expressly forbids anyone to declare a sinful person righteous

MacArthur

The greatest impediment to our salvation is not even our hostility against God. It is His wrath against us

Now, the Good News

— But the Bible tells us that God does justify the ungodly ( Rom 4:5 )

— He covers their transgressions ( v. 7 )

— He refuses to take their sins into account ( v. 8 )

— He declares them righteous, completely forgiving their sins ( v 8 )

— But how can God grant grant forgiveness without compromising His own standard of justice? How can He justify sinners without rendering Himself unjust? How can He justify sinners without breaking His own word, having already said that He will punish every transgression?

The Answer: Jesus Christ

— The answer is that God Himself has made His Son, Jesus Christ, the atonement for our sins

— Christ’s substitutionary work on the cross explains how God can remain just while justifying sinners ( Ro 3:25-26 )

The Ministry of Reconciliation

— What Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5 is probably the most important passage about Christ’s substitutionary work

— “God ... reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.” ( 2 Cor 5:18-20 )

— This is how Paul characterizes the Gospel: It is a message of reconciliation

— God can both fulfill His promise of vengeance against sin and reconcile sinners

— He can remain just while justifying the ungodly

— “to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” ( Ro 3:26 )

— “Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed.” ( Ps 85:10 )

The Author of Reconciliation

— Our reconciliation is both initiated and secured by God

— We do none of the work

— The redeemed person contributes nothing of any merit whatsoever

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

MacArthur

The relationship between God and the sinner is never restored because the sinner decides to change his way and make amends with God. In the first place, no sinner ever would or could take such a step toward God. Remember that the sinner is in total bondage to sin morally unable to love or obey God; he is willfully at enmity with Him ( Ro 8:7-8 )

Not a Reluctant Savior

— He first came seeking Adam and Eve after the fall ( Gen 3:9 )

— It was God who depicted in the story of Hosea going into the slave prostitute market and bringing His unfaithful, sin-stained wife back and treating her with love as if she were a chaste, virgin bride ( Hos 3:1-3 )

— By contrast, the gods of pagans were either

— Hostile and demanded appeasement to withhold their murderous intent

— or, were indifferent and needed to be awakened to the cries of their people

— God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself

— “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” ( Rom 5:10-11 )

He does all the work

— Whenever the language of reconciliation is found in the NT, the stress lies on God’s working to bring it about

— Nowhere is the sinner ever portrayed as the one who can accomplish reconciliation

— Nowhere are sinners ever led to think that they can work their way into God’s favor

— “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.” ( 2 Cor 5:20 )

— Paul is not suggesting that sinners should seek to make amends with God

— He is urging them to receive what God was offering them

Christian Distinctiveness

— This is the distinctiveness of Christian forgiveness

— Every man-made religion teaches that there is something the sinner must do to appease God

— Christianity alone teaches that God has supplied on the sinner’s behalf all the merit necessary to please Him

The Means of Reconciliation

— Some people think that God simply looks the other way and excuses sin

— Scripture teaches no such thing

— God Himself has sworn that every transgression will receive a just penalty ( cf. Heb 2:2 )

Q: On what grounds can He extend forgiveness to sinners?

— If God’s wrath is to be satisfied an atonement is required

— God must fulfill the demands of justice by pouring out His wrath on a substitute

— And that is what happened at the cross

— “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” ( 2 Cor 5:21 )

Substitution

— Christ died our death

— He bore the punishment for our sin

— He received the full weight of God’s wrath against sin

— He bore the guilt and punishment of all who would believe

— “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.” ( 1 Pet 2:24 )

— “Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” ( Is 53:4-6 )

It Pleased God

— The death of Christ pleased God ( Is 53:10 )

— Christ died as a propitiation for our sins ( Rom 3:25; Heb 2:17; 1 John 2:2; 4:10 )

— Propitiation means appeasement, a total satisfaction

— Christ paid the full price - the ransom - for sin on behalf of those He redeemed

— As illustrated in the OT, the shedding of blood is absolutely essential to the forgiveness of sins

Imputation

— Imputation speaks of a legal reckoning

— To impute guilt to someone is to assign guilt to that person’s account

—Likewise, to impute righteousness is to reckon that person as righteous

— It is a reckoning, not an actual remaking of a person’s character

Justification

— Scripture repeatedly teaches that the righteousness by which sinners are redeemed is a righteousness that is imputed to him

— As early as Genesis we read that Abraham “believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness” ( Gen 15:6 )

— That means our forgiveness is not dependent on some prior moral reform on our part

— Every believer is forgiven immediately ( like the thief on the cross )

— No works of penance are necessary

— Forgiveness costs us nothing because it cost Christ everything

Justice and Forgiveness Reconciled

— In Christ, God’s justice and His mercy are reconciled

— “Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed.” ( Ps 85:10 )

— All Christians are forgiven an unpayable debt, not as a reward fro doing penance by which we somehow pay for our own sins, but solely on the basis of what god Himself has done for us

— This inestimable gift of forgiveness becomes the ground on which all other kinds of forgiveness are based

— It also a pattern for how we are to forgive others

Christ’s Dying Prayer

“Forgiveness was what filled his heart, not condemnation or revenge”

— If anyone had a good reason to withhold forgiveness is was the Lord Jesus Christ

— He committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth ( 1 Pet 2:22 )

— He was tempted in all things as we are, yet without sins ( Heb 4:15 )

— He is holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners ( Heb 7:26 )

— Even the evil Roman governor Pontius Pilate said, “I find no guilt in this man” ( Luke 23:4; cf. Mark 15:14; John 19:4, 6 )

Forgiveness filled His heart

— “For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” ( Luke 9:56 )

— “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” ( John 3:17 )

Turn the other cheek

— The Sermon on the Mount contains a whole section instructing the disciples how to suffer patently when wronged

— You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. ( Matt 5:38-39 )

— Christ was not teaching pacifism

— Romans 13:4 expressly assigns civil authorities the right and duty to “bear the sword,” meaning to use force, including deadly force when necessary

— This passage does not rule out self-defense

— We have a duty to protect ourselves and family when we are victims of wantonly criminal attacks

— Jesus is not nullifying any principle in the OT

— He said that He had not come to come to declare the law null and void ( Matt 5:17-18 )

— The law was given by divine inspiration to Moses and could not have an evil principle

— The “eye for an eye” principle was given to govern matters of civil justice

— It was a guideline for judges to insure the punishment fit the crime

— And in all cases the judges were to find the offender guilty and assess the penalty, the injured party was not to carry out the sentence or be judge and jury ( Exod 21:22-24; cf. Deut 19:18-21 )

— The rabbis had misapplied the “eye for an eye” principle and argued that individuals are justified in seeking personal revenge for all wrongs done against them

— Jesus words in Matthew 5:39 sum up the principle that applies to petty personal offenses:

— “But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.” ( Matt 5:39 )

— In the case of profound or public offenses, someone besides the victim must determine guilt. This is summarized by Matthew 38-39a:

— “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I tell you not to resist an evil person.”

Do not resist him who is evil

— This cannot mean that evil people should be allowed to have their way in all circumstances

— Jesus made a whip of chords on two occasions and drove out those who were profaning His Father’s house ( Matt 21:21; John 2:15 )

— It can not mean to forbid civil government from punishing people

— Our response to evil should not always be passive nonresistance

— Instead, He was forbidding personal retaliation, revenge, spite, or a combative response in the face of personal or petty injury

“Father, Forgive Them”

— When Christ did speak in those final hours before He gave up His life, it was clear that His mind was not on revenge

— Forgiveness was the predominant theme of His thoughts throughout the whole ordeal of is crucifixion

Bishop J.C. Ryle

These words were probably spoken while our Lord was being nailed to the cross, or as soon as the cross was reared on end. It is worthy of remark that as soon as the blood of the Great Sacrifice began to flow, the Great High Priest began to intercede

MacArthur

— Now, “Father, forgive them” was not a prayer for immediate, unconditional, indiscriminate forgiveness of everyone who participated in Christ’s crucifixion

— Rather, it was a plea on behalf of those who would repent and trust Him as their Lord and Savior

— Jesus was praying that when they came to grips with the enormity of what they had done and sought God’s forgiveness for it, he would not hold it against them

If we confess our sins

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ( 1Jn 1:9 )

Q: Are believers supposed to pray for forgiveness?

— Some pastors teach that we should not pray for forgiveness ( Louie Giglio, Bob George, and others)

— They teach that God has forgiven us once and for all; that The Lord’s Prayer preceded His death and resurrection and was tied to the Old Covenant; and that asking for on going forgiveness insults God

A Basic Misunderstanding

— Those who teach this view point have a basic misunderstanding

— Forgiveness is not offered on different terms in the OT and NT eras

— Even under the OT salvation was always by grace and not law

— Believers were justified by through faith alone and not works

— Paul’s whole argument of Romans 4 is that the saved of all time are redeemed in exactly the same way as Abraham: on the ground of righteousness imputed to them by faith ( Rom 4:1-5 )

— In other words, limiting the Lord’s Prayer to the Old Covenant era does not alter the plain fact that Jesus was teaching already-justified people that they should pray for God’s forgiveness

As Jesus washed the Disciples Feet

— Scripture tells us to pray regularly for forgiveness ( Ps 6; 32; 38; 51; 102; 130; 143 ); it is clear in the Lord’s Prayer and from 1 John 1:9

— As long as we live in a sinful world, we still need daily cleansing from sin

— Jesus provided us with an illustration in the washing of the disciples feet ( John 13:1-17 )

— Jesus’s draws a clear distinction between two kinds of cleansing: “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you” ( Jn 13:10 )

— Bathing illustrates the forgiveness of justification; we don’t need to be justified again

— The day-to-day effects of sin need to be dealt with, however

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry, in his Bible commentary writes, “Our sins are our debts; there is a debt of duty, which, as creatures, we owe to our Creator; we do not pray to be discharged from that, but upon the non-payment of that there arises a debt of punishment; in default of obedience to the will of God, we become obnoxious to the wrath of God; and for not observing the precept of the law, we stand obliged to the penalty. A debtor is liable to process, so are we; a malefactor is a debtor to the law, so are we. Our hearts’ desire and prayer to our heavenly Father every day should be, that he would forgive us our debts; that the obligation to punishment may be cancelled and vacated, that we may not come into condemnation; that we may be discharged, and have the comfort of it. In suing out the pardon of our sins, the great plea we have to rely upon is the satisfaction that was made to the justice of God for the sin of man, by the dying of the Lord Jesus our Surety, or rather Bail to the action, that undertook our discharge.”

Two kinds of forgiveness

— Divine forgiveness has two aspects

— Judicial forgiveness God grants as Judge

— Parental forgiveness God grants as Father

— The type of forgiveness that we are to seek in our daily walk is not pardon from an angry Judge, but mercy from a grieved father

— The opening words of the prayer, “ Our Father,” demonstrate that a parental rather than a judicial relationship is in view

— Parental forgiveness deals with sin’s consequences

— Judicial forgiveness frees us from the condemnation of an aggrieved, omnipotent Judge

— Parental forgiveness sets things right with a displeased but loving Father

— Judicial forgiveness gives us an unshakable standing before the throne of divine judgment

— Parental forgiveness deals with the state of our sanctification and is dispensed from the throne of grace ( Heb 4:16 )

— As a Judge, God is eager to forgive sinners, but as a Father He is equally eager to keep on forgiving and cleansing His children from the defilement of sin

What does confession accomplish?

— Important to understand that we do not lose our salvation when we sin

— Scripture teaches that those whom God justifies, He also glorifies ( Ro 8:30 )

— “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” ( Phil 1:6 )

— Our sin might displease God, but it cannot separate us from His love ( Ro 8:38-39 )

When we confess our sin ( 1 John 1:9 )

— We receive forgiveness and cleansing

— Forgiveness is parental forgiveness, not the forgiveness of justification

— Cleansing is the type of cleansing Jesus illustrated by washing the disciples feet, not the cleansing of regeneration ( Jer 4:14; Titus 3:5 )

— This cleansing is a spiritual washing to rid believers of the defilement caused by sin in their daily walk ( 1 John 1:7-9 )

— Clearly is it believers that Paul is addressing in 2 Cor 7:1:

“Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” ( 2 Cor 7:1 )

Matthew Henry

The Christian religion is the religion of sinners, of such as have sinned, and in whom sin in some measure still dwells. The Christian life is a life of continued repentance, humiliation and mortification of sin, of continued faith in, thankfulness for, and love to the Redeemer, and hopeful, joyful expectation of a day of glorious redemption, in which the believer shall be fully and finally acquitted, and sin abolished for ever

Q: Can we avert God’s Discipline by Confessing and Seeking His Forgiveness?

— Some people believe that confessing our sins should nullify any of sin’s consequences

— This issue invariably arises after a Christian leader has fallen and wants to return to the ministry

— Predictably, the fallen leader will plead his case by pointing out that God has forgiven him for his sin, so past sins should not be a factor in returning him to leadership (Ted Haggard, Jim Bakker, Bill Gothard, Jimmy Swaggart, Robert Tilton, etc)

— Yet, the biblical requirement is that all elders and deacons be “above reproach” ( 1 Tim 2:2, 10; Titus 1:6-7 )

— Some sins, particularly scandalous sexual sins, carry a reproach that cannot be blotted out even though the offense itself is forgiven

— “Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding; He who does so destroys his own soul. 33 Wounds and dishonor he will get, And his reproach will not be wiped away.” ( Prov 6:32-33 )

— God promises to deal mercifully with those who confess their sins ( Prov 28:13 )

— But there is no promise in Scripture that God’s forgiveness will eradicate all the consequences of our sin

— When David sinned with Bathsheba many months passed before he confessed his sin

— He suffered emotional and spiritual distress and wrote Psalm 32

— “When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day long. 4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah” ( Ps 32:3-4 )

— His peace was taken away; his fellowship with God was ruined

— David wrote about this specific episode, “My sin is ever before me” ( Ps 51:3 )

— The story of Nathan is well know ( 2 Sam 12:1-4 ); David’s immediate response was confession and sincere repentance

— But David bore the consequences of his sin for the rest of his life

— Does sin have consequences? Christ still bears the nail prints in his hands

Q: What does it mean to confess our sins?

— One pastor claimed that all God requires for forgiveness is that we simply name our sins - cite them - and He forgives

— Another preacher claimed all that is necessary is that we are aware of our sins

— To confess ( ὁμολογέω, homologeō ) means “to say the same” things as God says about our sin

— 1 John 1:9 teaches that we should have a constant, continual confession of our sin; agreeing with God is a constant attitude

Q: To whom do we confess?

— The confession spoken of in 1 John 1:9 is not confession to a Roman Catholic priest

—Roman Catholicism is well known for taking this verse and marrying it to James 5:16

— “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” ( James 5:16 )

— This verse has nothing to do with confessional booths

— All of this is foreign to Scripture

— In effect, this makes confession of sin a meritorious work, as if confession, combined with penance, could somehow contribute to the atonement necessary to erase sins

Q: Is there ever a time when Christians should confess their sins to fellow Christians?

— When we are seeking the help of a stronger Christian to help us bear a burden, overcome a bad habit, hold us accountable

— “ Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” ( Gal 6:2 )

— When we confess our sin to someone we have offended or wronged in order to seek forgiveness

— “leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” ( Matt 5:24 )

Q: Do our sins remain unforgiven if we fail to confess?

— The Roman Catholic view of Purgatory is that any unconfessed sin is punished

— This is at least as serious an error as those who way we should never confess our sins, because if Christ’s atonement does not provide judicial forgiveness for all our sins, then Christians will have to atone ( at least partially ) for some of our sins

— But Paul says that the threat of condemnation for our sins is gone ( Ro 8:1 )

— Again, 1 John 1:19 is simply speaking about an attitude that is characteristic of all Christians: we say the same thing about sin as God say

— If we cover our sins we:

— Forfeit joy

— Reap divine displeasure

— Experience divine chastening

— But when we confess and forsake our sin, there is a guarantee of divine compassion

— “ He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.” ( Prov 28:13 )

— God who disciplines His saints because He loves them, also delights to shower the brokenhearted and repentant with His mercy and compassion

Forgiving One Another

If your Brother Sins

The Blessings of Forgiveness

Answering the Hard Questions about Forgiveness

Additional Resources

MacArthur, John. The Freedom and Power of Forgiveness. Crossway Books, 2009.

Should we pray for forgiveness: https://www.challies.com/articles/should-we-pray-for-forgiveness/