Forgiveness

Posted by David Puffer on Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Luke 17:3-4 "Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, 'I repent,' you shall forgive him."

Forgiveness is at the very heart of the Gospel – it is the product of Divine love and mercy.

In fact the Greek words translated “forgive” in the N.T., speak of pardon, release, and grace.

Pardon is the Greek word  Aphieme (af-ee-ay-mee: apo + hieme) which means, “to send apart or away”. 

It is the divine pardon that casts sins as far as one horizon is from another and speaks of God’s dealings with redeemed man. 

It is the word used throughout the Gospels but of all the epistles, it is only found in 1John 1:9.

Another word translated as “forgive” is the Greek word “apoluo”. 

It is the root word for “apology” and it is translated “forgive”, only in Luke 6:37  "... Forgive, and you will be forgiven..”  where  it means to “free fully”.

Grace is the Greek word “charizomai” and it is used for “forgive” in all the epistles of Paul except for Romans 4:7 where the word used is “aphieme:” “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered…”

Charizomai means favor and comes from the root “charis” which means grace. 

It is a word that demonstrates agape love.(1Cor 13:13).

So there are 3 Greek words used for “forgive” in the NT –

Aphieme: To send away;

Apoluo: release or free fully;

Charizomai: Favor – the Divine influence on the heart and its manifestation in the life.

Forgiveness is a principle or a quality that flows out of the character of God. 

That is why the concept of forgiveness is unique to Christianity. 

(Interesting to note that in the OT the Hebrew word “nasa” is used – I believe that it is a cognate of Nazarine – to separate)

It was accomplished through the Levitical Law of blood sacrifice and had to be repeated because it was only a shadow of what Jesus would complete with His Cross.

True forgiveness and sanctification can only be achieved by inviting Christ to take up residence in the life of a believer.

Hinduism and Buddhism teach the law of Karma (cause and effect) and seek to escape reincarnation through perfection by human effort.

Even highly ethical religions, such as Zoroastrianism (Persian), allows no hope of redemption.

The concept of forgiveness can be found in Islam, but it is based on works and is relatively unimportant to Muslims.

(I might add that Judaism also seeks acceptance by works.)

But it is God and His work through Jesus that is the source of all forgiveness. 

He forgives at His own expense through Christ’s sacrifice.

It is not what we do but what He has done through Jesus.

This is why John 3:16 is probably the most quoted verse in the Bible – Through Jesus God says, “I forgive you, come back to Me.”

God is good.  And when you associate with goodness the result is blessing.

But the Devil is evil (destructive), and when you associate with evil the result is cursing.

1 Cor 15:33 warns us that, ”... Evil company corrupts ..." as the prodigal son of Luke 15:11-32 learned when he left the love and protection of his gracious father to seek his fortune in the world.

Open to Luke 15:11-32.

"A certain man had two sons. "And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the  portion of goods that falls to me.' So he divided to them his livelihood. "And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.

"But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. "Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. "And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

"But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 'I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, "and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of  your hired servants."' "And he arose and came to his father.

But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. Luke 15:21 "And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.'

"But the father said to his servants, 'Bring* out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 'And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 'for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' And they began to be merry.

"Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.

The prodigal went to a far country (where he would learn the value of his father's love by being separated from it). 

While he was in the world, he discovered that he was not really of the world.

The elder brother, though always at home, was never really at "home". 

He thought he was secure, but he was more lost than his younger brother. 

He was too self-involved to share his father's concern for his lost brother. 

The son who was in his father's kindom found that he was really not of it.

Luke 15:26-28 "So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. "And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.'

"But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him.

 T

he elder son's own mean character excluded him from the celebration. 

 E

ven though his father came out to reason with him, he could only hear his own sanctimonious voice.

 

Luke 15:29 "So he answered and said to his father, 'Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends.

The elder brother was so fixated on the outward observance of the law that he was blind to the love contained in it. 

He considered his father's commandments to be a burden and imposition - a thing to be despised. 

He saw them as controlling and confining rather than as the loving restraints of a concerned and orderly father.

The elder brother reveals himself to be quite unlike his father. 

Whereas the father is generous, merciful, forgiving, and kind; the elder brother is self-righteousness, selfish, vindictive, and mean. 

Are they really kin?

In Luke 15:30 the elder son said, 'But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.'

Although the elder brother is quick to call for justice, one can't help thinking that he would be shamefully begging for mercy in his time of trouble.

In Luke 15:31 the father said, "… 'Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.

The two brothers in this parable also represent the difference between fearing to anger the Lord and seeking to please the Lord - two different motivations for obedience. 

One is grounded in love; the other in fear.  One is selfless; the other is selfish.

'It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.'"  Repeated from verse 24.

In the end the son returns in rags and in despair to his waiting father’s open arms.

What a picture of God’s willingness to restore everything to a repentant sinner.  One who has abandoned his rebellion to return to the love that he so callously took for granted.

And this same quality of forgiveness is part of the new nature that God gives to those He adopts. 

It should manifest in the life of every believer.

It is God’s method of defusing a volatile situation – it goes along with turning the other cheek – it brings peace to conflict and order to confusion.

It acknowledges that God is the ultimate authority – Romans 12:19 reminds us, “... Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.”

It is God who pardons – I believe that’s why the specific word “aphieme” (affiame) is used for Divine forgiveness –  it is a Godly attribute that casts away sin as far as the east is from the west. 

When Jesus forgave the people from His cross He was speaking from both His humanity and His Deity.

So on the Cross He forgave both the personal offense against Him, and the moral offense against His righteousness.

At the Cross, Jesus was forgiving all mankind – it was the Father calling His children home.

In Adam (the old nature) we turn our backs on the Father as the prodigal son did. 

Adam was the first to offend God, but the offense continues to the present day in the natural man.

In Adam we turn away from the Father – But in Christ we are reconciled to the Father.

The first nature is self-conscious – the new, God-given nature, is God-conscious.

And it is only the presence of God in His adopted ones that can “apolou” (release or free) offenders of their offenses.

This is not a pardon. 

They still stand responsible to a Holy God even as King David said in Psalm 51:4, “Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight--That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.”

Repentance is absolutely essential for Divine forgiveness. 

Without it God’s holiness would be compromised and the righteousness of the Kingdom would be threatened.

Recognizing our fallen condition and calling out to God is what it means to repent and is absolutely essential to receive Divine forgiveness (aphieme)

When Phillip was stoned he could forgive his executioners of their personal offense against him. 

But they remained responsible for the moral offense committed against God.

So forgiveness (release) on the believer’s part is for his own benefit because it cancels out revenge. 

Revenge fragments your energy and blurs your focus which is to be on God rather than on wrongs committed against you.

Forgiveness separates you from the consequences of the sin which your offender will suffer – it detaches you from the situation.

1 Cor 15:22 tells us that, “.. as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

Acceptance of Jesus as Savior and Lord is repentance and brings Divine pardon.

2 Peter 3:9 assures us that, The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

God pardons all who return to Him – and He tells His adopted ones to do the same.

So now I complete this message with something that might explain the difference between releasing a sin debt and forgiving a sin debt.

Remember that in Luke 17:3-4 Jesus admonishes us, "Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke  him; and if he repents, forgive him.  And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, 'I repent,' you shall forgive him."

This is an important Scripture because the word used for “forgive” is the word “aphieme” meaning to cast away.

This same word is used in Matt 9:6 and is repeated in Mk 2:10 and Luke 5:24 where Jesus said, "But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins"--then He said to the paralytic, "Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."

Do you suppose that these verses are telling us that as sons and daughters of the Most High God (even as Jesus is called the Son of Man) we have the authority to pardon repentant sinners in the Name and authority of Jesus.

In Matthew 16:19 Jesus told His disciples, "And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on  earth will be loosed in heaven."

Forgiveness is a Godly quality and it glorifies God when it is revealed in His children.

So let us take a little time to reflect on what wrongs we have been holding on to. 

Is there unforgiveness in your life?

Let each of us who have been reborn into the Family of God let go (apoluo) of any offenses that we have suffered form others.

Release them to the Father now and let Him lift the burden of consequences from you and give you peace. 

And be ever ready as Christ’s ambassadors to forgive those who are truly repentant.

 

Amen.




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