Biblical Forgiveness
Marlin Kerley
Elder, Bella Vista Church of Christ
6/24/98
Biblical Forgiveness
Forgiving seems to be one of the really difficult things for us as God’s people to accomplish. We have a tendency to say that we forgive, yet rarely do we forget. We seem to expect other people to be
perfect as far as they're forgiving us, but we hold back forgiving others. As God's people we must understand that we are to practice Biblical forgiveness. Scripture admonishes us to forgive and then behave as if we had forgotten the incident.
• And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. Mark 11.29
• Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Luke 6.37
• Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4.32
• Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3.13
• Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 1 Peter 3.9
An understanding of forgiveness must begin by our viewing others as God views us. Psalm 78 is a good place to see God's attitude toward us.
In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; in spite of His wonders, they did not believe. So he ended their days in futility and their years in terror. Whenever God slew them, they would seek Him; they eagerly turned to Him again. They remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer.
They would flatter Him with their mouths, lying to Him with their tongues; their hearts were not loyal to Him, they were not faithful to His covenant. Yet He was merciful; He forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them. Time after time He restrained His anger and did not stir up His full wrath. He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.
This Psalm tells us that God is merciful and forgiving. He
restrained his anger time after time after time.
He remembered that they were but flesh, only a passing breeze. We would do well to remember that our fellow Christians are but flesh, susceptible to mistakes. Forgiveness is restraining our anger, understanding that we are all prone to poor judgements.
Even though forgiveness is difficult for us, we can learn how to accomplish it by examining the attitudes and actions of great men of forgiveness from Scripture.
• The first meeting of Jacob and Esau after Jacob had cheated Esau out of his birthright was a scene of forgiveness. Esau ran to meet Jacob, embraced him, threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. Have any of us been cheated by a fellow Christian brother like Esau was cheated by Jacob?...
Forgive.
• Joseph making himself known to his brothers in Egypt is another example of total forgiveness. Have any of us ever had our brothers sell us into slavery?...
Forgive.
• Miriam and Aaron spoke out against Moses and his leadership. God struck Miriam with leprosy. Remember what Moses did?
O God, please heal her. How do we behave when we are criticized by others? Do we behave like Moses?...
Forgive.
• Saul chased after David for months intending to kill him. Some of the Psalms tell of how distraught David was at this constant fleeing into which he was forced. Yet, when David found Saul in the cave, all he did was to cut off a piece Saul’s robe as a reminder of his attitude of love and forgiveness. We hear David say,
I will not lift my hand against the Lord’s anointed. Here is a thought, aren’t Christians the Lord’s anointed? This makes us special and we need to treat each other as such... Forgive.
• As Jesus was being crucified on the cross, He prayed for His enemies,
Father, forgive them.
• As Stephen was being stoned, he knelt down and cried with a loud voice,
Lord, do not hold this sin against them. Forgiveness!!
Isn’t it interesting that in
none of these cases did anyone say, Forgive me before forgiveness was given.
Esau and Jacob didn’t even talk. Esau just ran to Jacob and embraced him. Joseph’s brothers didn’t even know who Joseph was when he forgave them. Miriam never asked for Moses’s forgiveness. Saul was not even aware that David was in the cave. The soldiers were not aware of their sin against Jesus. Stephen’s killers were still throwing rocks as he prayed for their forgiveness.
Shouldn’t we follow these examples? We don’t need to be
asked before we forgive a brother, even our enemies. I believe this attitude of forgiving without being asked is one of the things Jesus had in mind when He said,
blessed are the poor in spirit. Isn’t forgiveness without request a part of what Paul was talking about when he wrote,
do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than ourselves.
The ability to forgive without being asked is what Christian love is all about. God help us to love each other enough to look beyond our human weakness, and
be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave us.
—Marlin Kerley
Elder, Bella Vista Church of Christ
