The Impact of God's Forgiveness, Part 2

“Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.” – Proverbs 19:11

“Then Peter came up and said to Him, ‘Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?  As many as seven times?’  Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you seven times but seventy times seven.’” –  Matthew 18:21-22

“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.  Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” – Ephesians 4:31-32

Gracelife Family,

In my last reflection, I focused on the internal impact that God’s forgiveness should have in terms of our relationship with Him.  Now, I want to transition by considering the horizontal aspect of God’s forgiveness with its implications for our relationships with one another.  Specifically, what comes to light time and time again in God’s Word is an expectation that we will extend forgiveness quickly and frequently when we have been wronged and hurt by others.  

We find one example of this spiritual principle taught in Proverbs 19 which bears witness that exercising patience and forgiveness is a worthy goal.  This is true on both a practical and moral level.  On the one hand, we are told it makes “good sense”.  In other words, there is nothing to be gained and much to be lost by our acting out in anger and refusing to forgive.  We learn in other proverbs (Proverbs 15:18, 14:29) that when we lose our temper and respond to hurt by seeking to inflict hurt that we demonstrate foolishness by perpetuating the cycle and only bringing further damage to relationships.  On the other hand, according to Proverbs 16:32 and Proverbs 14:29, our patience and willingness to forgive reflects spiritual strength and “great understanding” on our part.  Coming back to Proverbs 19, it describes our willingness to overlook an offense as “glorious”.  Another way of translating it might be that it’s beautiful to forgive.  Why would that be the case?  The answer is that, in so doing, we reflect the very character and beauty of God.  From Proverbs 10:12 and 17:9, we learn that forgiveness should ultimately be driven by love.  

However, forgiveness is something that we can find very difficult to do.  We might claim and believe that we have forgiven someone while still harboring anger and resentment in our hearts.  In Matthew 18, we see an example of Peter’s own struggle to come to terms with forgiveness.  In the context, Jesus had recently been teaching His disciples about how to address cases of personal offense.  Jesus’ goal in this instruction was to provide a model for healing of broken relationships.  Perhaps surprisingly, Jesus made it clear that it was the wounded party who should take the initiative to pursue reconciliation.  The underlying assumption being that the offender might not be aware of his/her wrongdoing and needs it brought to his/her attention.  In doing so, we provide an opportunity for the offender to seek forgiveness.

Peter looked for clarification as to just how far our willingness to show mercy and offer forgiveness must extend.  In questioning Jesus, Peter proposed that providing forgiveness “seven times” might be fully sufficient and satisfactory to God.  In making this suggestion, Peter believed he was erring on the side of exceeding compassion and kindness.  That’s confirmed in the fact that he prefaced his guess with the condition “as many as”.  However, Jesus’ response completely shattered Peter’s perception of what God’s standard of forgiveness truly requires.  He testified “not seven times but seventy times seven”.  Jesus was making reference and, in essence, reversing Lamech’s declaration in Genesis 4 when he swore that his desire for and pursuit of revenge would never stop.  In turn, Jesus was announcing that now there should be no limit in either quantity or frequency when it comes to our willingness to forgive.  In other words, we are always called to forgive others.

At first glance, this expectation seems like an unreasonable proposition and utter impossibility for us to meet.  After all, we have a hard enough time extending forgiveness to someone once.  In Luke’s gospel account, Jesus’ emphasis on continual forgiveness is followed by His disciples’ plea to Him to “increase our faith” (Luke 17).  I don’t believe that’s a coincidence.  The disciples understood that this standard laid out by Jesus was more than they could accomplish in their own strength and will.  They knew they needed the Lord’s help.  

We get further clarification as to the secret of our success in repeatedly forgiving one another in Ephesians 4 where we are reminded by the Apostle Paul of the truth of the gospel message which testifies to the unconditional forgiveness we have received from the Lord through Jesus’ death.  It’s that extraordinary measure of forgiveness which should motivate us to refrain from holding a grudge and be willing to quickly forgive at all times.  When we do so, we have the opportunity to be a living witness giving people a glimpse of the depth of God’s love, mercy, and grace.  As a final thought, I want to come back once more to Matthew 18.  Immediately following Peter’s question regarding the standard for forgiveness, Jesus shared a parable with His disciples.  His point in telling the story was to help them understand that, no matter how severe a person’s offense against us and pain caused may be, it will never match or reach the  magnitude of our offense against the Lord.  God’s forgiveness of us will always far surpass any degree of forgiveness we need to extend to others.  Jesus was warning that our resistance and refusal to show mercy and forgive another reveals that we have not truly understood or embraced God’s forgiveness of us.

Love in Christ,

Pastor Keith