To answer this question we need to go to God and look at God’s forgiveness. John 3:16 says, ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only son.’ This is because God loves us so much that He wanted to forgive us. He gave His Son as a sacrifice for our sin. God used His Son Jesus to pay the debt for everybody’s sin. Even for those who choose not to believe in Jesus, or accept the forgiveness. God forgave the sin of the whole world.
and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. 1 John 2:2 NASB1995
Yes, this does say that the sins of the whole world have been paid for. All it takes is for people to accept that forgiveness. Here is a question, If God has forgiven the sin of the whole world, who are we to hold any sin against someone, anyone? If God has forgiven all sin then we are obligated to do the same.
So Because God loves every one of us humans, God sent His son to pay the penalty for all of the sins that were ever committed, even those that are yet to be committed. If that were not true there would be no forgiveness for us, as Christ paid for the sins about 2000 years ago before we ever had a chance to sin.
This is the depth of God’s love and grace towards us. That Christ died and paid the price for our sins before we ever got around to sinning. God forgave our sin before we ever got around to sinning.
This is how conclusively we have been forgiven. God does not take our sin into account. He has cast them into the sea of forgetfulness. He no longer remembers them.
As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. Psalms 103:12 NASB1995
“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven , And whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.” Romans 4:7-8
Way back before even Jesus was born into a human body to Mary, God says this about us. That God will not even be angry or rebuke us. There are many religious Christians that would like to tell us that God gets angry at us and will rebuke and chastise us, but this scripture says different. 700 years before Jesus came.
“For this is like the days of Noah to Me, When I swore that the waters of Noah Would not flood the earth again; So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you Nor will I rebuke you. For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, And My covenant of peace will not be shaken,” Says the Lord who has compassion on you. Isaiah 54:9-10
If God has forgiven all of our sin, past present and future, why will He rebuke us or become angry with us? He says that He will not! Now we have to be careful here, as we do not have license to continue to sin just because we know that we are already forgiven. God calls us to live holy lives, loving and serving one another.
Sin has consequences to our bodies that are not yet saved. Yes, our bodies still have to die, but the real life is in our spirits. The sin of our bodies cannot corrupt or harm our spirits, but can bring sickness and pain to our bodies. As the word of God is life and health to all of our body, we need to abide in the word of God.
Our bodies are the temple of God. He lives in us by His Spirit that seals our spirit. He cannot do that or come to live in us until we have accepted His forgiveness, accepted Him making us right with Him. God lives in us. He wants to live in us forever, But our bodies have been corrupted by sin. His word is able to make us live for longer not only that make us live in a healthy state for longer. This is so that He can live in us for longer.
God loves us so much that He cannot see any sin in us. He forgave us, He forgot our sin. Not only that He removed our sin from us. He no longer remembers that we had sinned. That is true forgiveness. That is what God has done for us because of the great love with which He loved us.
Some make excuses and say that God forgives because it is His nature. He has to forgive because that is what He promised. He cannot break His promise. That is how He is, forgiveness is what He does. Then some say that God has not really forgotten our sin. He is up in heaven waiting with a thunderbolt to strike us with some sort of punishment if we step out of line. Our natural man does not want to forgive. We want to hold onto hurts and wrong doings against us. (just in case) God is not like that.
God is God and is all powerful and is able to forgive everything, but we are just mere human, mortal. Surely He does not expect us to be able to forgive everything. How can we forgive and forget? Here in these next verses there is an insight to how God loves. It is telling us how we should love, or how our love should mirror God’s love.
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails1 Corinthians 13:4-9
See 1 Corinthians 13:5 love real love, the love of God that should flow through us takes no account of a wrong suffered. That is God’s type of forgiveness. God commands us to forgive as He forgave us. Forget any wrong suffered against us. Do not even be angry, or hold things against someone. This is hard, I know that I try but fail many times. I am good at forgiving and forgetting like God does, but not being drawn into an argument is hard. Arguments just bring us into dissension, and contention, this is when we can easily start judging and condemning, rather than have attitudes of forgiveness.
So many times I have let myself be drawn into a war of words. That is what an argument or heated discussion is. A war of words, that can easily degrade into a despising, deriding of the other person. So quickly we deteriorate into a condescending way of talking, losing most of any reasoning ability.
The word of God tells us of a different way to go about things. Below are just a few scriptures that talk about the way that we should be towards each other. It is not just about forgiving, but much more than that. It has a lot to do with living in and creating a peace between each other, even when it is hard to do. These are scriptures that are big within the New Testament, yet people reject them or make excuses against them with other scripture to counter them, usually from the Old Testament. But let us have a look at them.
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Ephesians 4:31-32
But one whom you forgive anything, I forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ, so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes. 2 Corinthians 2:10-11
If we do not forgive, satan can take advantage of us!
So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Colossians 3:12-17
But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another. Galatians 5:15-26
Powerful words, another verse that I love and have tried to apply to my life in a very real and living way says, ‘ As far as it depends upon you be at peace with everyone.’ That is in Romans 14. As far as it depends upon you, be at peace with everyone.
The verse from Galatians above begins, ‘But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.’ Then it ends with, ‘Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.’ In between it tells us what are the deeds of the flesh, against the fruit of the Spirit.
During a heated discussion with my wife, these words actually came out of my mouth, as a reply to something my wife said about my love for her. I do not think that it was appreciated at the time. But as I look back at this statement, it is bold and quite profound.
Love is the ability to forgive no matter what the circumstances.
There is no excuse for unforgiveness.
God bless you
Charlie
