I’ve been thinking a lot about this idea recently: What would it look like if we were as eager to forgive as Jesus was?
This is a tough question because for most of my life, I thought exactly like a post I recently saw online:
You won’t find a single place in the Gospels where Jesus Christ condones, excuses, or tolerates sin.
Not in His healings.
Not in His miracles.
Not with the humble.
Not with the proud.
Not even during His own humbling with Pilate.Instead, you will consistently find Him warning people about sin. People were convicted just by being in His presence.
I ended up replying because I’ve started really wrestling with an evangelical presupposition I now question.
Here’s how the narrative goes:
- Jesus’s mission is to “save” the lost. — Luke 19:10
- Because this world is so broken, people don’t even know they are lost, and they need to be first convinced of it. — Romans 3:10-12
- Once they accept they are lost, the message of Jesus will be “good news” — John 3:16-18, Romans 6:23
- When a person really hears the “good news” they will accept it with joy — 1 Thessalonians 2:13
- Once a person receives the gift of salvation, then we can embark on the journey of fellowship and discipleship with them. — Matthew 28:19-20
This sequence of statements is generally what evangelical Christians mean when they use the word “Gospel.” They are usually talking about the doctrine that (1) people are sinful and destined for eternity separated from God, (2) but Jesus died on the cross to save them from sin and reconcile them to God the Father, (3) so if they believe, they will be forgiven and welcomed into eternal life.
Is there anything wrong with that doctrine?
No, I don’t think so.
But what’s interesting is that we have taken a truth and turned it into a technique.
We have taken the truth of history’s salvation milestones and turned it into a sequence of steps for us to take someone else through.
It’s a good technique, too. Or, if not good, it’s at least effective. I myself came to faith through that technique. I’ve used that same technique on dozens maybe hundreds of other people too if you include my sermons.
There’s just one problem with that technique.
It’s not what Jesus or his followers did.
Let me take you on a journey through the New Testament, and we are going to consider every single time the text tells us someone is saved, every single time the text has a person being forgiven, and how the sequence happens. I wonder if we will find any kind of consistent technique.
Salvation in Matthew, Mark and Luke
Let’s do a search for these words as they show up in the NIV. But let’s also filter them to find just the ones that are talking about a person being saved.
For example, consider these two passage:
You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
Matthew 10:22 NIV
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”
Mark 8:34-38 NIV
There are many passages like this about salvation, but many of them don’t apply to our discussion here because in many of them Jesus is talking to his own disciples, people who are already “in” so to speak. Also, there are many times when the Bible uses the word “save” to mean something different than that moment when a person becomes a believer and is “saved.” For example, both of these passages are Jesus talking to people who are already following him, and he’s talking about a salvation that is entirely future. If you endure to the end, if you lose your life, then you will be saved. It’s a future promise.
It’s definitely a good lesson, and there’s good theology there, but for the purposes of this study, we are trying to find the ways Jesus and his followers present salvation to a person who is not yet a believer or who is making the transition from unbelief to belief. You might be surprised to know that there aren’t many stories like that in the Bible, but the ones we find are powerful.
A Rich Young Man
Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
“Which ones?” he inquired.
Jesus replied, “ ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Matthew 19:16-26 NIV
This is a weird passage in so many ways. First, Jesus pushes back on the man over the concept of good. Then, Jesus gives the man an obviously works-based religion: If you keep the commandments, then you will enter life (heaven). Then, the man asks Jesus for specificity and Jesus oddly mentions commands 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 from the 10 along with the command he elsewhere called the “second” greatest commandment. It’s odd because Jesus left out all the commands that put God first and he also left out the command against coveting.
Then, the man shockingly says, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?”
That’s exactly the point, isn’t it? Jesus mentioned only the commands the man had no problem with. Jesus effectively affirmed all the good things the man was already good at doing. On top of that, Jesus entirely avoids the sins he knows this rich man to have.
It was a quiz. It was a trick. Jesus was trying to see if the man already knew his own sins. And he didn’t.
Jesus made it obvious which ones the man “lacked” but even then, the man didn’t get it.
So Jesus does something else brilliant. He tells the man to sell his possessions, give to the poor, so he will have treasure in heaven, and then follow Jesus. What is the man to do? Defeat his own greed and his coveting (sell everything and give to others). Defeat his own idolatry by valuing the treasure of heaven above earthly stuff. Defeat his own self-centeredness by following Jesus. The man couldn’t do it.
Here are a few principles:
- The man approaches Jesus with a question about eternity.
- Jesus wisely gives the man a chance to confess his own sins, but doesn’t mention them himself.
- Jesus gives the man the chance to repent by calling him to do what he lacks, but he doesn’t even call it repentance.
- Jesus invites the man to follow him, but he doesn’t mention a single doctrine.
That’s a story of a man who is invited to repent but doesn’t. What’s next?
A Sinful Woman
When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.
“Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Luke 7:36-50 NIV
Again, this is a passage with some difficult parts to it. First, Jesus is at the home of a Pharisee. That in itself is weird. It’s weird that a Pharisee would invite Jesus in, and it’s weird that Jesus would accept the invitation. Elsewhere, Jesus calls down curses from heaven onto the Pharisees (something we’ll get to in a bit), but this Pharisee is willing to welcome him and Jesus is willing to accept.
What happens next is an amazing contrast. An uninvited sinful woman shows up in the house, she stands near Jesus’s feet, she weeps, and she eventually washes his feet with her tears, her hair, and this expensive perfume. And Jesus lets it happen.
At issue is the exact thing the Pharisee thinks.
Should Jesus call out the woman’s sin or not? The Pharisee thinks that’s the important thing to do, but Jesus doesn’t fit the mold. Instead, he tells the Pharisee a story that contrasts the love the Pharisee has shown Jesus with the love the woman has shown him.
“You did not give me any water for my feet… You did not give me a kiss… You did not put oil on my head.”
However, Jesus says the woman did all that and more.
And here’s the kicker. Jesus says to the Pharisee:
Her many sins (he does acknowledge that she has a lot of sins) have been forgiven.
But some people just aren’t very grateful… are they, Mr. Pharisee?
Then, Jesus looks at the woman and says three things:
- Your sins are forgiven.
- Your faith has saved you.
- Go in peace.
Let’s pay attention to some details. First, Jesus knows the woman is sinful and doesn’t do anything about it, doesn’t say anything about it at all until he declares her forgiven. Secondly, Jesus is drawing a contrast between the woman who knows she’s a sinner and the Pharisee who doesn’t seem to realize the same about himself. Finally, Jesus gives three affirmations to the woman and the order matters: You are forgiven. Your faith is a saving faith. Go in peace.
What are the principles we can pull out of this story when it comes to our technique of saving the lost?
- A man invites Jesus over and Jesus accepts
- A woman approaches Jesus and he welcomes
- The woman knows her own sin and showers love on Jesus.
- The man is ignorant of his own sin and offers Jesus very little.
- Jesus verbally mentions the failings of the self-righteous man not those of the woman.
- Jesus offers the woman forgiveness, salvation, and encouragement.
Once again, there is no mention of doctrine here. There is no mention of the cross, no call to repentance. Jesus simply offers forgiveness and encouragement to the one who knows she needs it and a healthy challenge to the one who doesn’t.
That’s a touching story, but we still didn’t get a picture of transformation. Isn’t there a story about a guy who really does hear the message of Jesus and turns his life around?
Zacchaeus
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Luke 19:1-10 NIV
Zacchaeus was a “chief tax collector” meaning that among all the tax collectors, he had proven himself even more effective than most! From the perspective of the people in Jesus’ day, he was the worst of the worst. Tax collectors were lumped with prostitutes as the worst of the sinners because they were literally betraying their own Jewish national interests, taking money from their countrymen, keeping some, and sending the rest to Rome.
But he approached Jesus and did whatever it took for him to get a good vantage point.
Jesus saw him.
Jesus went to his house.
And…
Seemingly out of nowhere, Zacchaeus stands up and declares he is going to give half of his possessions to the poor AND ALSO he will additionally repay four times the amount to anyone he has defrauded!
Now, you can speculate all you want about what Jesus said to Zacchaeus over that meal, but if you are a person who believes in the inspiration of Scripture, then you have to trust the inspired lack of words here. As far as we know, Jesus said nothing to this man about anything he had ever done. At the very least, the Holy Spirit wanted Luke to write absolutely nothing about what Jesus did or didn’t say.
What does Jesus say? “Salvation has come to this house.”
Principles?
- Someone approached Jesus
- Jesus “welcomed” the person (welcomed himself into that person’s home!)
- That person, aware of his own sin, decides to turn his life around.
- Jesus declares salvation.
Terms Other than Save or Salvation
Forgiven
Although salvation is the most commonly used phrase by Christians in America today, there are other terms used by Jesus to indicate that a person was in right standing with God: forgiven and justified are two of them. Let’s add those to consideration. However, once again, let’s focus on the passages that indicate a person receiving forgiveness and especially how a person is to receive forgiveness or justification. Specifically, what if any are the pre-requisites for receiving forgiveness?
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 NIV
Previously in the prayer Jesus taught us, he had used the phrase “Forgive us our debts…” but it’s after the prayer when Jesus gives the rationale for that request. Specifically, he gives us a clear picture of how a person receives forgiveness. According to him, it’s by being a person who gives forgiveness. Modern American Christians have a general distaste for making God’s behavior toward us conditional on any behavior of our own. They will say this required pre-requisite to forgiveness sounds like a “works” salvation or “legalism,” but let us remember this doctrine comes from Jesus directly after the prayer Christians of all varieties have memorized. Not only that, but Jesus reiterates that same requirement multiple other times:
And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. ”
Mark 11:25 NIV
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Luke 6:37 NIV
Then, in response to Peter’s question about how many times he should forgive someone, Jesus tells a story about a man who was forgiven a great debt but refuses to forgive someone else who owed him a small debt and is then thrown in prison as punishment. Then he says this:
“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Matthew 18:35 NIV
How does a person obtain God’s forgiveness? Throughout the gospels, this is the only direct instruction. From Jesus’ mouth, this is the only instruction: Forgive others and God will forgive you.
But there are other times where forgiveness is offered to someone without any corresponding instruction. Let’s look at those.
Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”
At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!”
Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” Then the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.
Matthew 9:2-8 NIV
This story is told in all three of the synoptic gospels. Here it is in Mark and Luke:
A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
Mark 2:1-12 NIV
One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”
Luke 5:17-26 NIV
These gospels all differ slightly on the first words Jesus said to the man, but they all agree exactly on what preceded his words: “When Jesus saw their faith,” and the substance of his first sentence, “your sins are forgiven.” Modern evangelical Christians do a weird thing with this story and it all comes down to the relationship between faith and forgiveness. The narrative goes, “See, Jesus doesn’t forgive until there is faith,” and the implication is that forgiveness follows putting one’s faith in Jesus. We’ll see that taught in the gospel of John, for sure, but don’t jump out of this passage just yet. What is the faith Jesus sees here, and for that matter, what kind of “faith” can be “seen” in the first place? Clearly, all three accounts key in on the efforts of these men to get their friend in front of Jesus. For good reason, they thought they should get their friend in front of Jesus, but they went through a great deal of effort to act on their inclination. In fact, the Bible word translated faith is the same word that sometimes refers to the columns that hold up a building and refers to something stable, strong and secure. One way to understand this verse might be, “When Jesus saw their determination…” or “When Jesus saw their commitment…”
Regardless of how you translate the word, there are a few things that are essential to note:
- These men had demonstrated nothing like “faith in Jesus for salvation” or “faith in Jesus for eternal life.”
- These men knew nothing about Jesus’ death for the sins of the world, and therefore, their faith couldn’t be in that.
- These men certainly weren’t putting their faith in Jesus as the divine Son of God or even the promised Messiah. The only thing revealed in the text is that Jesus had the power to heal, and these men were determined to get their friend in front of Jesus for that.
So let’s be clear. Not one of the men in this story, not the men on the roof or the man on the mat came to Jesus that day to get sins forgiven. They came for a healing miracle.
And Jesus saw their faith, their faithfulness to their friend, their hope in the power of Jesus, their determination to do whatever it took, and he said the exact thing no one expected him to say:
“Your sins are forgiven.”
On the one hand, this phrase might make sense because ancient people often thought sickness was a sign of God’s judgment and so they probably thought this man was paralyzed because he too was being punished for some sin (maybe that of his parents). Maybe he actually was paralyzed because of a sin in his past. Maybe Jesus needed to forgive this man’s sin to heal the man. We don’t know. All we know is that Jesus has been healing a lot of people by this point. Luke makes sure we know that, and this must have been the first time he said “Your sins are forgiven.” We know it must have been the first time because everyone around him was shocked by the statement.
Therefore, we have to conclude that Jesus was trying to make a very specific point. With this guy here, in this house surrounded by people who could hear his words, he declares, “Your sins are forgiven.” Then, he goes through with the healing not to prove that he has the power to heal. That had been proven already. He does the healing to prove that he has the authority to forgive sins.
So let’s put the story together.
What pre-requisite is there to receiving forgiveness?
- Must we believe Jesus will heal us?
- Must we believe Jesus will heal our friend?
- Must we dig through a stranger’s roof?
Or is it somehow different?
Is it possible that in order to receive forgiveness, a person merely needs to come to Jesus? Not come to Jesus for healing. Not come to Jesus even for forgiveness. Maybe, just maybe, to receive forgiveness, a person merely needs to in the presence of Jesus. Maybe, just maybe, Jesus forgives more generously than we thought.
The bottom line for this story is a pattern we have seen before:
- Someone approaches Jesus.
- Jesus declares forgiveness.
- Jesus proves forgiveness.
Jesus’ offer of forgiveness here is given exactly the same way, freely and without pre-condition, as with the woman who washed his feet with her hair.
So watch yourselves.
“If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”
Luke 17:3-4 NIV
Once again, Jesus describes a very generous approach to forgiveness, and once again, it’s a horizontal forgiveness. It’s a forgiveness from one person to another. Here, though, Jesus issues a pre-requisite to this forgiveness. The person comes back to you and says “I repent.” I’m tempted to do a lot more with this word than Jesus does, though. You see, I want proof of repentance. I want to see the other person really feel bad about what they did to me, and I want real evidence that they have changed their behavior and won’t let me down again. I want them to feel pain; I want revenge. If I’m honest, what I’m really saying is that I don’t want to forgive. I want them to pay for what they did.
Jesus says something different. They don’t have to prove their repentance. All they need to do is come back to you with enough words to indicate that they want to maintain the relationship with you.
And you are supposed to forgive.
Caveat: If someone is abusive, I believe you need to forgive, but it doesn’t mean you have to keep yourself in their sphere of abuse. Forgiveness is not the same as sticking around.
Are you ready for this next one?
Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”
The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar
Luke 23:32-36 NIV
What was the pre-requisite for this forgiveness?
The soldiers are nailing him to a cross. Forgive them.
The religious leaders had caused it all. Forgive them.
The criminals were hurling insults at him (at least until one of them changed his tune later on). Forgive them.
The people were mocking him. Forgive them.
Is ignorance the pre-requisite for forgiveness? Nope. They didn’t know they were killing the Author of Life, but they all certainly knew they were killing an innocent man.
Forgive them.
There are three more concepts we need to consider to round out this discussion of forgiveness and the pre-requisites for it according to the synoptic gospels.
Repentance & Forgiveness
We already talked about this in the context of people forgiving other people, but we haven’t mentioned it once as a prerequisite for forgiveness of sins from God. There’s a reason for that. In the gospels, the connection is a lesson that’s taught, but rarely illustrated. As we saw, the woman with the alabaster jar of perfume doesn’t display repentance. The paralytic doesn’t, and neither do the people nailing Jesus to the cross. However, the connection is taught nonetheless. Here are a few of those verses:
And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Mark 1:4 NIV
He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that, “ ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’ ”
Mark 4:11-12 NIV
…during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Luke 3:2-3 NIV
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Luke 24:45-47 NIV
Clearly, there is a connection between repentance and forgiveness, but I think we have a good handle on what it is so long as we don’t muddy the waters with modern ideas or doctrines that weren’t addressed in the gospels themselves. Consider the word we translate repentance: metanoia is a word that means to change your way of life, change your attitude, and that’s why it is so often connected to baptism—washing away the old and coming out new. Jesus also quotes the prophecy about people being forgiven after they “turn.” I suspect we have seen repentance many times already without actually recognizing it as such because it was so small.
The woman takes her money her sinful life and puts it into perfume that she pours over Jesus. She’s coming to Jesus in a way that declares a changed life.
Zacchaeus invites Jesus to his house knowing that he is hated by Jews for his tax-collector ways, but he declares a changed life.
The paralytic comes before Jesus knowing that if he is healed, he will have no longer have an excuse for his friends to take care of him, and that will certainly be a changed life.
We’ve seen it many times already.
The simple act of coming to Jesus was, for most people, an act declaring and welcoming a changed life.
- Come to Jesus.
- Expect to change.
- Hear him say you are forgiven.
This is starkly illustrated in a story that doesn’t even use the word “forgiveness” but means the same:
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Luke 18:9-14 NIV
Both men “come” to God in prayer, but that’s where the similarities end. One man is “justified” (meaning to be “made right” often synonymous with “forgiven”) while another isn’t, and the only difference is that one of them knows about his sin and the other one doesn’t. One of them, is like the friend who comes back and says, “I repent,” and the other one is a man convinced he has nothing to repent for. One man knows he needs forgiveness, and the other one thinks he needs none.
The person who wants forgiveness gets it.
The person who doesn’t need it, doesn’t get it.
Binding & Loosing
I’d be completely remiss if I didn’t mention a very difficult passage, because I’m convinced it has something to say about forgiveness that we miss too often because of a translation issue:
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Matthew 16:16-20 NIV
If you want to know what binding and loosing mean in this passage, don’t make any decisions about it without flipping two chapters over:
(15) “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. (16) But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ (17) If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
(18) “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
(19) “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. (20) For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
(21) Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
(22) Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
(23) “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. (24) As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. (25) 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.
(26) “At this the servant fell on his knees 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.
(28) “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. 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 it back.’
(30) “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. (31) When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged 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 mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ (34) In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
(35) “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Matthew 18:15-35 NIV
I know you’ve seen this before, but notice a few things now that we are keeping it in context:
- The phrase about binding and loosing is the same here as it was in chapter 16.
- In chapter 16, binding and loosing are related to them having the “keys to the kingdom.”
- Here, the entire context is one of forgiveness.
There’s one more thing you need to know, the word “loose” in Greek is an incredibly common word in Biblical Greek and it can refer to all kinds of different “loosening” behaviors. It can mean freeing someone from captivity, it can mean breaking the seal of a book, it can mean untying a rope, and metaphorically, it can mean releasing someone from a debt… as in forgiveness.
In chapter 16 and in chapter 18, Jesus is giving the power of forgiveness to the gathered church and clearly telling them that they have the authority to forgive people on earth, have that forgiveness be registered in heaven, and thereby open the doors of the kingdom to them.
What is the pre-requisite to this forgiveness?
- A person whose conscience is seared and will not embrace repentance of sin is not part of the kingdom.
- A person who refuses to forgive someone else is a person unfit for the kingdom.
- The kingdom have the literal power to open or shut the doors of the kingdom to others.
Again, there seem to be guidelines to forgiveness.
Surely, some people are ineligible for it.
But the overall tone is that Christians are called to be generous with their forgiveness, to be agents of God’s forgiveness.
The Unforgivable Sin
“Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin” –
Mark 3:28-29 NASB
I pulled this from the NASB because the NIV translates it too well, and I wanted to explain it myself. I merely want to highlight one aspect of this verse. Literally every sin is eligible for forgiveness except for rejecting the work of the Holy Spirit. The gospels all recognize that in rejecting Jesus, people were actually rejecting the work of God that was happening in and through Jesus by the power of the Spirit. Therefore, if you reject that God is at work in Jesus, that’s a sin that can’t be forgiven. Nevertheless, all other sins “shall be forgiven.” Does that mean “will be forgiven” or “might be forgiven”? Honestly, we don’t know. It’s entirely possible that Jesus means literally every sin from every person for all time will be paid for on the cross, but some people will reject the work of God through Jesus and will therefore be stained by one remaining, unforgivable sin.
Whatever your interpretation of the passage, you have to at least recognize this. In this passage there is no pre-requisite mentioned. Go ahead, read the context of these verses, and you’ll see there is no pre-requisite for receiving this predicted forgiveness.
Conclusion
In my next post, I’ll look at salvation and forgiveness in the gospel of John, but for now, I’ll end this study with a few observations.
First, although the concept of salvation is central to the ministry of Jesus (after all, he came to seek and to save the lost), there are precious few instances in the gospels of a person becoming saved or of Jesus declaring that a person is saved.
Secondly, although there is clear teaching that forgiveness is connected to repentance, there is no description of what repentance really means, and there is no direct line saying, “Unless a person repents appropriately, withhold your forgiveness.”
Thirdly, there are only three ways to guarantee you won’t be forgiven:
- Somehow reject the work of the Holy Spirit, the power of God at work in Jesus.
- Believe you don’t need forgiveness.
- Refuse to forgive your neighbor.
Finally, since Christians are people who believe in heaven, and since Christians want other people to enter eternity with God, and since God himself wants people to enter eternity with him, and since Jesus has literally given us the power of forgiveness as the key to the kingdom, why would we ever withhold forgiveness from someone and thereby eternally lock them out of heaven unless they literally disqualified themselves in one of the three ways we just mentioned?
The apparent application of this lesson is that Christians should be more likely to offer more forgiveness more readily and more generously than anyone else and that we should be less likely to put stumbling blocks or roadblocks in the way of people who would come to Jesus if only they could see the way to him.
Is there a distinction in the gospels between forgiveness and salvation? Is there a temporary forgiveness that’s different from an eternal forgiveness? Jesus doesn’t teach that. For all we can tell, forgiveness is salvation, and when it comes to forgiveness, the message of Jesus in the gospels is clear.
- Everyone who asks for forgiveness gets it.
- Many people who don’t ask for it get it anyway.
- Those who reject it don’t get it.
- Those who withhold it don’t get it.
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