John 8:4-8 (NKJV) 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” 6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. 7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” 8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.
In our study of forgiveness, we have learned a number of important things. Jesus links forgiving our brothers and sisters to success in our walk of faith. He also ties it to receiving answer to prayer. If we forgive, it releases the power of God’s forgiveness in our lives. Indeed, if we do not forgive we bind God’s ability to forgive our own sins. We also find that we must forgive everyone for anything they have done to wrong us.
We have also found that forgiveness is not a feeling it is a decision. The feelings eventually come but forgiveness does not start with the feelings. This decision is not based on the offenders asking for forgiveness or on his or her repentance. The responsibility to forgive is on us not the one we need to forgive. This is not true in the natural. However, we see in Jesus forgiveness from the cross that supernatural forgiveness is what we need to have.
Finally, we find that the thing we must decide is to let go of any right for payment or retribution for the offence. This is the key element of forgiveness. We feel we deserve some kind of payment if we forgive. That payment may simply be the punishment of the offender. Once again, in the natural this is a logical idea. However, we are to be supernatural people so we must forgive supernaturally as well. There is a legal term for this. It is called a pardon. We must be willing to pardon those who offend us as well.
A logical question related to this kind of forgiveness is, “Doesn’t the offender just get away with the bad behavior if we forgive this way.” Very often, this kind of thinking is what will allow us to rationalize unforgiveness. This is not the case at all.
When we choose to let go of our need for payment or punishment we leave that responsibility in the hands of God. God is not mocked. What a person sows they will reap. If we forgive, we place the consequences for the person’s offense in God’s hands. God knows that person’s heart. He will judge perfectly. He can see repentance that we cannot. He also sees the lack of repentance that we would miss. If we leave them to God, they “get away with” nothing.
The other question I have heard asked is “What about trust?” Under certain circumstances, we may need to rebuild trust. That is a separate issue from forgiveness. If I forgive a person that means I am no going to relate to them personally in light of the offense. I still may require some kind of enhanced accountability to be sure the offense is not repeated.
I raised six children. There were many times when I forgave them for bad behavior. I still may have grounded them or required certain things of them so that good behavior would be enforced and bad habits broken. In relationships that are more equal in nature than parent and child, there may be some requirements set in areas to make sure that the offense does not happen again. We do not hold the offense against the offender on a personal level, but we take steps to protect that relationship from future damage.
This brings me to another question. If we are to give up our right for the person to ask for forgiveness or to repent, why does God require us to ask for forgiveness and for us to repent? The short answer might be that he is God and we are not. He is without sin of any kind and we are not.
In today’s scripture, a crowd of people with a woman in tow confronts Jesus. They tell him that this woman had been caught in the act of adultery. Adultery is a sin. Under the Old Testament law, it was punishable by stoning to death. Jesus says to them, “The one among you who has never committed sin can cast the first stone.” He then writes in the sand. One by one, the accusers put down their stones and walk away.
We do not know what Jesus wrote in the sand. Most think he was probably writing the names of sins that the accusers themselves had committed. Whatever he wrote the affect of Jesus’ words was that none of them was sinless enough to cast the stone that would lead to this woman’s punishment. I think each of us would do the same as those accusing the woman did. We would walk away because we are not without sin.
The woman was guilty, yet Jesus forgave here. His requirement was that she go and sin no more. That is the essence of repentance. God required repentance. He requires repentance from us as well. Why must we release people from this requirement when God requires it from us? Because God knows us and what we need.
1 John 1:8-10 (NKJV) 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
In this verse, we see that God requires we confess our sins to him in order to receive forgiveness. It must be noted that he requires no payment for the sins we confess. Jesus already made the payment. He does require we acknowledge them. If we do not acknowledge them, he cannot deal with us to get the sin out of our lives. God’s requirement of repentance is for our good. It is so that he can make us better in the end.
When we require repentance from our brother before we forgive him it is not for his good. It is because we feel we need that to alleviate the hurt. God has the power to cleanse the repentant sinner of unrighteousness. We do not have any such power. God is perfect in his judgment. We are not. God only has our good at heart. We also have our good at heart not the good of the offender.
Forgiveness is a powerful force in our lives. It is a force that will free us from all kinds of physical and emotional bondage. The more freely we give it the more freely we will be able to live. When we give it to others, it will be easier for us to receive it from God.
Take some time to think of those you may hold unforgiveness towards. Release forgiveness to them today. You may not feel it right away but the decision starts the process. I assure you that you will not regret the decision.
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