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THE
BIBLE
Can we trust a book written 2000 years ago?
EYEWITNESS
Did the writers of the New Testament get their picture of Jesus right?
GOD
- MAN
Is Jesus really God?
RESURRECTION
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?
RELIGIONS
With so many religions, why Christianity?
SUFFERING
If there is a God, why is there so much suffering?
TRINITY
Understanding the Trinity.
SCIENCE
The complementary nature of Science & Christianity.
FORGIVENESS
What it is and why it matters?
GUIDANCE
How does God guide?
REPENTANCE
What it is and why you can't get to heaven without it.
BORN
AGAIN
What does it mean to be converted and born again?
SAVING
FAITH
The kind of faith that will get you to heaven
ASSURANCE
Can I know for sure that I am going to heaven?
TRUTH
What is truth and does it matter?
MORALITY
Does it matter how we live? A Christian view of morality.
THE
CHURCH
God's vision for his family, the Church. A call to the churches of the
new millennium.
PURPOSE
How
can I find a great purpose for living?
IDENTITY
Who am I; Finding my true identity as a human being and as a child of
God.
SELF-ESTEEM
How
can I feel good about my self? The Christian basis for proper sel-esteem.
LIFE AFTER DEATHChristianity's Hope & Challenge.
THE CROSS
Why did Jesus Die? What the Bible says about the Cross.
Grace
The importance of grace in the New Testament.
The cost of forgiveness
You may well ask, "Isn't that ignoring the past? What about justice?" The issue of justice faces us with the cost of forgiveness. Paul says, "Forgive anyone who does you wrong, just as Christ has forgiven you" (Colossians 3:13). Our forgiveness of others is to be of a similar nature to Christ's forgiveness of us. What did it cost Christ to forgive us? It cost him his life.
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"To
forgive means two things, to remit a debt and to pay it. It is the
same word for both"
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God is not only perfect in love. He is also perfect in justice. The Bible says that righteousness and justice are the very foundation of his government (Psalm 97:2). There is justice at the heart of this universe. That means that if we are to be forgiven, someone has to accept the consequences for our wrongdoing. In a manner that passes human understanding, Jesus Christ accepted that responsibility. "Christ died once for our sins. An innocent person died for those who are guilty. Christ did this to bring you to God..." (I Peter 3:18).
On the basis of that sacrifice he can offer us forgiveness and reconciliation. It is a gift, and can only be accepted - never earned. We owe to God a debt we could not pay ourselves. God invented forgiveness in order to keep alive his romance with fallen humanity, but at infinite cost. His justice was fully satisfied at Calvary.
There is a sense in which all sin is sin against God. Only God can forgive that. But on the basis of our experience of that forgiveness we are to extend it to others who sin against us. We cannot accept responsibility for their sin against God. He has already done that. However, when we choose to forgive another, there is always some sense in which we are accepting responsibility for the consequences of those sins. This is why forgiveness always has a cost to go with it. I bear in myself the price of the evil done. To give a simple illustration: if someone breaks a precious heirloom of mine and I forgive them, then I am offering to pay the cost, whether it be in the price of replacement, or of the loss. It is interesting that the Hebrew word for "forgive" means two things, to remit a debt and to pay it. It is the same word for both.
An Episcopalian writer, Gale D. Webb, caught this aspect of forgiveness when he wrote in The Night and Nothing:
The only way to conquer evil is to let it be smothered within a willing, living, human being. When it is absorbed there, like blood in a sponge or a spear thrown into one's heart, it loses its power and goes no further.
M. Scott Peck makes the same point in his conclusion to People of the Lie. For the healing of evil, he notes:
A willing sacrifice is required...He or she must sacrificially absorb the evil...There is a mysterious alchemy whereby the victim becomes the victor...I do not know how this occurs. But I know that it does...Whenever this happens there is a slight shift in the balance of power in the world.
It is this that is the miracle of forgiveness.
There is one other matter of importance related to justice that we need to address before looking at the importance of forgiveness. God is certainly not indifferent to justice. The need for Christ's cross demonstrates that. However, ultimately justice is God's concern, and only he can dispense it fairly, taking all the factors into account. He has guaranteed that this is what he will ultimately do. Paul, speaking about those who mistreat us, says, "Dear friends, don't try to get even. Let God take revenge. In the Scriptures the Lord says, 'I am the one to take revenge and pay them back.'... Don't let evil defeat you, but defeat evil with good" (Romans 12:19,21).
God delegates the ordering of justice in society to duly constituted authority (Romans 13:1-5). Being members of a fallen race, this means that justice in this world is always flawed. However, we are not to take revenge into our own personal hands. God will see that justice is done, if not in this life, then surely and fairly in the next. Where repentance is not genuine and God's offer of reconciliation in Christ is not accepted, there can remain only justice. To meet evil with evil is a defeat for ourselves.
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What is forgiveness and why does it matter?
The cost of forgiveness
