When we forgive, we show mercy to our debtor. Although we sin against God, He chooses to show us mercy by forgiving our sins. “ The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him.”įorgiveness and mercy are inextricably linked. If God can choose to forget our sins, so can we. God, who has infinite knowledge, chooses to remember our sins no more. Forgetting is choosing to never bring up the offense again. Forgiveness is letting someone off the hook for their offense. I have heard many people say, “I can forgive but I can’t forget.”įorgiveness is not the same as forgetting. Review the past for me, let us argue the matter together state the case for your innocence.” “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. Instead, we are to forgive others and leave vengeance to God. Yet, God says it is He who gets vengeance, not us. We are playing judge and jury for others, exacting the punishment we think they should receive for their sin. By holding a grudge, we are refusing to release that person from their self-made prison. When we refuse to forgive others, we are doing exactly what this verse claims. We can live consistently with an understanding that God has forgiven us for far more than we will ever need to forgive in others.“ Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” Even if we're not perfect, we can demonstrate willingness to obey.
This does not apply to those who want to forgive yet are grappling with it. Those who absolutely refuse to forgive may be showing that they are not willing to receive God's forgiveness for their much larger debt of sin. The ability to forgive those who hurt us is evidence that the Spirit of God in us through faith in Christ is alive and active and at work in us. Instead, we should understand that the God who saves us begins to change our hearts and make us new in the image of Christ (Romans 12:1–2). We cannot earn His forgiveness by forgiving others. God's grace for us is absolute and our only hope of spending eternity with Him. This is not because forgiveness is a pre-condition of salvation (Titus 3:5), but because forgiveness is a symptom of those who have been truly saved. Now He tells us that God will not forgive those unwilling to forgive as they have been forgiven. The one who told this story is about to die on the cross to pay the price for the sins of all who believe in Him (John 3:16–18 Colossians 2:14). How are we forgiven? Only through faith in Jesus and by God's grace (Ephesians 2:8–9). Nobody will ever sin against us anywhere near to the amount we have sinned against God. Since every sin we commit is committed against God, those who are forgiven by Him are forgiven for every sin, every wrong and wicked choice, we ever do over the course of our lifetimes. God expects those whom He forgives to forgive everyone who sins against them up to the amount they themselves have been forgiven. His Father in heaven, God, will also imprison every person who does not forgive his brother from the heart. Now, though, Jesus drives the point of the story home. Perhaps they even cheered when the man was thrown in debtors' prison. How much should a man, forgiven by the king for thousands of lifetimes worth of debt, be willing to forgive from others? The man in the story refused to forgive a debt of 100 days' wages, causing every listener to agree with the king that the man was wicked. This parable was used to show how limited Peter's idea of forgiving each other really is. Peter was suggesting taking it to the extra mile when it comes to forgiving others (Matthew 18:21–22). Jesus told the story in this passage (Matthew 18:23–34) in response to Peter's noble-sounding question: Should I forgive my brother for sinning against me seven times? Judaism required forgiveness of the same person for the same offense at least three times.
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