📰 Forgiveness
This article discusses forgiveness.
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✝ Doctrine
We are taught to forgive, and many quote the parable of Jesus in Matthew 18:21-35 when discussing how often we are to forgive a brother, and the consequences of not forgiving.
However, one crucial aspect of forgiveness is rarely if ever mentioned; that he who commits the trespass must repent and tell the person against whom he has trespassed prior to forgiveness.
Just as 1 John 1:7-9 declares that God forgives us if we walk in the light and if we confess our sins, so too Jesus declares in Luke 17:3-4 that we are to rebuke those that trespass against us and if he repent, forgive him. Jesus emphasises the importance of repentance by stating that even if he trespasses against us seven times in a single day, each time he turns to us saying, I repent we forgive him.
Paul shows us in 2 Corinthians 2:10 that when the trespass is against a group, no one person can forgive on the group’s behalf without the consent of the group as a whole.
We’ve established that repentance is a pre-requisite to forgiveness. So, what do we do when those that trespass against us don’t repent?
In Matthew 18:15-17 Jesus declares that when a brother trespasses against us and refuses to hear our rebuke, or that of our witnesses, or that of the church, then we are to treat that person as an unbeliever.
Just as 1 Timothy 2:3-4 declares God desires all men to be saved, and Romans 3:24-26 declares that only those that believe in Jesus are saved, so too whilst our desire is to forgive all those that trespass against us, only those that repent and tell us they repent are forgiven.
References
| Articles | 📰 | Guilt |
| Resources | 🔗 | Bible |
| Studies | 📝 | Conditional Forgiveness |