Tag: forgiveness

Are We Really Supposed to Always Forgive?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date August 2, 2012

In the post on forgiveness, I cited the instructions of Jesus: when someone treats us wrongly we are to first confront (“rebuke”) them about the issue.

If they apologize or acknowledge their error (“repent”), then we are to forgive them.

From this, we can infer a three-step process:

We confront
They apologize
We forgive

Which evokes several questions:

Must apology proceed forgiveness?
If the offending person refuses to apologize are we still expected to forgive?
What about us and Jesus, do we need to apologize ( “confess” and “regret”) to him before he will forgive us?

Frankly, I don’t know the answers to these questions. Although this passage implies one set of answers, other verses in the Bible suggest the opposite.

Could the real answer to each question be “maybe?” Perhaps God wants to keep us from turning his words into a simple three-step procedure.

Instead he gives us guidelines to study, interpret, and apply as appropriate.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Luke 16-18, and today’s post is on Luke 17:3-4.]

Read more about the book of Luke in That You May Know: A 40-Day Devotional Exploring the Life of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags forgiveness

Bible Insights

What Did Jesus Have to Say About Forgiveness?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date July 31, 2012

Once when teaching his disciples, Jesus addresses forgiveness.

He says when someone treats us wrongly we are to first confront (“rebuke”) them about the issue. If they apologize or acknowledge their error (“repent”), then we are to forgive them.

Although Jesus literally says we are to do this seven times, there is actually no limit to forgiveness.

What a great picture of God’s mercy towards us—endless, unconditional forgiveness!

[Luke 17:3-4, Matthew 18:22]

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Bible Insights

Be Careful What You Pray

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date June 28, 2012

The Lord’s Prayer contains a curious phrase that gives me pause. Frankly, it makes me uncomfortable every time I say it.

The passage in question is “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” We mean the first part, but do we really mean the second part?

When we ask this of God, are we implicitly requesting him to forgive us only to the degree we forgive others?

If so, I want to make sure I’m not holding any grudges or have any unforgiveness in my heart towards others.

The consequences are too great for anything less.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Matthew 5-7, and today’s post is on Matthew 6:12.]

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Bible Insights

God Forgives Sins and We Forgive Others

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date February 14, 2012

Jesus’ teaching on binding and loosing is a bit perplexing and worthy of careful contemplation. A parallel passage talks about forgiving sin and is even more disconcerting.

Jesus says that if we forgive someone’s sins, they will be forgiven; conversely, if we don’t forgive someone’s sins, they will not be forgiven.

That is an even heavier burden, realizing that our holding of a grudge—that is, not forgiving someone—will result in the withholding of forgiveness for their sins.

However, it is even more weighty than that.

Consider the “Lord’s Prayer” and the phrase “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”

Through this prayer, we are actually asking God to only forgive us to the degree to which we forgive others.

Given the severity of the ramifications, we need to be most diligent in forgiving all others and not holding a grudge.

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Bible Insights

Is it Easier to Forgive or to Heal Someone?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date September 12, 2008

There is an account of Jesus, when a paralyzed man seeks to be healed. In a surprise move, Jesus confounds everybody by forgiving the man’s sins!

Jesus had realized that this man’s greatest need was not physical, but spiritual, so he addressed that first.

Knowing that it is much easier to say “your sins are forgiven” then to make a lame man walk, Jesus than healed the man (thereby proving he had the power to forgive sins) and addressed the man’s second greatest need.

In doing so, Jesus shows that he came not only to save (forgive our sins), but also to heal.

[Matthew 9:2-8, Mark 2:2-12, and Luke 5:18-26]

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Bible Insights

What Does the Lord’s Prayer Really Say About Forgiveness?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date August 22, 2008

Don’t Withhold Forgiveness

When you pray, be careful what you pray—I’m serious, be very careful.

In the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples (also called “The Lord’s Prayer” or the “Our Father”), one part says:

“Forgive us our debts, as we have also forgiven our debtors.”

Some translations use the word “sins” or “transgressions” in place of debts, but the intent is the same.

The request is that God will forgive us…to the degree we forgive others.

That is, if we forgive fully, we are asking God to forgive us fully. However, if we only forgive partially—keeping grudges, holding on to ill-feelings, or harboring hate—then we are asking God to only forgive us partially.

Our lack of forgiveness towards others could limit the amount of forgiveness we receive. Ouch!

So when I pray that prayer, I do so carefully and with some trepidation; some days, I even want to skip that part!

However, skipping it is not the answer.

A better solution is to be steadfast and diligent in forgiving others—then we can likewise expect the same from God.

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Tags forgiveness, prayer