The most common thing I have heard about forgiveness is the teaching that freedom from bitterness and justice-issues requires us to forgive everyone of everything all the time. In this study, we look at the Scriptures very closely to see if this is what God's word describes.
What we discover is that our freedom in Christ cannot include forgiving unrepentant people since that would be contrary to what God teaches us in his word. He has a very clear plan for our freedom from bitterness and justice issues, but it never requires forgiving people who continue to do wrong, or have never repented of the wrongs they have done. There is something better.
In this message, we only got as far as showing that Scripture clearly speaks against the idea of forgiving everyone of everything all the time, and in our next study, we will look at how clearly it teaches us to forgive repentant people every time anyone repents to us about anything.
This is not speaking against all the Scriptures that tell us to forgive, but clarifies that this never refers to forgiving unrepentant people. All the Scriptures exhorting us to forgive one another are in reference to the necessity of responding to anyone who has repented.
This may be new to many who have heard only the popular teaching, but I hope that our journey through the Scriptures shows that the Scriptures teach something that is really opposite to what we’ve been told, and there is a distinctive freedom in discovering this truth.
© 2018 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
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