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Apparently my last post on unforgiveness has ruffled a few feathers. I think some people have misread what I intended to say so I am writing this to clarify and explain a few points. There are people who somehow read the article and thought I was saying that we do not need to forgive others or that forgiveness is unimportant. I honestly don’t know how they read that in what I wrote. I was not addressing the motivation behind unforgiveness, nor the motivation for forgiveness.
All I was trying to say is that in light of the cross and the forgiveness provided through Jesus, if anybody preaches a message to you that says God is witholding forgiveness because you aren’t forgiving somebody, that they are wrong. God is not witholding forgiveness from anybody because He sent Jesus to to provide forgiveness to all mankind. “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Jesus came to take away the sin of the world. That is forgiveness. When somebody stands behind a pulpit and says God wont forgive you until you do this and that and forgive every person, they are preaching a works-based message of self-righteous salvation which is totally anti-Christ. If your forgiveness were merely based on you forgiving others, then why did Jesus need to die for you? Jesus + your ability to forgive is not the gospel. The gospel is Jesus, Jesus + nothing.
I do not forgive in order to be forgiven, I believe in Jesus for that. Because He has forgiven me, I forgive. Forgiveness is something that needs to be received before it can be properly extended. I would not be able to forgive any person fully if it were not for the fact that I had received God’s forgiveness first. Whether or not you choose to forgive anybody who has wronged you, does not take away from the fact that Jesus died for you and forgave you already. God decided to forgive mankind through Jesus’ sacrifice whether you forgive others or not. Your ability to forgive in no way influences Jesus’ sacrifice because He died 2000 years before you were even born. God’s plan for forgiveness and salvation does not pivot around your ability to forgive others. He planned and executed His redemption mission without your help, thank God. “He has reconciled the world to Himself in Christ.” Just like your choice to forgive somebody who wronged you is not influenced by them in anyway. It is your choice, you decide to forgive or not and the person whom you forgive should not even be a determining factor in whether you forgive or not. You should determine that. You decide to extend forgiveness towards them despite the fact that they don’t deserve it, just like God extended forgiveness toward you despite the fact that you didn’t deserve it. If you wait for them to apologize before you forgive, you didn’t really forgive, you just accepted their apology. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” He didn’t wait for you to apologize, He took the first step, in fact He took all the steps.
If you have something against anybody, forgive them as God forgave you. Freely. If you choose to not forgive them, you are the one who chooses to live with emotional garbage that God does not want you to live with. Unforgiveness is nothing more than a spiteful selfish reaction to rejection, a pity-party for one. If your unforgiving toward anybody, get over yourself and extend some love and grace. I don’t mean to be insensitive toward anybody’s feelings, so if you are still hurting, its probably a good idea to forgive anyway because making the choice to forgive despite your hurt feelings is the first step to letting go of those feelings. “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” You decide whether or not your heart is troubled. Deciding to forgive is deciding to not let your heart be troubled, so just do it.
In love,
Cornel
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6 Responses to Unforgiveness Part Deux
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heyo. what’s your take on John 20:23?
I figure, since we are his ambassadors, if we do something like that in his name, then it’s that way, since he considers us as equals .
Good article Cornel.
My gut feel is that unless you also explain the verses in Matt 18:32-35 that says you have to forgive otherwise God wont forgive, most students of the Word cannot accept it. Why ? because is it would seem that you’re directly contradicting Scripture.
@ Brandon, I have pondered that verse often. At this point, I can only speculate.
@ Alton, here is an article I wrote last year.
http://www.charismaministries.org/the-unforgiving-servant/
Cornel, I loved this, both post you made. It makes total sense to me, but I got lots of comments in the negative other than Brandon. It is interesting that when we read Matthew 5-7, we must remember that Jesus was talking to un-redeemed man and Jews who were still operating under the Law. The price which Jesus paid for us took care of the forgiveness issue, but we are also to develop the nature and charter of our Father. Thanks for your wonderful insight. Love ya brother!
John
@Brandon
I did an exegesis on John 20:19-23 earlier this year. Here is what I came up with on that verse:
The Spirit of grace however, is also the Spirit of the conception of the Church. It embodies the passing on of Jesus’ mission to the church, and thus Jesus’ authority is given to us to further proclaim this message in the Spirit (Matt 28:18, John 7:16-18, 16:13). Continuing on in John 20, verse 23 adds what the church, now conceived by the Spirit, has authority to do: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” By the gift of the Spirit from Jesus, the church is now given authority to proclaim the message of forgiveness of sins: “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:18). Jesus, as he was sent by the Father to proclaim this message, now sends us to proclaim this message: forgiveness and life to those who choose to believe, but to those who refuse to believe, their forgiveness will be withheld from them. But it must be kept in mind that, “only as Spirit-filled and Spirit-guided men may [we] thus speak for him with authority;” if we try speaking for Jesus without depending on the Spirit, we will fail in representing his message faithfully and the message will not be spoken in the Spirit that gives grace for the hearers to believe.
It is also necessary to note that this verse does not mean that individuals in the church have the authority to forgive and withhold forgiveness for individual sins of individual people. Rather, this message is conveyed, in the Greek, with perfect tense—meaning that we can declare, with certainty, complete forgiveness for all past and present sins, with the effects carrying on into the future, for anyone who believes in the name of Jesus Christ.
And that is, essentially, the ultimate basis for Jesus’ mission and, thus, the Church’s mission: that people believe in the name of Jesus Christ. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). This well-known scripture captures the essence of the Church’s mission: to proclaim forgiveness of sins, new life, and liberty from the works of the devil (sin, sickness, and death, ie. perishing).
To put it simply: We have authority to declare what Jesus has made actual. We proclaim complete forgiveness in our gospel message with the authority he has given us, declaring something that already is. If they reject our message, they remain condemned (unforgiven), as John 3:17 says.
However, this isn’t completely consistent with what Cornel is saying. This stance on forgiveness is probably one of the few things I have had to disagree with him and Ryan Rhoades on. I find too many contradictions with it and I have addressed many to Ryan, with no reply. Not sure if I have addressed any to Cornel though.
Hey Alex, since you and I are both saying complete forgiveness, past present and future, which part are you disagreeing with?