[Faith-talk] FW: [thefamilyoffaith] If I Do Not Forgive Others, Does That Mean My Sins Are Not Forgiven?

[Eric Calhoun]

Original Message: 
From: "thefamilyoffaith" <TheFamilyofFaith at tampabay.rr.com>
To: <thefamilyoffaith at yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [thefamilyoffaith] If I Do Not Forgive Others, Does That Mean My
Sins Are Not Forgiven?
Date: 
Sun, 16 Oct 2011 20:33:07 -0400



If I Do Not Forgive Others, Does That Mean My Sins Are Not Forgiven?





Our eternal destiny is not based on our forgiving other people; however,
it does teach that our relationship with God will be damaged if we refuse
to pardon those who have offended us. The Bible is clear that God pardons
sin by His grace based on Christ's work on the cross alone, not on man's
actions. Our right standing before Him is established on one thing only-the
finished work of Christ (John 3:16; 1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10). The penalty
for the sin that is rightly ours is paid by Christ, and we obtain it by
grace through faith, not by any righteous deeds of our own (Ephesians
2:8-9). No one will be able to stand before God demanding that his sins be
forgotten simply because he has forgiven others. Only when we are born
again and given a new life through God's Spirit by faith in Jesus Christ
are our sins forgiven. Therefore, Jesus is not referring to God's initial
act of forgiveness (reconciliation) that we experienced when we first
believed the Gospel.

What He is referring to is the day-to-day cleansing we obtain when we
confess our sins in order to restore fellowship with our heavenly
Father-the fellowship which is interrupted by the daily tarnishing of sin
that affects us all. This is not the wholesale cleansing from sin that
comes with salvation by grace through faith, but is more like the
foot-washing Jesus describes in John 13:10. The "whole body is clean," He
told the disciples, but their feet were dirty from their walking in the
world. Forgiveness in this sense is what God threatens to withhold from
Christians who refuse to forgive others.

Jesus taught His disciples how to pray and in doing so outlines how we
are restored into intimacy with God whenever we have displeased Him. In
fact, Jesus instructs us to build into our prayers a request for God to
forgive us in the same way that we have forgiven others who have harmed us
(Matthew 6:12). If there are those we have not forgiven when we ourselves
pray for forgiveness, then practically speaking we are asking God not to
restore a right relationship with us after we sin. To emphasize the
importance of restoring broken relationships with our brothers and sisters,
Jesus states that asking for God's forgiveness for one's own sins, all the
while withholding forgiveness from someone else, is not only bizarre but
hypocritical. We cannot possibly walk with God in true fellowship if we
refuse to forgive others.

 

If we don't forgive others we hurt ourselves more than we do the one who
sins against us.

To be sure, an unforgiving spirit is a serious sin and should be
confessed to God. If we have unforgiveness in our hearts against someone
else, then we are acting in a way that is not pleasing to God, making our
prayers and a proper living relationship with Him difficult. God will not
hear our prayers unless we also show ourselves ready to grant forgiveness.
If we are harder than iron in this regard, Christ's exhortation ought to
soften us.

A second biblically plausible interpretation of Matthew 6:14-15 is that
it is saying anyone who refuses to forgive others is demonstrating that he
has not truly received Christ's forgiveness himself. Any sin committed
against us, no matter how terrible, is trivial in comparison to our sins
against God. If God has forgiven us of so much, how could we refuse to
forgive others of so "little"? Matthew 6:14-15, according to this view,
proclaims that anyone who harbors unforgiveness against others has not
truly experienced God's forgiveness. Both interpretations strongly deny
that forgiveness of salvation is dependent on our forgiving others. Whether
Matthew 6:14-15 is speaking of "relational forgiveness," or whether it is a
declaration that unforgiveness is the mark of an unbeliever, the core truth
is the same. We should forgive others because God, through Christ, has
forgiven us (Ephesians 4:32). It is inconceivable that someone who has
truly experienced God's forgiveness could refuse to grant forgiveness to
others.

 

To be add to or removed from this ministry click on my e-mail address:
brothermiller1 at yahoo.com and let me know.

 



 

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