It seems that there are conflicting sentiments in the body of believers about the all-important and life-giving truth of forgiveness. Forgiveness is the very heart of God. If that is true then it ought to be the very heart of the believer too. We see this all through out the word.Forgiveness is freeing and nurturing and spiritual food for the forgiver even more than for the one who receives so much by being forgiven. And we all need forgiveness, right?
It is the unique quality of followers of Christ. The parable of the wicked servant is a picture of who we do not want to be. The servant was forgiven tremendous debt by his master. He was over joyed but when it came time for him to pass on that forgiveness to his debtors, he would not. This is what made him the most despicable of servants. He was a taker and not a giver…a hypocrite.
But is there occasion where a believer is not to forgive? Is there something that must happen first in order for the one who needs forgiveness to be forgiven? Yes!
” Take heed to yourselves. If your brother trespasses against you, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him” (Luke 17:3) “And if he trespasses against you 7 times a day, and 7 times a day turns again to you and says I repent, you shall forgive him” (Luke 17:4).
So there is a qualification for forgiving others. They must repent. Now is there anything wrong with forgiving even if they do not repent? Of course not! Forgiveness brings joy and peace and is the heart of God. But is there occasion to retain one’s sin against him? Yes. But the aim is so the person WILL repent. It is not to exact vengeance. God says vengeance is His and not ours. He repays.
So Jesus sent His disciples out and breathed on them to receive the Holy Spirit. Then look ” Whose soever sins you remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins you retain they are retained” (John 20:23).
Now this is an example of the obligation of believers to act as ambassadors of the Kingdom of God. The reason for retaining ones sins against them (and we have the authority to do it if we are disciples of Christ…not just believers but disciples (mature and fruit bearing believers). Why? It is in order to help other believers caught up in sinful ways to grow and change; to repent and become more like Christ. It is exactly what a good parent would do for the child he loves who has been disobedient and refuses to admit it and correct it. The parent who provides no consequences for sin and bad behavior will encourage the child in the bad behavior. This is exactly what we see here. What happens to the child whose parent never corrected rightly? The world will correct him and then it is a very painful thing to watch. The world is not so loving as the parent. Best for correction to be done in-house. I’m quoting, in paraphrase, pastor Chuck Swindoll, in a sermon about disciplining our children.
Now elsewhere in the Bible it simply says that if we do not forgive then we will not be forgiven. But we have to put that in context with the whole word on the subject. When we do we see that this obviously is referring to one with a spirit of unforgiveness and that even when the offender is sorry and repents, they still won’t forgive. And forgiving someone does not necessarily mean buddy buddy friendship now. It just means that we have remitted the sin against them in our hearts and really do hope and long for their mending.
Now the reason this authority is given to the mature, or spiritual believer only (you can do your research on that and will see this conclusion in the word) is because the immature believer will assert his own interests and not God’s. He will probably act vengefully and this has NOT been given to man. Only God can do that in all holiness.
But to retain an offender’s sin against them (if we are spiritual in Christ…the immature do not have that ability, God won’t hear it) is a very beneficial thing for the offender. We can actually see the hand of God pressing down upon the offender with Fatherly discipline and it is a result of the prayers and petitions of the disciples who would die for the sheep if it were necessary…but at the moment must retain their sin against them for their own good.
May we all get to the point where forgiveness is something so welled up inside of us that it is a burden when we know that the forgiveness we long to give is not right at the moment . May we be so forgiving that the abundance of it in our hearts has to be restrained in some rare and unusual circumstances…all for the lifting up and purifying of the church, the body of Christ.
Food for thought…
Love, C