Solemn Sundays: Forgiveness, A Biblical Perspective

Forgiveness is often tied up with feelings and that is why it becomes hard to do. Hurt and betrayal which often break relationships, challenge people at the level of feelings. Often one who has been hurt finds it easy to forgive if the person who caused the hurt comes forward and apologizes. But this does not happen as much as one would like to have it and as a result many people are walking with hurt from this and from that person who caused the hurt. Many times the one who caused the hurt does not even know but the one hurt will not forget.

The Bible calls us to forgive and does not include apology from the person who caused the hurt. For example, Matt 6:14 “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” Matt 18:21-22, 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.” When you read on in Matt. 18, Jesus tells a very important parable. You will find that because the first servant did not forgive his fellow servant, they both got stuck in the prison.

Whether people ask us for forgiveness or not, Christians are expected to forgive because they are released to enjoy the blessing of the Lord. By the way, forgiveness is a matter of faith and not feelings.


And now about God’s forgiveness. We start with 1 John 1: 8, 9. “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” A careful look at the passage will reveal as St. Paul says in Rom. 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. Isaiah 53:6 “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” King Solomon praying for his nation said, "When they sin against you-- for there is no one who does not sin-- and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to his own land, far away or near; (I King 8:46) and so on. We are sinners through and through and so we can not claim to be without sin.


Because we are sinners, we are required to confess our sins. Once again, this is not a matter of feelings but of faith. We go to God on his terms and in 1 Jn. 1:9, we are given his terms – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”. One, he is faithful; meaning that he does not change. James 1:17, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” So if he says he forgives he does so despite the way we feel.

Lastly, our God is just and therefore he does not change his standards. The Bible says, “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”(Heb 9:22). Our forgiveness is very costly because it took the blood of the Son of God for us to be forgiven. It is not for free as we sometimes preach. It is only free for us and not to God. Our forgiveness includes purification and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. All means all and nothing less. No categorization or degree we humans put on sins. Isn’t this great?