Forgiveness
Richard Hollerman
We, as Christians, are to be “imitators
of God” (Ephesians 5:1) and are also to follow the example
of Christ Jesus (1 Peter 2:21; 1 John 2:6). One
way that we follow our Lord’s example is in forgiveness.
Paul writes, “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving
each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven
you” (Ephesians 4:32). In
another place, the apostle says, “. . . forgiving
each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone;
just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you” (Colossians
3:13). We
should forgive as
Jesus has forgiven us.
The Lord Jesus tells us how vital it
is that we forgive others. When
He was teaching His followers to pray, He said, “Forgive
us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew
6:12). The
term “debts” here refers to sins or moral and spiritual
debts. The
Lord then tells us how important it is that we have this
forgiving attitude: “For if you forgive others for their
transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive
you. But
if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not
forgive your transgressions” (vv. 13-14; cf. Mark 11:25).
Jesus
says that if we forgive others, God will forgive us;
if we refuse to forgive others, God will not forgive
us. He
also gave us instructions on how to forgive (Matthew
18:15-20;
Luke 17:3-4) and presented us with a long parable of
forgiveness, with the conclusion stated that God will
punish the one who “does not forgive his brother from
[his] heart” (Matthew 18:21-35). We
need to be forgiving people!
Our very lifestyle should be one of forgiveness. Jesus
said, “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). We
must be forgiving people.
We
take as our model of forgiveness the Lord Jesus Christ. We
might think that when he hung on the cross and experienced
the extreme pain of this inhumane torture, He would only
think of himself. Instead,
his love for others was demonstrated when he cried
out to God, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what
they are doing” (Luke 23:34). He
wanted the Jews or the Romans to be forgiven of this
heinous sin of the crucifixion. Christ’s
prayer was answered when Jews did repent and come to
the Lord in baptism (Acts 2:36-41).
Stephen,
a faithful disciple of the Lord, had a similar response
to his persecutors. As
they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord, do not hold this
sin against them!” (Acts 7:60). Are
we willing to forgive our family, our friends, and all
others?
(See
also the article, "Forgive--and Be Forgiven!")
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