Forgiveness

Posted : 31 Jan, 2012 06:01 AM

"Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors"-is the fifth petition of the Lord's Prayer. This petition deals with both God's forgiveness for our sins and then it extends also to our forgiveness of those who sin against us.



Our catechism explains the petition this way: "Be pleased, for the sake of Christ's blood, not to impute to us miserable sinners our manifold transgressions, nor the evil which still always cleaves to us; as we also find this witness of Thy grace in us, that it is our full purpose heartily to forgive our neighbor." (HC Q126)



By way of introduction, it should be clear to us that the basis for all forgiveness is the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. God will forgive us only if atonement has been made for our sins, and we must forgive others because we have this same grace of being forgiven in us. On the surface it might appear that we will be forgiven on the basis of our forgiveness of others who may sin against us. That would be a serious mistake, and would make God's forgiveness depend on our actions. That is backwards. God does not forgive us because we have forgiven others, but we forgive because we are forgiven by God (see Matt. 18:21-35).



It should also be noted that we can only forgive others or be forgiven by God as an answer to a petition. Luke 17:3-4 teaches us that "if he repents" we must forgive-even if it is 490 times in a day (cf. Matt. 18:21-22). We hear some people say that they have forgiven the 9-11 terrorists, when those terrorists and their ilk have not repented nor asked for forgiveness. But, many folks may think that this is the "Christian" thing to do. Wrong. God does not forgive the unrepentant and those who do not seek His mercy. We are not better than God. The "Christian" thing to do is to follow the pattern that God has established-those who repent and seek forgiveness are forgiven. The fact that we cannot forgive the unrepentant sinner does not mean that we have the right to hate them or seek revenge. Far from it. We should be praying that God will give them a repentant heart, and we should confront them so they know their sin and repent (Matt. 18:15-17).



I would like to outline �seven steps of repentance' which are based mostly on the teachings of Psalm 51, where David, having committed adultery and murder, now comes to God with a repentant heart. Every part of the subject of forgiveness is evidence of the grace of God working in the heart and life of the believer. I would like to summarize these steps below.

Know What Sin Is



God alone has the authority to define what a "sin" is. He does this in the Law which is found in His Word (Rom. 3:20; 7:7; HC Q3-4). To add to or subtract from the law is a sin in itself. Yet we are sometimes told that certain actions are sins which God Himself has not called a sin. Sometimes these man-made commandments are based on tradition and sometimes on superstition. Jesus confronts this pharisaical attitude in Matthew 15:9 and Paul addresses it in Titus 1:14. Real sin is a transgression of the law of God or a failure to fulfill it (James 4:17).

Written by Paul H. Treick

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