Hi, TamaraLynne.
I have a question:
Does God command us to forgive those who don't repent?
I'm asking...and here are some reasons why:
"Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." - Matthew 18:15-20
This recorded teaching of Jesus precedes both Peter's question in relation to forgiveness which seems to have been prompted by Jesus' teaching and Jesus' consequential parable on the topic of forgiveness in response to Peter's question. Let's, therefore, examine Jesus' teaching before moving on to both Peter's question and Christ's response to the same, okay?
For starters, Jesus taught that if our brother trespasses or sins against us, then we are to go and tell him his fault between him and us alone. What, then, is the purpose of such a visit? To simply "forgive"? No, to hopefully bring about repentance first or to see whether or not he will "hear us" or else the rest of Jesus' words bear no meaning whatsoever. IOW, if our trespassing brother doesn't hear us and repent when we confront him of his trespass against us one on one, then we are instructed by Jesus to take two or three others with us, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word my be established. Again, what is the purpose of returning to the trespassing brother if we are just to arbitrarily forgive him apart from repentance on his part? It makes no sense and that is not what Jesus was teaching here. No, instead Jesus instructed the one who was unable to bring his trespassing brother to a place of repentance via a one on one encounter to bring others with him now to attempt the same or to attempt to bring the trespassing brother to a place of repentance. Again, if the trespassing brother still wouldn't repent, even in the face of other witnesses, then he was not to be forgiven, but instead the matter was to be told unto the entire church that the trespassing brother might repent before the same. If, however, the trespassing brother "neglected to hear the church", then he was to be treated like a heathen or a publican. Again, I see absolutely no forgiveness being offered apart from repentance. In fact, in a similar account, Jesus plainly said:
"Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him." - Luke 17:3-4
My dear sister in Christ, Jesus taught forgiveness based upon REPENTANCE.
In what we've already read from Matthew chapter 18, Jesus also said:
"Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." - Matthew 18:18
This "binding" and "loosing", contextually, was in relation to not forgiving ("binding") if there is no repentance and forgiving ("loosing") if there is repentance. Yes, if you read Matthew 18:27, then you will see that "loosing" and "forgiving" are synonymous, so this is the manner in which Jesus expected His use of such words to be understood. In fact, this "binding" and "loosing" in relation to either not forgiving or forgiving is precisely what Jesus was talking about in a portion of scripture which you already referenced, namely this:
"And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained." - John 20:22-23
Yes, this "retaining" is synonymous with "binding" and this "remitting" is synonymous with "loosing". By what standard, then, did Jesus teach that we are to "remit"? There's no need to guess:
"And he said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things." - Luke 24:46-48
Jesus instructed His disciples to preach "repentance and the remission of sins", "beginning at Jerusalem", and this is precisely what His disciples preached. We read:
"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." - Acts 2:38
Again, a command to "Repent" preceded the offer "for the remission of sins". In his next sermon, Peter preached:
"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord..." - Acts 3:19
Again, the command to "Repent" preceded the offer to have their "sins blotted out" or to have their sins "remitted". And so it goes.
Back to Matthew 18:
"Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?" - Matthew 18:21
"THEN Peter came to him..."
IOW, Peter's question certainly seemed to have been prompted by what Jesus had just finished saying. It's also interesting to note that Peter asked if he had to forgive his brother seven times, as that is the exact number that Jesus used in Luke 17:3-4, even as I've already quoted. Also, please remember that Jesus included the prerequisite of "repentance" in relation to said "forgiveness" there. Anyhow, on to Jesus' response to Peter's question:
"Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt." - Matthew 18:22-27
Let's pause here for a moment and consider what prompted this servant who owed a debt to the king (God) to be loosed or forgiven of the same. Well, for starters, he didn't deny that he owed the debt. IOW, he accepted his blame. Secondly, he "fell down and worshipped" the king (God) which speaks to me of contrition and a desire for reconciliation. Thirdly, he was willing to make restitution for the debt which he owed or to undo his wrong. Lastly, the king (God), having seen the aforementioned, "was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the debt". What if this servant hadn't accepted his blame? What if this servant had no contrition and didn't seek reconciliation? What if this servant wasn't willing to make restitution for the debt which he owed or for his wrongdoing? Would he still have been loosed from His debt by the king (God)? Basically, what I'm asking is this:
Does God forgive US apart from repentance?
I don't see where He does. Not here. Not anywhere.
Finishing out the parable, we read:
"But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespass." - Matthew 18:28-35
Why did the king (God) say that he forgave this servant his debt?
"...because thou desiredst me..."
Again, there was repentance on the part of the servant and God, therefore, forgave him or loosed him of his debt. What, then, was this "wicked servant's" sin? Well, when he encountered a fellow-servant who "besought him, saying, Have patience with me and I will pay thee all" or when he encountered somebody who was accepting their debt, seeking reconciliation and offering restitution", he didn't have compassion on the same and loose him of his debt. Again, he was guilty of not forgiving someone who was REPENTING. There are instances where we are to "shake the dust off of our feet as a testimony" against people or to tell them that their sins are still "retained" unto them based upon their wilingness to embrace or reject the gospel of Jesus Christ and what is contained or taught therein. Here's another example of what I'm attempting to say:
"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whoseover shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if thou bringest thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine advesary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing." - Matthew 5:21-26
There are justifiable "causes" why we might be "angry with our brother". The way that I read this, if we have a brother who has justifiable aught against us, then we are to put away all religious gifts and sacrifices and go and be reconciled unto our brother THROUGH REPENTANCE before bringing any said gifts or sacrifices unto God. Why? Well, if we don't, then the brother who has justifiable aught against us may "deliver us to the judge" (Jesus is the Final Judge) and the judge may cast us into prison or into hell fire for not having REPENTED of our sins against our brother, thereby being reconciled unto him.
Anyhow, again, I don't see forgiveness being offered in scripture apart from repentance...at least not in the passages which I've just addressed. Of course, I'm not suggesting, not even for a nanosecond, that the offended party take matters into his own hands or let a root of bitterness grow within him, but I am suggesting that there are justifiable reasons or "causes" in scripture to break fellowship with individuals. Also, I would heartily recommend that prayer be made for the impenitent brother at all times.
Well, this will probably start off a firestorm of criticism my way (and I don't necessarily mean from you), but that's fine. After all, I've wanted to discuss this topic for quite some time myself, so now is as good a time as any, I suppose.
Btw, before somebody mentions how Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" from the cross, I'd ask the same to document how any of those whom Jesus prayed for at this time were actually forgiven apart from genuine repentance. Again, the first place that Jesus taught His disciples to preach "repentance and the remission of sins" was in Jerusalem or in the place where He was sentenced to be crucified. Read the recorded sermons in the book of Acts and see what people like Peter and Paul preached. They basically told their hearers that they had crucified Christ (IOW, they were addressing some of the very same people whom Jesus asked the Father to forgive) and told them that they needed to REPENT. IOW, Jesus' prayer to the Father was not to be answered apart from genuine REPENTANCE on the parts of those whom He prayed for.
