“As often as thy brother sin against thee thou shalt forgive him.”
The above quote is not one of the ten commandments The gospel records indicate the religious leaders of Israel apparently did not believe forgiveness was a first principle The ten commandments did not explicitly teach that we should forgive another person’s sins against us Yet forgiveness of sins was taught m the Law and the forgiveness extended by the Lord God of Israel was clearly evident in the ritual taught on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).
The forgiveness of sins should also have been evident in every ritual sacrifice that was performed in the tabernacle and later carried out in the temple on Mount Zion The prayer of Solomon at the dedication of the first temple is marvelous in illustrating the quality of the forgiveness of the Lord “Hearken therefore unto the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they shall make toward this place hear thou from thy dwelling place, even from heaven, and when thou hearest, forgive” (II Chron 6:21).
God’s judgments
But the Jew was also keenly aware of the seventy of the judgments of the Lord The stones of Achan, the son of Carmi, and his family (Joshua 7), or of Nadab and Abihu (Lev 10), or of the man who gathered sticks on the Sabbath (Num 15 32), were clear evidence God expected His law to be carried out and forgiveness was not offered m any of these cases (among others) Hence the Jews often adopted the same severity in dealing with others While praying to God for mercy and forgiveness for their own sins, the people of Israel did not necessarily translate this into a need to be merciful and forgiving to each other, let alone the gentiles with whom they may have contact.
Jesus’ teaching to forgive
Jesus was fully aware of this dichotomy when he said to the Jews “Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” (Matt 5 38) While the Law implied that mercy and forgiveness toward our fellow man was required if we were to receive mercy and forgiveness from God, nevertheless Jesus now expanded the concept explicitly when he went on to say “But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the left one also” (Matt 5:39)
For a people schooled in judgment and exact retribution, the possibility of such forgiveness was difficult to swallow Jesus was teaching them (us) to forgive and yield to evil1. He was teaching them (us) to give in even when they (we) were absolutely in the right! In all fairness to the Jews, even after almost two millennia of Christianity, this teaching is still difficult to accept and even more onerous to achieve in practice. As Christadelphians do we appreciate its significance and do we carry out this teaching? Or do we insist on our own righteousness?
The Jews did indeed appreciate the need to forgive each other, and, in all fairness, their standard was probably higher than anywhere else in the ancient world. Among pagans the concepts of “honor” and “revenge” for wrongs suffered demanded retribution.
The question of limits
The Jews held back and placed limits on forgiveness, limits that set legal bounds on what could be forgiven and what was beyond forgiveness, limits on how much forgiveness was necessary.
The logic came not from what was taught in the Law, but from the traditions that men put on one another. The Day of Atonement was not limited; the frequency with which a given sacrifice could be offered was not limited nor were there limits on the type of sin that could be forgiven. Assuredly the scriptures showed that God forgave David of murder and adultery. Although animal sacrifice was not available for such sins, the right spirit in the heart of a repentant sinner could end in forgiveness.
Since a man cannot read another man’s heart, Jesus taught that we must forgive each other of all sins and that we must forgive without limit. If the person sins again and again, and his repentance is not sincere, that will eventually be a matter for the Lord Jesus Christ to settle in that day when he will make manifest the hearts of all who appear before him at his judgment seat. These principles of forgiveness are given in the words of Jesus in Matthew 12:31: “All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven unto men.”
All manner of sin forgiven. The teaching is beyond doubt. The only exception is when a person denies the power of God, i.e. denying the Holy Spirit. If we deny the power of God to forgive, He will not forgive us; this is a painful but logical limit on forgiveness.
The Lord Jesus Christ was a prophet like unto Moses and in this sense he was also a lawgiver. Whereas the need for us to forgive one another was certainly part of the Law of Moses, the Jews had nullified much of its teaching by their traditions. Not only did they place limits on what sins could, or could not, be forgiven, they also placed severe restrictions on the number of times forgiveness would be offered. This latter idea is perfectly reasonable based on human logic; after all, a habitual offender should be dealt with severely. In recent years, many states in the U.S.A. have adopted measures to confine criminals for life after a certain number of offenses (usually three convictions). Similarly, commentaries of the rabbis had considerable discussion on: “How many times should a man forgive his neighbor?”
There was by no means unanimity in deciding this question. Some said three times, others seven for the days of creation and the number which stood for completion, while still others held the opinion it should be twelve times for the number of the tribes and a number which stood for judgment. Curiously, the idea of unlimited forgiveness was not seriously considered.
Hence, while the priests, Pharisees, scribes and lawyers performed unlimited sacrifices to ask God for pardon of their own sins, the same generosity of spirit was not evidenced in their dealings with their fellow man. Ironically, we, too, can fall in that trap. While we expect mercy from God we are usually only prepared to offer our brother judgment (and sometimes not even fair judgment, but judgment tempered with our own prejudices, which we are too blind to see).
It is in this context of limits on forgiveness that Peter asks the question in Matthew 18:21: “How oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?” In asking this question Peter must have been aware of the rabbinical debates. We must therefore regard his question as completely sincere and perhaps as an attempt to get a final number from the greatest teacher of all. The answer that Jesus gave of seventy times seven’ must have stunned his audience, for while we have no image available of the reaction of the hearers, we do know that Jesus did not let the matter rest, but expanded on the lesson by telling the parable of the unmerciful servant (Matt. 18:21-35).
The unmerciful servant
The parable of the unmerciful servant poignantly lays before us a man who was forgiven much only to turn around and ungratefully destroy a brother over a trivial amount. The parallel with our actions is unfortunately all too true. Again and again we fail to forgive even the slightest perceived offenses to ourselves while praying to God for mercy for every offense we ourselves commit.
We hold others to standards we ourselves often cannot even begin to achieve. Many who have served in ecclesial offices know how often they have had to endure the complaints and barbs of the brethren for real or perceived wrongs. At the same time, we rarely sincerely say thank you for voluntary service performed on our behalf. When a brother has said something in an exhortation, lecture or Bible class that we disagree with or are offended by, we waste no time nor spare words to make sure they are corrected. While at the same time we rarely want to compliment someone since that will only puff up his ego!
In the Matthew parable the “certain king” is reviewing the performance of his stewards (servants here does not mean bond slaves). One is brought before him who owes millions of dollars (NIV) in debt and is asked to pay it back. The amount is obviously meant to indicate an impossibly high sum such that we realize it is a debt that we ourselves would be completely unable to pay.
How did this man incur such a debt? The implication in the parable is that he was probably irresponsible since his lord is no longer willing to believe he can pay it back, even in part The sentence is to throw him and his family in prison This was not a Jewish practice, but a Roman one Under rabbinical law everything he owned would have been impounded, but he would be left an allowance to live on and would have been required to continue to work to pay back his debt The harshness of this sentence could only be a result of gentile law.
This parable also points out the principle that when we sin the consequences may be felt by all around us, including those whom we love and cherish most, which is an important point to ponder m accumulating a huge debt of sin Our failures could endanger our wives, our children and indeed all who are close to us.
The servant pleads for patience, a quality that we rarely have in dealing with the sins of others Yet the sincerity and depth of sorrow that the servant apparently displayed moved the king to go beyond even what the servant had requested Instead of giving time to pay back the debt the king forgave all of it.
The cruel servant
We would have expected the servant to be overcome with joy and gratefulness beyond measure, but instead his gratitude almost instantly evaporated’ He sought out a fellow servant who owed him a few dollars (NIV) and demanded payment, even going so far as to gab him violently by the throat (an implication that he was threatening his fellow servant with death if not reimbursed) The fellow servant pleaded with him using exactly the same words that the original servant had used in begging for mercy with the king “Have patience with me!”
How marvelous is the teaching of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ The message is beyond doubt Our pleas for forgiveness of our debts will only be heard if we hear and forgive the same exact pleas from others
The Lord’s prayer
When our Lord Jesus Christ taught us how to pray he found it necessary to amplify only one aspect of that prayer, namely, the quality of forgiveness He says “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matt 6:14, 15)
Could any teaching be plainer or harder to implement’ This teaching is a first principle beyond doubt, because it is absolutely vital for our salvation If God doesn’t forgive us we will not be in the kingdom promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob This first principle is at the heart of appreciating the parable of the unmerciful servant He was forgiven much, but was unprepared to forgive his brother even a pittance Let us not be unmerciful servants, but rather prepared to turn the other cheek and to forgive all our brethren without measure.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One