Forgiveness

There is nothing more necessary for us or more essential to Christian doctrine than the concept of forgiveness. Absolutely necessary to both. We need it. God provides it. We need to extend it to others. Jesus wasn't ambiguous. He told His disciples to pray to "forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" (Matt 6:12) and warned that our failure to forgive would result in our failure to be forgiven (Matt 6:14). He told His disciples, "Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' forgive him" (Luke 17:3-4). Forgive, forgive, forgive. We need it from God. We owe it to others. Forgive.

Odd thing, then, that we never seem to ask what it is. When the Bible says to forgive, what does it mean? I would think, given the importance of the concept both to us from God and to us toward others, we would want to know what it is.

The Hebrew is nâsâh, meaning "to lift". This idea is to lift, to bear, to carry the burden of sin. The Greek is aphiēmi, where the ap means "off" and hiēmi means "to send", or, to send off or send forth. The idea, then, is to "send forth" debts. That which is owed is sent away. Thus, in both cases, it is to lift off or send away sin.

The standard of forgiveness in Scripture is "just as God in Christ also has forgiven you" (Eph 4:32; Col 3:13). So if we understand that "forgive" means "to send away sins", in what manner did God send away our sins? Well, it's right there in the text I just quoted: "in Christ." Paul wrote "In Him (Christ) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace" (Eph 1:7). In Peter's first public sermon he preached, "Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins" (Acts 2:38). "In the name of Jesus Christ." We are not forgiven by violating justice. We are forgiven by God's mercy based on His justice. You see, when Christ paid the penalty in full (John 19:30), God was able to "be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus" (Rom 3:26). That is, forgiveness, if it is to be right, must conform to justice. God managed our forgiveness by accepting His Son's payment on our behalf.

Forgiveness in Christianity is a two-path concept. There is, first and foremost, God's forgiveness given to us. Necessary. Essential. And accomplished by the payment of Christ enabling God to "send away" our sins. He couldn't just toss them aside; that would not be just. He sent them away by placing them on Christ (2 Cor 5:21). This structure of God forgiving us by paying our debt, then, is the model for us to carry out the second path -- forgiving others. We are to forgive others as God in Christ has forgiven us. We are to be merciful not in a vacuum, but "as your Father is merciful" (Luke 6:36). We are, then, required to send away the sins of others against us not by merely setting them aside. That is the oh, so popular view. "Just forget it. Let it go. Don't worry about it." Indeed, many suggest that part of the essential definition of forgiveness is "forget". You know, "forgive and forget." But that's not how God forgives. God forgives having paid the price. And that is how we are to forgive as well.

In our less-than-careful Christian world today we're not really thinking much about it when we talk about forgiveness. It's a warm term, understandably so, and we like the idea that sin is "sent away". We do so enjoy having our sin removed. And anyone -- even unbelievers -- can tell you that forgiving -- sending away -- the debts of others against us is a good thing, a healthy thing, a right thing. We, however, are very likely to miss the fundamentals.

The most common error is that we don't acknowledge the debt. Forgiving a debt is not possible if no debt exists. But what you'll often hear is "Oh, it was nothing" or something like it. "He/she didn't really mean it" is another popular approach to the same thing, but it's the same basic approach. It wasn't really that bad for whatever reason. Sure, it might make the transgressor feel better, but artificially minimizing the debt is not forgiveness. The second error is that we tend to forget justice. Thus, Christians are urged to "forgive and forget" without regard to justice. This moves "forgiveness" into the realm of "don't feel bad toward" and away from "paid in full". This error is another prime example of ruling by feelings. This version of "forgive" is just "let go of your anger" which is not forgiveness.

"Really?" Yes. You see, I can let go of my anger toward someone who owes me a debt of some sort without forgiving that debt. And I can let go of a debt someone owes me without letting go of my anger. The two are not necessarily connected. But what the most common call is for us is to not feel harshly toward a transgressor and that is not forgiveness.

How are we forgiven? We are forgiven on the basis of justice, where the very real debt we owed to God was paid in full by God. Christian, welcome to genuine forgiveness. What we, then, are called to do is not "let it go", but just as God in Christ has forgiven you, we are to make the payment for the transgression ourselves. You see, now we're not trying to manage our feelings or minimize reality. We're taking care of the issue. "It is finished." Paid in full. I no longer have any reason to feel badly toward you now because you owe me nothing, not because I've been so magnanimous (and unrealistic or unjust), but because it's taken care of.

For most of us the concept of forgiveness is nothing more than the setting aside of hostility. But while God's concept -- paying the debt in full -- would certainly bring about the cessation of hostilities (because, after all, that's exactly what the Bible says), we tend to think of it without that step. So biblical forgiveness is not a cancellation of justice, but a meeting of justice and mercy where the debt is paid, just not by the one owing it. Thus, in human forgiveness, our task is to accept our own payment on behalf of another as full payment of the debt.

Notice, however, another absolutely necessary component to biblical forgiveness. Forgiveness in the Bible is not merely for the cessation of hostilities. It is not aimed at making us feel better. It is intended for a purpose: reconciliation. We forgive in order to reconcile with others as God forgave to reconcile us to Himself. A wonderful example of that is found in Genesis 45. There Joseph forgives the brothers who wronged him. When he revealed himself to them and "they were dismayed at his presence" (as you can well imagine), his response was, "Don't worry; I'm not mad anymore." No it wasn't. It was, "Come near to me, please" (Gen 45:4). You see, forgiveness without embrace is pointless. The intention for forgiveness is reconciliation. "Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation" (2 Cor 5:18-19). That's forgiveness: reconciliation by "not counting their trespasses against them".

We live in a world dominated by feelings, so we might be forgiven if we think that forgiveness is about feeling good. You'll hear terms like "forgive yourself" like they are meaningful. When you understand forgiveness as it is in Scripture, however, you'll find that it is not a violation of justice, but an exercise of it, and that we can forgive as an image of God's forgiveness towards us. It isn't about feeling good. It's about paying the debt in order to close the books and obtain reconciliation. Of course, it will make you feel better, but that's just a byproduct. And it's a good one. But be sure to embrace both justice and mercy in order to reconcile to others ... you know, like God did with us.