Number Nine, to fix the world community, forgiveness is key and vengeance belongs to the Creator. No longer are we to go tit for tat with our brother and sister, but instead, we are to forgive and extend mercy to them, exceeding our normal level of love and charity so we are God-like.
Individuals, families, and communities are breaking down or have been broken because of someone’s prideful inability to forgive. Because of someone’s prideful inability to take a higher road, they turn to execute vengeance or revenge on someone else.
These are the things that continue to destroy the world community. Avoid this nasty spiritual disease injected into communities by wickedness in high places.
To learn how to forgive isn’t easy, and this is why it takes deliberate practice and group support to learn this crucially important element.
Key Benefits of Forgiveness
All the great teachers teach this virtue, including the Greatest One, Jesus Christ. Aside from it being crucial for improving communities and social relationships, forgiving is good for one’s own health.
Forgiving others helps one’s anger, and the ability to moderate and control anger better. Forgiving improves mental health and overall physical health, and it also improves sleep.
Anger is not good for the health, as it bothers hormonal levels, but forgiving helps with that thus improving the heart. You’ve heard people say someone has got their blood pressure up; forgiving keeps it down.
There is plenty research on the benefits of forgiving, and this is why it certainly needs to be a part of your lifestyle. Forgiveness is key, and we must not forget all of its many benefits.
Selah\
The Kingdom of Heaven is Like ... (Matthew 18:23)
Now to underscore his teaching, Jesus indicates that repeated forgiveness is not just a guideline, but a foundational principle of the Kingdom. To teach this he employs a parable.
"Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants." (Matthew 18:23)
The first character introduced in the parable is a king. He must be a king who controls vast lands, for, as we'll see in a moment, one of his servants owes him a huge sum. The king is powerful. He decides to "settle accounts" (NIV, NRSV), "take account" (KJV) with his servants, who are obviously provincial governors or other officials in his government. The verb "settle" is synairō, used here in a commercial sense as "settle accounts, cast up accounts."3 The word "accounts" is the common noun logos. We often see logos used in the sense of, "word, message." But here (and in Matthew 18:23) it is used in a special sense as "computation, reckoning."4 The idea conveyed by these two words is to conduct an audit of the transactions of a business partner and then either receive what is due or pay what is due, depending upon the results of the audit.
The Massive Debt (Matthew 18:24-27)
The results of an audit of one of the King's government administrator's accounts, however, was damning.
"As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him." (Matthew 18:24)
The phrase "was brought" may indicate a certain unwillingness of the man to appear for the results of the audit. Not surprising, for this was a huge sum!
Josephus tells of an occasion when Ptolemy Ephinanes, King of Egypt (reigned 203-181 BC), asked principal men in his empire to bid for the position of tax farmer or tax collector for the provinces of Celesyria, Phoenicia, Judea, and Samaria. They bid 8,000 talents -- and were accused by Ptolemy of conspiring to bid too low. Whoever bid successfully for such a contract would be instantly liable to the king for a debt of 8,000 talents.5
A "talent" (talanton, the denomination of money referred to in the Parable of the Talents) was first a weight, then a unit of coinage. The value of a talent varied somewhat, but in general one Tyrian talent would be worth about 6,000 denarii,6 a denarius being the average amount that a laborer might earn for one day's work. If you calculate that a day laborer in our day might earn $100 or so, here's how you might calculate this administrator's debt:
10,000 talents = $60 billion
The debtor here was probably a provincial governor or perhaps a tax farmer, who had agreed to remit to the king a specific amount of taxes for a tax district. It was a staggering debt.
Foreclosure and Slavery (Matthew 18:25)
Alas, he couldn't pay, not even a portion.
"Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt." (Matthew 18:25)
Perhaps he had collected the taxes, but then invested them in some scheme that had failed miserably -- or perhaps they had been stolen by bandits during transfer to the king, or even lost when a ship went down. We don't know.
In ancient times, there were two main remedies: either sale of the person's goods to pay the debt or debtor's prison. Debtor's prison was not a punishment so much as a means to induce the debtor's relatives and friends to pay his debt, so to bring about his release.
In light of the immense size of this administrator's debt, there is no way his family could be induced to pay a portion to get him out of debtor's prison. A laborer would have to work for 1,000 years to pay such a debt! Nor would the sale of his estate cover such a massive debt. So his property and lands were seized to be sold for what the king could get out of them and the administrator and his family were ordered sold into slavery -- a common fate for those who couldn't pay a debt.7
Mercy (Matthew 18:26-27)
The administrator's case is hopeless, so he does the only thing he can do. He begs.
"26 The servant fell on his knees8 before him. 'Be patient with me,'he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.'27 The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go." (Matthew 18:24-27)
The administrator doesn't ask for mercy. Rather he asks for time. He requests the king's patience and rashly promises to "pay back everything." The king knows that such a promise of repayment is both impossible and silly. He also knows that even if he gained a pittance9 from the sale of the administrator's estate and the value of his family as slaves, it wouldn't even make a dent in the massive debt owed.
And so "the servant's master took pity on him, cancelled the debt,10 and let him go"11 (verse 27). "Took pity"(NIV), "out of pity for him"(NRSV), "was moved with compassion" (KJV) is splanchnizomai, "have pity, feel sympathy, with or for someone," from splanchnon, "the viscera, inward parts, entrails," considered in ancient times as the center of the emotions.12 The king's compassion wiped out the entire obligation. The administrator was released free and clear.
The man could probably not believe his good fortune. One minute he was a slave with nothing, and the next he was at least a nobleman with his estate intact. Why? Because of the whim of a pragmatic king who knew he couldn't "squeeze blood out of turnip," as our saying goes.
The Tiny Debt (Matthew 18:28-30)
In a happy daze, the administrator leaves the palace. Now the plot thickens.
"28 But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.
29 His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' 30 But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt." (Matthew 18:28-30)
The administrator sees one of his fellow government servants, one whom he has loaned 100 denarii, worth about 100 days work, perhaps $10,000 in our currency. It is a considerable sum, but not compared to the debt our administrator has just been forgiven, that is, $600 million.
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Yet the administrator grabs him violently and begins to choke him in his anger. He demands payment. When the fellow servant asks for patience and promises to pay it in full -- which was entirely possible with such a sum -- the administrator refuses and has him thrown into debtor's prison until the debt is paid in full.
His action might be understandable and even legal, but in light of the mercy he has just received, it is grossly inappropriate.
The King's Wrath (Matthew 18:31-34)
But others see this.
"31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed13 and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn't you have had mercy14 on your fellow servant just as I had on you?'"(Matthew 18:31-33)
The king calls the administrator back to his throne room. He calls him a "wicked" servant. The word is ponēros, "pertaining to being morally or socially worthless, wicked, evil, bad, base, vicious, degenerate."15 The king is livid with anger. He had forgiven the man an astronomical sum. He knew he would never see that money again. But as an act of mercy he forgave the entire debt. Why couldn't the administrator have the common decency to do the same for a relatively small sum? To refuse to do so was an insult to the king's own mercy.
"In anger his master turned him over16 to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed." (Matthew 18:34)
This is more than debtor's prison. This is the kind of active torture17 reserved for the king's enemies. In Jesus' day people would have nodded sadly. Though torture was prohibited by Jewish law as inhumane, scourging was commonly used by the Romans to interrogate prisoners. Jeremias observes:
"Torture was regularly employed in the East against a disloyal governor, or one who was tardy in the delivery of the taxes, in order to discover where they had hidden the money, or to extort the amount from their relations or friends. The non-Jewish practice in legal proceedings ... is drawn upon to intensify the frightfulness of the punishment."18
Jesus intended this parable to stick in his disciples' memories.
Q2. (Matthew 18:23-35) In the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant, what is the purpose of contrasting the huge debt with the small one? If we were to put ourselves in the parable, which debt would we owe? Which debt might be owed us? Why was the king insulted by the unmerciful servant's action?
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Jesus' Warning (Matthew 18:35)
But then Jesus says something unexpected and terrible.
"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart." (Matthew 18:35)
Forgiveness "from your heart" is in contrast to forgiveness with one's lips only (Matthew 15:8, quoting Isaiah 29:13). The forgiveness must be genuine.
Jesus refers to God as "my heavenly Father" in an intimate and formal title. How could our heavenly Father punish unforgiving people? Is Jesus serious?
Q3. (Matthew 18:34-35) Why does Jesus frighten us with his statement: "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you..."? Is he serious? Is forgiveness (1) a learned grace, or (2) a foundational principle of the Kingdom?
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The Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:12)
Jesus is quite serious about forgiveness! Consider the fifth petition of the Lord's Prayer, and Jesus' subsequent commentary on it:
"Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." (Matthew 6:12)
"For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." (Matthew 6:14-15)
Three Greek words are used in relationship to sin in the Lord's Prayer in Matthew and Luke. Christians from different traditions use different words as they recite the Lord's Prayer.
"Debt" (Matthew 6:12), Greek opheilēma, 1. "debt = what is owed, one's due." 2. in a religious sense debt = sin (as Aramaic hobah in rabbinical literature).19
"Trespass" (Matthew 6:14-15, KJV), Greek paraptōma, "in imagery of one making a false step so as to lose footing: a violation of moral standards, offense, wrongdoing, sin."20 Paraptōma is a compound word from para- "beside or near"+ piptō "to fall." Thayer defines it as "a lapse or deviation from truth and uprightness; a sin, misdeed."21
"Sin" (Luke 11:4), Greek hamartia "sin. The action itself as well as its result, every departure from the way of righteousness�."22 Literally, "a failing to hit the mark."23
But this prayer, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors," is a sort of trick prayer. It is a prayer Jesus uses to teach his disciples the elements of praying aright. The Greek word hōs, is a conjunction marking a point of comparison, meaning "as."24 Jesus teaches us to ask God to forgive us "as" we forgive others. In other words, if we forgive others only a little and hold grudges, we are asking God to forgive us only a little and bear a grudge against us. Wow! How many people pray the Lord's Prayer thoughtlessly, and each time they pray, they pray a curse of unforgiveness down upon themselves!
Jesus is making a point in this prayer, a point which he explains in more detail just after the prayer:
"For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." (Matthew 6:14-15)
How could it be plainer? Jesus had just told his disciples not to seek retribution.
"Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:44-45).
Now he makes it clear that we must forgive, if we are to be considered sons of the Father. Otherwise he will not forgive us.
Quintessential Forgiveness
Perhaps the most powerful example of such forgiveness is that of Jesus himself. "He came to his own [people]," John records, "and his own [people] did not receive him" (John 1:12). His miracles and bread attracted the crowds, but when he had to say some hard things, they would leave as quickly as they had come (John 6:66). A number of times, when he said something they didn't consider Kosher, they tried to kill him, but he slipped away from their grasp (Luke 4:28-30; John 8:59; 10:31).
But the time finally came that God had planned (Galatians 4: 4-5). Jesus knew it was coming, and though it filled him with pain to think of it, he faced it openly. This time when his enemies sought to arrest him, he stood forth, said "I am the man," and allowed them to take him. He allowed a mock trial filled with patently false and unsupported charges. He could have called legions of angels to deliver him -- the armies of heaven were at his beck and call -- but he did not. Soldiers spat in his face and mocked him with a cruel crown of thorns and a purple robe, which they said made him look like a king. They scourged him nearly to death. Pilate washed his hands and ordered his crucifixion. And as they crucified him, he said,
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34)
Love and Forgiveness
If we are to know and understand God, we must love. We must know and understand forgiveness. If we reject this part of God, we reject the kernel of who he is (1 John 4:16-21). So when Jesus puts it so bluntly -- you must forgive in order to be forgiven (Matthew 6:14-15) -- we dare not reject this truth.
Some ask: Isn't this a sort of "works righteousness"? If you are required to do something before you can be forgiven, then isn't this righteousness by works?
No. There's an old story of how to catch a monkey. You chain a cage to a post, and put an orange in the cage. Then when the monkey tries to grasp the orange, and can't pull it through the bars he is trapped. Can't he just release the orange and escape? Yes, but monkeys don't let go of the things that enslave them. They hold on tightly -- just like people. And so he is captured, just as surely as if he were in the cage itself.
To be free you must let go of unforgiveness. Is that meritorious so as to earn heaven? No, not any more than repentance from sin is meritorious. We don't earn heaven by repentance or by forgiving. But we must let go of our bondage to sin and hate if we want to receive something better.
Q4. (Matthew 6:12, 14-15) How could praying the Lord's Prayer become a curse upon a person? Is forgiving in order to be forgiven a kind of "righteousness by works"? Why or why not?
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The Struggle to Forgive
Forgiveness is sometimes terribly difficult. It's usually not so hard to forgive people we don't know. The people with whom we have a relationship of trust who turn on us, who betray our trust -- those people are the hardest to forgive. Husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, children, and boyfriends and girlfriends and our best friends. They can turn on us and wound us deeply. Sometimes we even doubt that, "It is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all." Maybe we should withdraw and protect ourselves and never venture out again.
No. The path of health is forgiveness. The path of healing is forgiving.
Counterfeit Forgiveness
Sometimes we resist forgiveness because we mistake it for substitutes. In my article "Don't Pay the Price of Counterfeit Forgiveness,"25 I try to distinguish true forgiveness from its chameleons. True forgiveness does not minimize the sin or the hurt, nor excuse the sinner. True forgiveness chooses not to hold the sin against the sinner any longer. True forgiveness is pardon.
You may be freshly wounded and find your anger too massive to forgive. The injustice may be ongoing, the outrage constant. Perhaps you do not feel you are able to forgive right now. Then I ask you to pray this prayer: "Lord, I find it beyond my ability to forgive this person. I ask you to make me able to forgive in the future."Even that prayer may stretch your faith (or obedience) to pray, but pray it anyway. The God of Forgiveness answers prayers like that. He makes a way where there is no way. He takes us beyond ourselves.
In my experience as a pastor over the decades, I've found that forgiving is perhaps the most difficult thing Christians struggle with. And it is most rewarding as they are able to forgive and find the blessings of forgiving washing them and refreshing them.
Jesus' Hard "Family" Experience
I am reminded that Jesus had hard "family" experience with forgiveness. I am thinking of Jesus' Father-Son-Holy Spirit family. In the Old Testament we find the horrendous insults to God delivered by his people, by their thoughtlessness and carelessness, but also by their prostitution and unfaithfulness, their deliberate substitution of worship of Him with worship of idols, their murder of the prophets and apostles he sent to speak truth to them. The list goes on and on. One of the most poignant verses of the Bible appears in Isaiah:
"I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, 'Here am I, here am I.' All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, Who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations -- A people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens...."(Isaiah 65:1-3)
In spite of a history of insult and betrayal,
"For God so loved the world, that he sent his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16, KJV)
Jesus' demand for forgiveness must be viewed against the backdrop of God's persistent, steadfast love. Jesus demands forgiveness as a condition of entry into his kingdom, but he also modeled it and models it still today. If we can't forgive, we can't understand or know God, for that is what makes him tick.
Unforgiveness Is Not an Option.
I am convinced by Jesus' words that unforgiveness is not an option for us. We must forgive. We make all sorts of excuses for ourselves. We find doctrinal reasons to set aside the clear teachings of our Lord and not take them seriously. But his words remain. Unforgiveness is not an option for a follower of Jesus. We may struggle, we may not have the strength on our own and call out to Him for the will and the power to forgive, but we cannot hold onto our bitterness -- and continue to hold onto him.
Forgiveness and Non-Repentance
This is a tough one. Do we have to forgive someone who does not repent? We read:
"If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him." (Luke 17:4)
I think that forgiveness is something like a pardon. We have to accept it for it to be granted. In a technical sense, we can't really forgive someone who does not repent. But that doesn't let us off the hook. I think that God requires us to love our enemies, and this from our side of the relationship differs little from what forgiveness would require of us. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is very clear:
"I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.... Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:43, 48)
 A book of the compiled lessons is available in both e-book and paperback formats. |
So technical forgiveness is not the issue, really. It is love from the heart, that is what God requires of us toward even our enemies. Forgiveness is what flows from that kind of heart when there is repentance. Love must always flow.
Not that any of this is easy. Often it is tremendously difficult. But discipleship is following and learning from Jesus. If we fail to learn this lesson of forgiveness and loving our enemies, we miss the essence of God himself.
Prayer
Father, this is a very sobering passage that brings us to the core of Kingdom values -- mercy and love. Teach me this in my heart of hearts, I pray. Free me from bitterness so I can forgive those who have hurt me, so I might be eligible for your Kingdom of mercy and forgiveness. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.
Key Verses
"Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, 'Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?' Jesus answered, 'I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.'" (Matthew 18:21-22, NIV)
"Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." (Matthew 6:12)
"For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." (Matthew 6:14-15, NIV)
References (Abbreviations)
1. Bruce C. Birch, "Number," ISBE 3:559.
2. "This word with the number seven 'may be short for "seventy times seven times," but is more likely "seventy-seven times"'" (Hebdomēkontakis, BDAG 269). "The decisive argument for 'seventy-seven' times is that the expression reproduces Genesis 4:24 (Septuagint), where it is the translation of a Hebrew expression that means 'seventy-seven times.'" (Morris, Matthew, p. 472, fn. 65).
3. Synairō, BDAG 964.
4. Logos, BDAG 603, 2b.
5. Josephus, Antiquities, 12.4.4.
6. "At 6,000 drachmas or denarii to the Tyrian talent, a day laborer would need to work 60,000,000 days to pay off the debt. Even assuming an extraordinary payback rate of 10 talents per year, the staggering amount would ensure imprisonment for at least 1,000 years" (Talanton, BDAG 988).
7. Jewish law prohibited sale of a man except for theft, and sale of the wife was forbidden, so this parable was cast in a non-Jewish context (Jeremias, Parables, p. 211, citing Sota 3.8; Tos Sota 2.9).
8. Proskyneō, "to express in attitude or gesture one's complete dependence on or submission to a high authority figure, (fall down and) worship, do obeisance to, prostrate oneself before, do reverence to, welcome respectfully." Frequently used to designate the custom of prostrating oneself before persons and kissing their feet or the hem of their garment, the ground, etc. The Persians did this in the presence of their deified king, and the Greeks before a divinity or something holy (BDAG 883, b). The KJV "worshipped" expresses a chiefly British, now archaic use of the term, to honor a human being. The word appears in the old form of the Anglican wedding ceremony, "With this Ring I thee wed, with my Body I thee worship, and with all my worldly Goods I thee endow; In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; Amen."
9. Jeremias (Parables, p. 211) notes that the average value of a slave was 500 to 2,000 denarii, citing b Qid 18a (Bar.); B.Q. 4.5.
10. "Cancelled the debt" (NIV), "forgave the debt" (NRSV, KJV) is two words, daneion, "loan" (BDAG 212) and aphiēmi, here, "to release from legal or moral obligation or consequence, cancel, remit, pardon" (BDAG 156, 2).
11. The word "let him go" (NIV), "released" (NRSV), "loosed" (KJV) is apolyō, a legal term meaning, "to grant acquittal, set free, release, pardon a prisoner" (BDAG 117, 1).
12. Splanchnizomai, BDAG 938; splanchnon, BDAG 938.
13. Lypeō, "become sad, sorrowful, distressed" (BDAG 604, 2a).
14. Eleeō, "to be greatly concerned about someone in need, have compassion/mercy/pity" (BDAG 315).
15. Ponēros, BDAG 853, 1aα.
16. Paradidōmi, "hand over, turn over, give up a person," as a technical term of police and courts, "hand over into [the] custody [of]" (BDAG 762, 1a).
17. "Jailers to be tortured" (NIV), "to be tortured" (NRSV), "tormenters" (KJV), is basanistēs, "guard in a prison, frequently under orders to torture prisoners, oppressive jailer," in our verse, "merciless jailer" (BDAG 168). The word is closely related to basanos, "severe pain occasioned by punitive torture, torture, torment" (BDAG 168).
18. Jeremias, Parables, pp. 212-213.
19. Opheilēma, BDAG 743.
20. Paraptōma, BDAG 770.
21. Paraptōma, Thayer 485.
22. Hamartia, BDAG 43-44.
23. Hamartia, Thayer 30.
24. Hōs, BDAG 1103-1106.
25. "Don't Pay the Price of Counterfeit Forgiveness," Moody Monthly, October 1985, pp. 106-108; https://www.joyfulheart.com/maturity/forgive.htm
“The fruit of abiding love is authentic forgiveness.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – March 4, 2022
Love does not demand its own way. It is not irritable or touchy. It does not hold grudges and will hardly even notice when others do it wrong. 1 Corinthians 13:5, TLB
Since the cross of Christ boldly proclaims the love and forgiveness of God, it’s ironic to me that followers of Jesus could utter a phrase like, “I can never forgive him or I may not get mad, but I’ll get even”. Really? Are we not called and empowered with the same love and forgiveness that was generously extended to us when we placed our trust in the Lord? Though I will confess it took me years to fully forgive my absent dad. The layers of anger, resentment and bitterness took time for God’s grace, love and forgiveness working in me for me to freely extend the same to my dad. Because of my heavenly Father’s love and forgiveness for me, I was eventually able to love and totally forgive my earthly father. The fruit of abiding love is authentic forgiveness.
Jesus tells the story of a man who is forgiven an overwhelming financial debt. But this same person who had been shown buckets of mercy refuses to extend the same forgiveness to his servant who owes him a much smaller amount. The unmerciful one even goes to the extreme measure to place his servant in debtor prison, while his family suffers in his absence and where he is physically unable to earn wages to pay down his debt. Jesus goes on to describe the unmerciful man as the one who is tortured because of his unforgiveness. The torture of anger, resentment and bitterness are all fruits of unforgiveness, while love’s healing fruit is forgiveness.
“Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you? Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart” (Matthew 18:33-35, NLT).
Henri Nouwen, beautifully describes the connection of our being loved to our ability to forgive:
“You have to keep saying to yourself: “I am being loved by an unconditional, unlimited love and that love allows me to be a free person, center of my own actions and decisions.” The more you can come to realize this, the more you will be able to forgive those who have hurt you and love them in their brokenness. Without a deep feeling of self-respect, you cannot forgive and will always feel anger, resentment, and revenge. The greatest human act is forgiveness: “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned against us.” Forgiveness stands in the center of God’s love for us and also in the center of our love for each other. Loving one another means forgiving one another over and over again.”
I like how Nouwen leans into the idea that “love allows me to be a free person”, and he goes on to connect my capacity to forgive with love, “the more you come to realize this, the more you will be able to forgive”. For God so loved He gave—and forgave. Yes! You are capable to love as the Lord has loved you, and you are commanded to love as the Lord has loved you. As Jesus patiently explained to Peter (who was looking for a forgiveness quota), love forgives until in heaven you see the face of love—Jesus. Love has no grudges, is hard to offend and forgives!
“For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins (Matthew 6:14-15).
Prayer
Heavenly Father, help me to love and forgive as you love and forgive me, through Christ’s love and in Jesus’ name, amen.
here are two main words in the Old Testament for “forgiveness,” and they’re usually translated in the semantic range or cluster of “pardon” / “pardoned” / “forgive” / “forgiveness” / “forgiven” / “forgiving.” Together they form a mega-them in the Hebrew Bible. The two words are nāśā and sālǎḥ.
The first word is transliterated nāśā.
The word nāśā (accent on the second syllable, with the vowel sounding like the word “ah’”) means “the taking away, forgiveness or pardon of sin, iniquity, and transgression.” So characteristic is this action of taking away sin that it is listed as one of God’s attributes (e.g., Exod 34:7; Num 14:18, Mic 7:18).
Sin can be forgiven and forgotten by God because it is “taken up and carried away.” In Exodus 32:32, 34:7, Numbers 14:18, 1 Samuel 15:25, Job 7:21, and Micah 7:18, nāśā means “take away guilt, iniquity, transgression, etc.” (i.e., “forgive” or “pardon”). Micah 7:18-19 contains these wonderful words:
Who is a God like you,
who pardons [nāśā] sin and forgives the transgression
of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
but delight to show mercy.
You will again have compassion on us;
you will tread our sins underfoot
and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
This passage reveals that no angel or human has a character so willing to pardon wickedness done against himself or others as God does. Micah 7:18 says that God delights in showing mercy. This means he enjoys doing it. He does not pardon our sins in a begrudging way. Verse 19 here shows how far God removes our sins from us. He figuratively hurls them into the depths of the sea.
The second word is transliterated sālǎḥ.
The word sālǎḥ (accent on the second syllable, same vowel sound as nāśā, hard “ch” ending as in “Bach”) is used of God’s offer of pardon and forgiveness to the sinner. Never does this word in any of its forms refer to people forgiving each other (e.g., Exod 34:9; Num 14:19-20; 2 Kgs 5:18, 24:4; Ps 25:11; Isa 55:7; Jer 5:1, 7, 33:8, 50:20; Lam 3:42). It is exclusively a divine action.
Sālǎḥ removes guilt associated with a moral sin or wrongdoing connected to a ritual or vow. Isaiah 55:7 reveals that God calls individuals to turn from their known sinful ways and thoughts to him so that their sins may be pardoned:
Let the wicked forsake his way
and the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon [sālǎḥ].
And now let us add a New Testament (Greek) word to the mix:
The Greek word is transliterated Iēsous.
Iēsous (ee-YAY-soos) is a proper noun that comes into English as “Jesus,” which is the Greek form of the Hebrew “Joshua,” meaning “the Lord saves.” Matthew 1:21 says:
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus [Iēsous], because he will save his people from their sins.
According to the New Testament, Jesus is the incarnate Word of God, the Creator and Savior of the world, the founder of Christianity, and the sinless exemplar of the nature and ways of God. Since the name was common in his lifetime, he was usually referred to in a more specific way, such as “Jesus of Nazareth” (e.g., John 1:26).
“Christ,” which means “the anointed one,” is a title acknowledging that Jesus was the expected Messiah of Israel. In the Gospels, Jesus is usually identified as “the Christ” (e.g., Matt 16:16). After Peter’s sermon at Pentecost in Acts 2:38, he was usually referred to as “Jesus Christ.” This composite name joins the historic figure with the messianic role that prophetic expectation and early Christianity knew he possessed.
In Luke 7:36-50, Jesus is anointed by a sinful woman in the presence of Simon the Pharisee, a religious leader in first-century Israel. The scene is provocative and scandalous for its day, but the encounter ends like this in vv. 48-49:
Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
That’s the right question to ask. Jesus Christ is the embodied forgiveness of God. He is nāśā and sālǎḥ in the flesh.
Since the time of Christ, people have stumbled over the doctrine that Christ had to shed His blood to atone for our sins. When Jesus announced to the twelve that He had to go to Jerusalem where He would suffer and die, the apostle Peter rebuked Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This should never happen to You!” (Matt. 16:21-22). The apostle Paul wrote, “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing….” He went on to say, “but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:18, 23-24).
Liberal theologians hate the idea of Christ’s blood paying for our sins. They have called such views “slaughterhouse religion.” They ridicule Christians who believe in a God who would be petty enough to be angry over our sins, and pagan enough to be appeased by blood. The playwright, George Bernard Shaw, bitterly attacked the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, saying, “It is saturated with the ancient—and to me quite infernal—superstition of atonement by blood sacrifice, which I believe Christianity must completely get rid of, if it is to survive among thoughtful people” (cited in “Our Daily Bread,” 8/79).
But from the start of human history, God has made it plain that forgiveness of sins is only possible through the shed blood of an acceptable substitute. When Adam and Eve sinned, they became aware of their own nakedness and sewed fig leaves together to try to cover their guilt and shame. But God did not accept their approach. Instead, He clothed the guilty couple with the skin of a slaughtered animal (Gen. 3:21). In so doing, God demonstrated in a graphic way the horrific penalty of sin, but also His great mercy in providing an acceptable substitute.
God no doubt explained to Adam and Eve and their children the type of sacrifices that He would accept. Abel obeyed God by bringing a sacrifice from his flock, but Cain presented to God an offering from the fruit of the ground. God had regard for Abel’s offering, but He had no regard for Cain’s offering (Gen. 4:3-5). In anger, Cain murdered his brother. And in his pride and rebellion, Cain became the father of those who hate God’s ordained way of forgiveness through the shedding of blood.
Pagan religions have always practiced appeasing the gods or spirits through blood sacrifices. Sometimes they have even gone so far as to offer human sacrifices, including their own children. But we would be mistaken to think that the Jews adopted their sacrificial system by copying the pagans. Rather, as John Calvin pointed out, “all the heathen sacrifices were corruptions, which had derived their origin from the institutions of God” (Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker reprint], on Heb. 9:16, p. 209).
Perhaps some in the Hebrew church had unbelieving Jewish friends who ridiculed them because they believed in a crucified Messiah. But the author is pointing out that the entire Jewish system of worship was based on blood sacrifices, and that God instituted that system to point ahead to the one all-sufficient sacrifice of Jesus Christ. To go back to the old system would be to return to a system that never could cleanse their consciences and to abandon the eternal redemption that God provided in Christ (9:12-14). In our text, he hammers home the point that…
Forgiveness of sins comes only through the blood of Christ.
In 9:15 he shows that because Christ offered His own blood as the sacrifice for our sins, He is the mediator of a new covenant (see 8:6). He focuses on God’s promise of forgiveness of sins under the new covenant (8:12). He shows that Christ’s death covered all of the sins of those who were called under the old covenant, so that they “may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”
The mention of “inheritance” raises the idea of a will. There is some confusion in these verses because the same Greek word can be translated either “covenant” or “will” (or “testament”). In 9:15, 18, and 20, it should be translated “covenant.” But in 9:16 and 17, it has reference to a will or last testament, stemming from the mention of inheritance (the NIV translates it this way). A will is only in effect after the death of the one who made the will. In a similar manner, Moses inaugurated the old covenant with blood in accordance with God’s command. But Jesus inaugurated the new covenant with His own blood. Thus our salvation (our inheritance) rests securely on the new covenant in Christ’s blood, which is far better than the blood of animals. Consider three things:
1. Everyone needs forgiveness of sins because our sins have alienated us from God.
As I said last week, you can deny guilt and become hardened to the point that your conscience no longer bothers you, but if God is holy and if you have violated His holy standards, you stand legally guilty in His courtroom. So the main issue with guilt is not just guilty feelings, but actual forensic liability. If God condemns you in the day of judgment, your guilt becomes eternal. God’s decreed final penalty for sin is eternal separation from Him in the lake of fire (called “the second death,” Rev. 20:14).
Sinners usually deny their need for God’s forgiveness by diminishing the holiness and justice of God and by magnifying their own goodness or merits. They wrongly think, “Surely God is love, and a loving God wouldn’t send a good person like me to hell.” But the Bible is clear that God is absolutely holy and just. He will punish all sin. His love does not mean that He sets aside His holiness or His justice. The Bible is also clear that we are far more sinful in God’s presence than we ever imagined. We are born alienated from God because Adam’s guilt was imputed to us. We quickly added our own sins to Adam’s guilt! We incurred guilt by violating God’s holy standards, both by our deeds and thoughts.
Being alienated from God, we need a mediator to reconcile us to Him. Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5). “He is the mediator of a new covenant” (Heb. 9:15). If you have ever been involved in a legal dispute, a mediator may help the two sides come to a satisfactory agreement. He listens to the terms of both sides and tries to work out a solution. Christ knew God’s absolute holiness. He also knew man’s enormous debt of sin. He took on human flesh, lived in complete conformity to God’s holy standards, and then offered Himself as the price of redemption that God’s justice demands. In so doing, He brought both sides together (see 2 Cor. 5:18-21).
Sometimes people wonder how those who lived before Christ were saved. The answer is, they were saved in the same way that we are saved, through faith in the shed blood of Christ. The sacrifices that they offered symbolized or pictured the sacrifice of Christ who would offer Himself as their substitute. Isaiah (53:5-6, 11) wrote,
But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him…. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities.
Thus the Old Testament sacrifices postponed the penalty for sins until Christ paid for them at the cross. The salvation of the saints before Christ was, so to speak, on credit, until Christ paid the bill. Paul says the same thing in Romans 3:23-26,
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
The fact that everyone is a sinner in need of God’s forgiveness means that you can offer the gospel to every person knowing that it is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes. You may feel intimidated because the person you’re talking to is highly educated and intelligent. He may launch off into philosophy or science to try to prove that there is no God. Don’t be threatened. Just keep in mind that this guy is a sinner who is going to die and stand before a holy God. He needs a mediator to reconcile him to God before that day. Jesus Christ is the only such mediator. His shed blood is the price of redemption for sinners who trust in Him.
2. God’s uniform method for the forgiveness of sins has been the shedding of blood.
God decreed that “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). In Leviticus 17:11, God explains why blood must be shed: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.” God’s justice demands the payment of the penalty, which is death. In His mercy, He will accept the death of an acceptable substitute in place of the death of the sinner. The system of animal sacrifices under the old covenant pictured and pointed ahead to Christ, the lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world (John 1:29). Note three things:
A. SIN LEADS TO PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL DEATH.
God told Adam and Eve that in the day that they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would surely die (Gen. 2:17). But they ate of the fruit and did not drop dead that day. Why not? At the moment that they ate of the fruit, they died spiritually. Previously, they had enjoyed intimate fellowship with God, with no barriers between them. But instantly they were alienated from Him and tried to hide themselves from His holy presence.
On that same day, the process of physical death set in. Although in God’s providence and purpose, those early humans lived for hundreds of years, they all died. Their bodies became subject to aging and disease. Sin resulted in death through murder and war. All of the ugly horrors of the world, whether the ravages of disease, the atrocities of crime, terrorism, and war, or the environmental devastation of the world’s resources, are the result of sin.
When I have read stories about missionaries going into savage tribes with the gospel, I have marveled that these tribes had not annihilated themselves centuries before. Their histories are one long account of one tribe wronging the other tribe, and then that tribe taking revenge in brutal ways. Then the other tribe retaliates and the cycle goes on and on. The same thing is true, however, in more “civilized” parts of the world. The entire history of the world is a history of battles over territory or resources. Proud men lord it over other proud men, until they are overthrown. Sin is at the root of all of the physical death in the world. And sin results in every person being spiritually dead, alienated from the life of God.
B. BLOOD GRAPHICALLY PICTURES THE COSTLINESS OF SIN.
The word “blood” occurs six times in verses 18-22, plus “death” or “dead” three times in verses 15-17. Have you ever thought about how gory and messy the Jewish religion was? Everything was sprinkled with blood. The priests slaughtered dozens and sometimes hundreds or thousands of animals at the altar. They took bowls full of blood and sprinkled it on the altar. The carcasses were burned on the altar, so that the smell would have been constant and overwhelming. I’ve never seen the slaughter of a bull or sheep or goat. I buy my meat pre-cut and shrink-wrapped in cellophane at the grocery store. To be transported back in time and witness the sacrifices at the tabernacle would be a shocking experience for most of us. The blood graphically pictured the cost of sin.
C. THE OLD COVENANT WAS INAUGURATED WITH BLOOD, BECAUSE DEATH IS GOD’S DECREED PENALTY FOR SIN.
The author mentions details in 9:19 that are not included in the account in Exodus 24.There is no mention there of goats, water, scarlet wool, hyssop, or the sprinkling of the book. Other texts mention some of these things in other rituals (Lev. 1:10; 14:4-6; Num. 19:6, 18). Either the author is collectively gathering up all of these rituals into one, since he is dealing with the general subject of all things in the Old Testament being cleansed by blood (so Calvin and John Owen). Or, he may be relying on oral tradition, with which all of the Jews were familiar. But, his point is, “according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood” (9:22). The exception was that a poor man could offer a grain offering instead of an animal sacrifice (Lev. 5:11-13). But the exception did not negate the rule, that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” God was making the point that death is His decreed penalty for our sins.
Thus every person needs forgiveness of sins. God’s uniform method for the forgiveness of sins has been the shedding of blood.
3. The death of Jesus inaugurated the new covenant with blood.
Jesus’ blood, of course, is a figure of speech referring to His death. While Jesus’ physical sufferings were bloody and awful, it was what He went through spiritually that redeemed us from the curse of the Law. As Paul put it, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). Christ’s worst agony on the cross was to be separated from the Father as He bore our punishment.
In 9:16-17, the author uses the analogy of a last will and testament to show that forgiveness comes to us as heirs of Christ and that forgiveness comes to us through His blood.
A. FORGIVENESS COMES TO US AS HEIRS OF CHRIST.
To receive an inheritance, you have to be included in the will, and the person making the will must die. Those whom God calls (9:15) are the heirs. The emphasis here is not on men calling upon God, but on God’s calling of men. In other words, He is the owner of the estate, and He makes up the will, choosing the heirs. He has a specific list, not a sign-up sheet. But once the will has been drawn up, it is not put into effect until the death of the testator.
We all know this principle. Ray Stedman (What More Can God Say? [G/L Regal], p. 139) tells how he was at a meeting with a group of people where the director of a Christian conference center was explaining the procedures for securing additional properties to expand the ministry. He described an arrangement that the center had with a widow, where they paid her an annuity until her death, and on her death her property would be deeded over to the conference center. One man immediately raised his hand and facetiously asked, “How healthy is she?” The question was in bad taste, but it illustrates the truth that wills are of no value to the beneficiaries until the death of the testator.
So the question you need to answer is, “Have you heard God’s call in the gospel and responded with faith in Jesus’ death?” He died to inaugurate the benefits of the will for the heirs. If you are an heir of Christ through faith in His blood, you have the benefit of forgiveness that His death secured.
B. FORGIVENESS COMES ONLY THROUGH THE BLOOD OF CHRIST.
If there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood, then the opposite is also true: with the shedding of blood, there is forgiveness! As we saw from 9:9, these Old Testament sacrifices could not make the worshiper perfect in conscience. They sanctified for the cleansing of the flesh, but “how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (9:13-14)!
We would not associate sprinkling blood on things as cleansing them (9:13, 22), but rather, as staining them. If you’ve ever gotten blood on a nice shirt, you know that you need to rinse it out quickly or it will permanently stain your shirt. To think of taking blood and sprinkling the book, the people, the tabernacle, and all the sacred vessels seems like it would dirty them, not cleanse them.
But modern medicine (of which the ancient Hebrews had no clue) has revealed how accurate it is to speak of the cleansing property of blood. Dr. Paul Brand, who specialized in the treatment of leprosy, wrote (with Philip Yancey, Christianity Today [2/18/83], p. 13) about how the blood is designed to cleanse the body of toxins and wastes that are built up in the tissues:
No cell lies more than a hair’s breadth from a blood capillary, lest poisonous by-products pile up…. Through a basic chemical process of gas diffusion and transfer, individual red blood cells, traveling slowly inside narrow capillaries, simultaneously release their cargoes of fresh oxygen and absorb waste products (carbon dioxide, urea, and uric acid). The red cells deliver these potentially hazardous chemicals to organs that can dump them outside the body.
He goes on to tell how the lungs and kidneys, plus the liver and spleen, work to cleanse the blood of these poisons to keep our system cleansed and healthy. Each red blood cell can only sustain the sequence of loading and unloading these chemicals for about a quarter million circuits. Then they are broken down and recycled by the liver, while the bone marrow releases new red cells to continue the process (about four million cells per second!).
God designed this as a beautiful picture to show that just as blood cleanses our bodies from poisons, so the blood of Christ, applied to our hearts by faith, cleanses our souls from the poison of sin. Regarding the spiritual cleansing that we need, someone wrote, “The blood of animals cannot cleanse from sin because it is non-moral. The blood of sinning man cannot cleanse because it is immoral. The blood of Christ itself alone can cleanse because it is moral” (cited by W. H. Griffith Thomas, Hebrews: A Devotional Commentary [Eerdmans] pp. 117-118). The blood of Christ was shed to provide the cleansing from sin and forgiveness that we all need. Have you applied it to your soul? It is God’s only way for forgiveness of sins.
Conclusion
A legend says that during a serious illness, the devil came into Martin Luther’s sick room, looked at him with a triumphant smile, and unrolled a big scroll, which unwound by itself. Luther read from the scroll the long, fearful record of his own sins, one by one. At first, he reeled in despair.
But then, suddenly, Luther cried out, “One thing you have forgotten. The rest is all true, but one thing you left out: ‘The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin’” As Luther said this, the accuser of the brethren and his long scroll disappeared (Paul Tan, Encyclopedia of 7,700 Illustrations [Assurance Publishers], # 480).
Luther also said (cited by R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John’s Gospel [Augsburg Publishing House], p. 130),
Sin has but two places where it may be; either it may be with you, so that it lies upon your neck, or upon Christ, the Lamb of God. If now it lies upon your neck, you are lost; if, however, it lies upon Christ, you are free and will be saved. Take now whichever you prefer.
Forgiveness of your sins comes only through the blood of Jesus Christ. Make sure that you have applied His blood to your heart by faith!
In the Old Testament, there are two primary Hebrew words which are translated as “pardon”, “pardoned” “forgive”, “forgiveness”, “forgiven” or “forgiving”. These are “nasa” and “salah”. Harris, Archer and Waltke say “nasa” means “the taking away, forgiveness or pardon of sin, iniquity and transgression. So characteristic is this action of taking away sin, that it is listed as one of God’s attributes (Exodus 34:7; Numbers 14:18, Micah 7:18)…Sin can be forgiven and forgotten, because it is taken up and carried away”. [1] Brown, Driver and Briggs say in Exodus 32:32, 34:7, Numbers 14:18, 1 Samuel 15:25, Job 7:21 and Micah 7:18, “nasa” means “take away guilt, iniquity, transgression etc., i.e. forgive”. [2]
Micah 7:18-19 contains these wonderful words: “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” This verse reveals that no angel or human has a character so willing to pardon wickedness done against Himself or others, as what God has.
Micah 7:18 says God delights in showing mercy. This means He enjoys doing it. He does not pardon our sins in a begrudging way. Verse 19 here shows how far God removes our sins from us – He figuratively hurls them into the depths of the sea.
When referring to the Hebrew word “salah”, Harris, Archer and Waltke say, “‘salah’ is used of God’s offer of pardon and forgiveness to the sinner. Never does this word in any of its forms refer to people forgiving each other”. [3] “Salah” is used in Exodus 34:9, Numbers 14:19-20, 2 Kings 5:18, 24:4, Psalm 25:11, Isaiah 55:7, Jeremiah 5:1, 5:7, 33:8, 50:20 and Lamentations 3:42.
Isaiah 55:7 reveals God requires humans to turn from their known sinful ways and thoughts to Him in order for their sins to be pardoned: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”
Greek words for forgiveness or pardon
There are four main words used in the original Greek New Testament in relation to the forgiveness or pardon of our sins or crimes against God. These are the verb “aphiemi”, its associated noun “aphesis”, “charizomai” and “apoluo”.
The word “aphiemi” means “to send forth, send away, to remit or forgive debts and sins”. [4] Vine goes on to say that “aphiemi” “like its corresponding noun (aphesis), firstly signifies the remission of the punishment due to sinful conduct, the deliverance of the sinner from the penalty divinely, and, therefore righteously, imposed; secondly, it involves the complete removal of the cause of the offence; such remission is based upon the vicarious and propitiatory sacrifice of Christ”. [5] The word remission” means a cancelling or a release from something. The word “vicarious” means done on behalf of another or acting in place of someone. “Propitiation” means the removal of God’s anger against sinners and their sins.
Bauer says “aphiemi” means “cancel, remission of the guilt (debt) of sin…divine forgiveness”. [6]
There are numerous verses in the New Testament which use the word “aphiemi”. Romans 4:7, James 5:15, 1 John 1:9 and 2:12 are examples. Romans 4:7 relates to new creations in Christ: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven…” 1 John 2:12 is a wonderful statement of what happens when we receive Jesus as Lord and Saviour – our sins are forgiven or remitted: “I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.” In the original Greek, the phrase “are forgiven” is in the perfect tense. The perfect tense either means God forgave us all our sins and this has continuing effects in our lives or we are in a state of having been forgiven.
1 John 1:9 reveals how Christians can obtain complete remission or forgiveness of any sins they may fall into after conversion. 1 John 1:9 states: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” When this verse says God is faithful, it is referring to His faithfulness to His New Covenant promises to forgive believers of their sins. When this verse declares God is just, it means He forgives believers’ sins in ways that are in agreement with His perfect justice. In other words, He forgives because Jesus has taken the punishment owing to God’s perfect justice because of our sins.
The word “aphesis” means “pardon, cancellation of a…punishment or guilt, forgiveness of sins.” [7] “Aphesis” is used in Matthew 26:28, Mark 1:4, Luke 1:77, 3:3, 24:47, Acts 2:38, 5:31, 10:43, 13:38, 26:18, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:14, Hebrews 9:22 and 10:18. Acts 13:38 states this forgiveness or remission of sin is through Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1:7-8 shows this forgiveness of sin is totally by undeserved unmerited grace through the purchase price of Jesus’ physical death: “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace…” Colossians 1:14 speaks similarly.
Acts 26:18 associates receiving this remission or forgiveness of sin with having a personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ: “…that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.” Acts 2:38 links repentance or having a change of heart about God, Christ and our known sins to the type of conversion that receives full remission or forgiveness of sins.
In the original Greek, Colossians 2:13 uses a form of the word “charizomai” in the phrase which speaks of God “…having forgiven you all trespasses…” The Greek word “charizomai” means in the context of Colossians 2:13 “give – equalling remit, forgive, pardon” [8] or in the context of Luke 7:42 means “to release a person from the obligation of repaying what is owed”. [9] In Luke 7:42, Jesus spoke of a creditor freely forgiving two debtors their debts. Here Jesus compares forgiveness of sin to freeing a person from their responsibility to pay their debts. Because the word “charizomai” is derived from the word “charis” which means God’s freely given grace, this reveals forgiveness of sin is a totally free, unmerited act of God’s grace or kindness.
“Apoluo” is another word used in the original Greek New Testament for forgiveness or pardon. “Apoluo” means “set free, release, pardon a prisoner…release a debtor”. [10] This word is used in Luke 6:37: “…Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”
Most of the usages of “apoluo” in the New Testament relate to the legal releasing or pardoning by Governor Pontius Pilate of Barabbus, the condemned criminal or to Pilate’s consideration of legally pardoning or releasing Jesus from His assumed “crimes”. These references are found in Matthew 27:15, 17, 21, 26; Mark 15:6, 9, 11, 15; Luke 23:16, 18, 20, 22, 25; John 18:39; 19:10, 12; and Acts 3:13.
In Matthew 18:21-35, Jesus teaches about forgiveness of sins or debts. In Matthew 18:27, “apoluo” is used also in relation to a servant being released by a king after having a debt cancelled: “Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.” In Greek, the word “released” here is a form of “apoluo” and “forgave” is a form of “aphiemi”. In this parable, “apoluo” relates to our having a great debt owing to God our Supreme King and Judge Who in loving compassion and mercy cancels our debt and then lets us go free. Verse 27 refers to the King’s compassion and verse 33 mentions the King’s mercy. Also note verses 23 and 24 refer to the king settling accounts with his subjects.
Matthew 18:24 says the man’s debt was ten thousand talents. This is equivalent to millions of dollars. No slave in ancient times could ever repay such a debt. People in ancient times would understand this comparative amount far better than modern Westerners. This is just like us. We owe God an unpayable debt. But in mercy, God cancels our debt, forgives us and lets us go free. God does all this perfectly legally on the basis that Jesus Christ has paid the unpayable debt for us.
Louw and Nida say “aphiemi”, “aphesis” and “apoluo” all mean “to remove the guilt resulting from wrongdoing…It is extremely important to note that the focus in the meanings of ‘aphiemi’, ‘aphesis’ and ‘apoluo’ is upon the guilt of the wrongdoer and not upon the wrongdoing itself. When God forgives the wrongdoer, the event of wrongdoing is not undone, but the guilt resulting from such an event is pardoned. To forgive, therefore, means essentially to remove the guilt resulting from wrongdoing”. [11]
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