Imitating God’s Forgiveness – Part 2
“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
We noted in our previous article that God places conditions on forgiveness. We also noted that God does not forgive everyone. However, where God has forgiven and forgives, we need to be keenly responsible to so imitate Him 1) in who he forgives, 2) in how he forgives, and 3) in why he forgives.
Who does God forgive? God forgives all men potentially and the penitent actually. As indicated by the future tense, Jesus spoke about potential forgiveness in Mark 3:28 “All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme.” Actual forgiveness, however, comes when an individual repents and turns to God in obedience (Mark 4:12). The apostles taught that forgiveness of sins for the alien sinner happened at baptism (Acts 2:38, 22:16). For the Christian who sins, God forgives private sins that are confessed to Him privately. First John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
God, through Christ, forgives public sins when they are confessed publicly as Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, “To whom ye forgive anything, I forgive also: for if I forgave anything, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ” (2 Corinthians 2:10). Christ considers those sins that are confessed before the church forgiven and if Christ so considers them forgiven, they are truly forgiven. No individual person or congregation has the right to withhold forgiveness under such circumstances. Unlike the false doctrine of “limited atonement,” the Bible teaches that God generously and freely forgives any person that meets the conditions He sets. One does not have to worry whether God will forgive him or not! One may know he is forgiven.
God bless you, and I love you.
Kevin Cauley