In Matthew 6:14-15, Jesus made a very strong statement: "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."
Over the years I've heard this quoted quite often in the church and used as a principle that Christians are to live by. After all, Jesus said it, so of course it applies to us... right?
Back up just a minute. Do people really consider what Jesus is actually saying here? As I said, these are strong words. Very strong words! Jesus is telling His listeners that GOD WILL NOT FORGIVE THEM if they don't forgive others!
So is it true that if we don't forgive others, God won't forgive us? If that's the case, then how many believers are actually forgiven? And if they aren't forgiven, are they actually saved? What if a person dies, unforgiven? I'm just making the point that I don't think Christians really think about all of this stuff when they go around using scriptures like this.
But anyway, fortunately there's good news here. Very good news!
Let's remember that these words of Jesus (and so many of His other words) were spoken for a particular reason at a particular time under a particular covenant to a particular group of people! Without getting into all of that right now (although I'm certainly willing to go there, and I've written about it plenty in the past, such as here and here), in short I'll just say that these words of Jesus were spoken before the Cross, to the Jews who were under the Old Covenant. They do not pertain to Christianity (in our co-resurrected lives with Christ), and in fact they go against New Covenant life. Old Covenant principles (such as "if you do this, God will bless you," and "if you do that, God will punish you") were always against us and contrary to us! (see Col 2:14).
But now, with the post-Cross resurrected life of Christ, we have a new reality - a New Covenant reality - with teachings that say we are already forgiven of all sins, not based upon what we do or don't do, but rather upon the Blood of Jesus! We're now encouraged and exhorted to forgive others, not commanded to forgive others with the threat of not being forgiven if we don't. Why are we encouraged to forgive others? Because God has already forgiven us completely. Since we've been the recipients of such wonderful mercy and grace, let's turn around and show the same to others.
We can now stop worrying about whether or not we're forgiven, based upon whether or not we've forgiven others. Instead, we can fully experience and enjoy the fullness of God's grace and mercy, and our redemption and forgiveness that's not based at all upon what we do, but that's based solely upon the finished work of Jesus!
"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." Eph 4:32
(Note: We discuss all of this on this week's "Growing in Grace" podcast with me and Mike Kapler.)
Great stuff, Joel. Right on the mark!
ReplyDeleteToo often people are left with the false impression that Scripture can't be FULLY reconciled. Yet under a new covenant economy, there is no conflict.
Thanks for slicing the truth thinly, Brother!
ridiculously graced...
-mike.
Yep indeed, Mike. I formerly did a lot of head-scratching when I came across verses that didn't seem to make sense together, such as the words of Jesus here and the words of Paul elsewhere. But in light of two completely different covenants, and different reasons for each, it all makes a lot of sense now.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the multi-posts.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the parable of the unmerciful servant, and when Peter asked the Lord how many times should he forgive his brother?
We are still capable of offending the Lord. Why would 1 Thess 5:19 warn us about quenching the Holy Spirit? Why would God say "do not" if we're already forgiven? Ultimately, why would we even read the bible about sins if we're already forgiven?
This strange doctrine is ultimately teaching that we can commit sin and not worry about a thing. This is insane.
I want to make clear that what I'm not saying here is that we shouldn't forgive others. I'm simply saying that before the Cross, Jesus said to his hearers that God would not forgive them if they did not forgive others, and that is a very, very strong statement! But now, after the Cross, the Blood of Jesus has been shed for the remission of sin, and we stand forgiven because of that. God's forgiveness of us is not based upon our forgiveness of others, nor on any of our other actions, but is based upon His grace and the finished work of Jesus.
ReplyDeleteAnd so now, we don't forgive others in order for God to forgive us, but rather we forgive others because we've received such great forgiveness from God, through the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus.
We are now "the righteousness of God." (2 Cor 5:21). The gospel reveals the righteousness of God (Rom 1:17) that has been given to us as a gift, apart from our works. Now, of course we don't always walk according to who we truly are. Again, we are the righteousness of God. That is who we are. That is our new identity, not based upon our actions but based upon the gift of God. And so when we don't "behave" according to this new nature of ours, it's not that we're no longer the righteousness of God, and it's not that we're no longer completely forgiven. It's just that we've not fully appropriated the truth of who God says we are and has in fact made us to be.
The New Testament exhortations to do good and to not to evil, are not based upon whether or not we remain righteous (again, a gift, not something we do) or forgiven, but rather are based upon the fact that we are righteous and forgiven. Because we are new creations (2 Cor 5:17), joined as one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor 6:17), partaking in the very nature of God (2 Peter 1:4), then lets live like it! If we don't, we're still righteous and forgiven, because it's not based upon what we do, but it's based upon the gift of God.
This isn't a license to sin. This is a license to live according to our righteous identity!
Yeah it is a very strong statement. People didn't want to hear these kind of statements. Jesus and the Apostles died (except John) for statements that people didn't want to hear. Jesus IS the new covenant and He would not have said this or told the parable ot the two servants if this didn't also pertain to those under the new covenant. It would have been redundant!
DeleteHi Joel…
ReplyDeleteAs usual you make the point where it should be met. The idea of the “principles” of the Christian life is interesting. It sort of strikes me as “if you follow this morality” which to me diminishes the fact that a genuine follower of Jesus should be in the process of transformation by Jesus not by self help or “principles”. It is more me saying to Jesus “please make me the person you want me to be” than “how many angels are dancing on the head of a needle?”
By the way…I am finding it a bit tough to read your words with the translucent backdrop…not complaining, just a tip.
Hey there LS... great to hear from you, as always! Spot on with your comments. Indeed, it's not about self-help or principles or morality, but rather about the very life of Christ being "formed" ("fashioned") in us (Gal 4:19). Even "values" misses the point of the life of Christ in us.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment about reading the page. About a month ago I had done some experimenting with the new Blogger templates, and left it like this, meaning to get back to it because I know there are several issues with it. Gotta get to that soon. :D
Hi Joel…
ReplyDeleteDo you think that the “formation” and “fashioning” seems to “mystical” to some people that have a felt need for a check list?
I have also been using some of the new templates; I like quite a few of them, this one turned out pretty well:
http://brillianceandbrokensky.blogspot.com/
(Shameless plug :)
Thank you so much Joel! Since delving into trying to understand the difference between the covenants, I often wondered about this verse. You are the first person who has explained it the way that I suspected it might be!
ReplyDeleteFor years, I never thought to question the words of Jesus and if they apply to me as a Christian or not; I was taught they all apply. I agree with you now... we must always look to who the audience is when we read scriptures. (And I'm not trying to be rebellious).
Unfortunately (fortunately?), this changes many things. So... what is your take on the Beatitudes?
BTW - I have a friend named J Slick and you were really confusing me for awhile. I wondered if it was him - until I watched a video!
Howdy folks, just getting caught up here today. :)
ReplyDeleteLS, I think you're onto something there. A checklist is so much easier for some people to follow, rather than having the ongoing experience of the actual living life of Christ at work in them, being formed/shaped/fashioned in them on an ongoing basis.
Cathy, I think you are so very right... this changes many things! And indeed, this look at things is not out of rebellion, but out of a real desire to understand Christ and His ministry while He was on the earth, compared to His different ministry to us as He lives in and through us, and as He in fact has become our very life.
I just recently was part of a conversation on Facebook with someone who believes we are only to follow the words of Paul. (And not Peter, John, James, etc). I don't fully agree with him about all of that, but his main point was that Jesus had a pre-Cross ministry to the Jews, and that much of what He said was indeed His ministry to the Jews and not to anyone else.
So many of His words were spoken to them alone and for them alone, as part of God's overall ministry to them. Now, I do think that Jesus did also speak New Covenant things at times, as He looked ahead to what would ultimately be accomplished through the Cross and His resurrection from the dead, and we can glean so much out of all of that.
I'm still in an ongoing process of working a lot of this stuff out, so I don't have a specific answer about the Beatitudes. But I will say that my podcast host and I had some things to say about the teachings of Jesus that will perhaps not sit well with many in the church today. :) Again, as you say, this is not to be rebellious, but it's an honest look at what we truly think Jesus' earthly ministry was about, as compared to the post-Cross reality of life in Him.
The podcast is entitled "The Unattainable, Insurmountable, Unachievable Teachings of Jesus." :) (You can click on the link if you want to hear it. It will take you to our podcast page).
phew!!!! I thought I was a goner for a while there. Just been watching Joseph Prince and he's saying the same thing. This statement was made under :Law: But under grace He HAS forgiven us...
ReplyDeleteThat's right, Anonymous, we have been forgiven (past tense) of all sins - past, present and future! Through one sacrifice, 2,000 years ago, all our sin was taken away.
ReplyDelete