One of the
regularly discussed themes of my ministry is the issue of forgiving people who
have wronged us. I believe that the Bible’s teaching on forgiving others always
means forgiving people who have come to us in repentance, just as God forgives
us as we come to him in repentance.[1] Both
the Old and New Testaments show God’s kindness bringing us to repentance so
that he can forgive us,[2]
and there are no examples of God forgiving someone who is in a clearly
unrepentant stance towards him.
The problem is
that, when we are told to forgive, many people add their interpretation that
this means that we must forgive everyone of everything all the time. They don’t
realize that they have added those thoughts to the text, partly because it
appears to be the natural meaning when read without context, and partly because
it is the favorite interpretation of almost everyone I have heard teach on
forgiveness.[3]
My contention
is that the comprehensive teaching of Scripture regarding forgiveness is that
God’s children are to forgive everyone who comes to them in repentance, just as
God forgives all those who come to him in repentance. Along with this, the
comprehensive teaching of the Bible regarding those who are unrepentant is that
we pray for them, [4]
bless them, and seek to overcome their
evil with our goodness,[5]
while leaving vengeance for their unrepentant sin in the hands of God’s
sovereign goodness.[6]
While I would
love to delve into an extensive study of what I mean by forgiving only the
repentant, and leaving the unrepentant in God’s sovereign and good hands, I
present this post to demonstrate how some of the mistaken interpretations
regarding forgiveness come from missing a pattern in the larger context of
Scripture that is not always evident in the immediate context of a text.
The pattern I
speak of is that there are some Scriptures that address a topic or issue in a condensed,
summary way, in order to emphasize one aspect of a larger truth, while there
are other Scriptures that speak of the same topic or issue on an extensive way,
giving us the full picture of what we ought to believe and do as God’s people
of faith. It is the fullest picture that gives us the best understanding of how
to interpret the smallest components of the picture.
I liken this
to a science class that first teaches a comprehensive lesson about light,
leading into a lesson on how light shone through a prism reveals the various
colors of the spectrum,[7]
leading further into individual lessons on each of those colors. Because the
instructor has laid the foundation of the comprehensive lesson about light, the
students do not consider any one of the colors of the spectrum to be the one
and only way to think about light. When studying the reddish side of the
spectrum, students do not conclude that all light is red, because they always
keep in mind that the larger context has already demonstrated that the substance
of light as a whole includes each of the colors it contains.
In a similar
way, the Bible gives us many comprehensive pictures of God’s reality. It also
gives us many customized applications of that comprehensive truth. Whenever we
read a condensed reference to a topic or issue, we must keep in mind the
over-all teaching of these things as already revealed in Scripture, even if the
immediate context does not repeat those things.[8]
My contention
is that, the belief that Jesus’ disciples should forgive everyone of everything
all the time is based on a disconnect between the condensed verses about
forgiveness and the comprehensive revelation about forgiveness. It is like
taking the color blue out of the spectrum and saying that whenever God talks
about light he means blue. Those who understand light know that when we
consider blue, it is just one of the colors that make up light.
As an example
of people interpreting scriptures about forgiveness out of context with the
full light of Scripture, consider this passage. Jesus said,
“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not
be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to
you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put
into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”[9]
Many people
read, “forgive, and you will be forgiven,”
in an isolated way, as though its one color of the spectrum is the whole revelation
of light on the subject. They take that to mean that we are to forgive everyone
of everything all the time,[10]
when it is really a spectrum of many subjects and issues brought together in
one light-filled statement. Each color of the spectrum (judging, condemning,
forgiving, measuring) can only be understood in the context of the whole light
of Scripture on those subjects.[11]
Now, to the
point of this post. While it is not difficult to show from scripture that there
is a comprehensive teaching about forgiving only repentant people that is the
context for interpreting all the smaller summary references to forgiveness, it
is also not difficult to show that this pattern applies to all kinds of
teachings in God’s word. Small references are always understood in the big
picture.
This morning,
as I continued meditating on the “by this”
statements of I John,[12] I
reminded myself of the opening purpose statement of the letter. John wrote, “We proclaim to you what we have seen and
heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with
the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”[13]
When John
wrote that “our fellowship is with the
Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ,” we have a condensed statement that
must be understood in Scripture’s larger context. We cannot conclude from this
statement that we only have fellowship with the Father and the Son, exclusive
of the Holy Spirit. The comprehensive light of Scripture has already taught us
the divine relationship between the three members of the Triune. John goes on
to refer to the place of the Holy Spirit in our lives as one of the “by this” assurances of our fellowship
with God and his people.[14]
Reading the
above statement by John does not suddenly require us to think of the Godhead as
dual instead of triune. Rather, keeping in mind that John fully acknowledges the
triunity of God as expressed by all the apostles, and the full revelation of
Scripture, we can look at this statement and ask ourselves how the distinctive
relationship between Father and Son will encourage us to fully immerse
ourselves in the fellowship of the one body of Christ.
In other
words, if John chooses to focus on two colors of the divine spectrum for some
distinctive purpose, it does not mean there are only two persons to the divine
triunity, because the rest of Scripture has already revealed the three persons
of the Godhead.
In a similar
way, when we understand that the comprehensive light of Scripture reveals that
forgiveness is granted to repentant people, while prayer, blessing, overcoming
evil with good, and faithfully trusting God to apply vengeance however he
desires applies to unrepentant people, we can then take the summarized
exhortations to forgive others as reminders to forgive anyone who repents, and
to pray that God would forgive those who are unrepentant.
Now, it only
seems fitting to conclude with a beautiful, full-spectrum revelation of the
light of the glory of the triunity of God. The apostle Paul, himself an
eye-witness of the resurrected Christ, wrote this: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”[15]
May the Triune
God bless you with the grace, love, and fellowship that increase and expand
your fellowship with the people of God. May they enable us to fully forgive
anyone who comes to us in repentance of their wrongs against us, and to faithfully
pray for the forgiveness of those who remain unrepentant.
© 2014 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
PS: I would love to hear from anyone who would be willing to
take on a little assignment for me. If you are willing and able, do a
side-by-side comparison of what effect it would have on us to pray for unrepentant
people’s forgiveness (as Jesus did), compared/contrasted to what effect it
would have on us to forgive unrepentant people (which is the common teaching,
but not found in Scripture). It would look something like this:
|
What would it do to
us if we prayed for God to forgive unrepentant people?
|
What would it do to
us if we forgave unrepentant people?
|
|
|
|
Please email me what you come up with!
[1]
I believe that is the meaning of Scriptures like Colossians 3:13.
[2]
Romans 2:4
[3]
I am not sure if Jesus’ disciples in cultures outside the North American
western mindset fit the same profile as what I have witnessed in the teachings
of North American preachers and teachers.
[4]
Luke 6:27-28; Luke 23:34 Jesus did not forgive people from the cross, but
prayed for their forgiveness, setting an example for us to pray for unrepentant
people to be forgiven, not setting the example that we ought to forgive
unrepentant people.
[5]
Romans 12:21
[6]
Romans 12:19; God’s “sovereign goodness” is my summary of all the things we are
taught about leaving things in God’s hands because he is sovereign, he will
repay, and he will work all things in the lives of his children together for
good, including the ultimate good of conforming us to the image and likeness of
his Son.
[7]
Rainbows are the beautiful effect of light shining through the prism of a
moisture-laden sky, giving us the red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and
violet that make up the light that otherwise appears to be only one bright
color.
[8]
Imagine how big the Bible would be if, every time God referred to a topic or
issue he had to repeat the whole teaching about that topic or issue in order to
make sure we never forgot the greater context of truth.
[9]
Luke 6:37-38
[10]
Which is an added thought, not something Jesus actually said.
[11]
Many wonder-filled posts could be presented regarding how each of these
individual subjects is also like one color of the spectrum in the full light of
God’s revelation.
[12]
Here are a couple of blog-posts where I addressed the “by this” statements of I
John: http://in2freedom.blogspot.ca/2014/09/considerations-eleven-assurances-from.html;
and, http://in2freedom.blogspot.ca/2014/09/pastoral-ponderings-by-this-of-ultimate.html.
[13]
I John 1:3
[14]
I John 3:24; 4:2; 4:4-6; 4:13-16
[15]
II Corinthians 13:14
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