A PERSPECTIVE OF FORGIVENESS

A PERSPECTIVE OF FORGIVENESS

I guess we all use the word ‘forgive’ now and then in our lives, perhaps to a spouse, brother or sister or to our kids? But what do we really mean by saying, I forgive you?
It might be as serious as a spouse caught out having an affair, (A soft meaning for adultery!) or some hurtful words said about a friend, or even a kid lying about robbing the bickie jar!! These create the occasion to forgive!
The ‘I forgive you’ scenario usually comes last of all, after the accusations, the discussions and excuses etc!? How often have you heard, ‘OK, I’ll forgive you this time, but if you ever do that again, I’ll never forgive you??
So, to use one of the above examples, the spouse is forgiven for the affair, and life goes back to normal. However, 6 months later he/she is caught out doing it again! What happens now? Can they be forgiven a second time, and if so, what about a third time etc???
Obviously, they have wasted the original or first forgiveness, and therefore can’t be trusted, so could a second and third forgiveness be forthcoming!?

The forgiveness of sins in the Old Testament seems to be a bit contradictory!? On the one hand the people’s sins could be forgiven by an animal sacrifice, repeatedly, but there are examples of immediate death for sinning?
A man gathering sticks on the Sabbath was put to death (Numbers 15:32-36)*
A son blaspheming God while fighting with another man was put to death (Leviticus 24:10-23)
If a son was rebellious he was to be put to death (Deuteronomy 21:18-21)
That must have been pretty scary stuff for the people of that time!!

However, provision was made for unintentional sins to be forgiven, for the people as a whole, or an individual. This also included outsiders who became part of the Israelite community.
This is explained in Leviticus 4; (Also Numbers 15, particularly verses 22 to 29). But, the consequences of deliberate, or wilful sin was reinforced in verses 30-36, as mentioned above!*

So, from my perspective, if a sin by an individual was seen by the community it meant death right then and there, whereas community sins were forgiven as a whole through animal sacrifice?

Now, how does all that relate to Jesus Christ and the New Testament?
I see the big picture from Old to New Testaments as a shift from dealing with sins after they were committed, to dealing with them before they are committed. (Prevention is better than cure!!)
I also see a reverse role by God Himself! At first He required man to sacrifice to Him, but later He provided a sacrifice to man, (His son Jesus) but, it was a once only sacrifice (1Peter 3:18)......He wasn’t going to repeat it every year......and that had conditions attached!!
Jesus Christ, and later, His disciples, were about developing a mindset; to know what sin is, in the mind, then by concentrating on Christ and his example, and not committing any, because He would know your thoughts!? (Math 12:25)
This principle takes us back to the meaning of the tenth commandment. (I have an article on that)
To put it another way, the government makes a speed limit law to keep you safe on the road. You keep an eye on your speed using your speedometer, but one day your mind has been on other thoughts and you have drifted over the limit. (That may sound familiar???)
An officer pulls you over and books you, even though you tell him it wasn’t intentional!
The officer can’t read your mind, so he doesn’t have the ability to differentiate....to him you simply broke the law.....a very black and white situation!
The government was God making the laws, and the officer was Moses administering them. Jesus Christ introduced a new approach, giving people a second chance.
A very well known example of that is in John 8, where a woman caught in adultery (verse 3-4) was brought before Jesus. The Pharisees and Scribes quoted the laws of Moses** saying she should be stoned (verse 5).
Jesus however, used the guilt of sin to challenge them against that law, (verse 7) and then gave the woman the opportunity to change her ways and sin no more (verse 11).
In contrast to that, Deut 22:22 (Old Testament) states that a man and woman caught in adultery had to be put to death, and that’s the law the Pharisees were quoting as mentioned above.**
But is there provision for a 3rd or 4th chance?? Well, I haven’t found evidence of that in the NT teachings.
Paul said to reject a divisive man after two warnings, after that he is self condemned! (Titus 3:10-11) This is a good time to ask if all the sins of the Old Testament were carried forward to the New Testament. Well, it’s plain that all moral sins were, by the repeated mention of them.
Romans 1:29-32, Gal 5:19-21 and 2Tim 3:2-4 provide a comprehensive list, although similar things were mentioned in other places; however, there is no mention of failure to observe festivals, a Sabbath or other ceremonial activities as being sinful!
We are told that all our past sins can be forgiven through Christ’s bodily sacrifice, ideally via baptism, which is a public display of our ‘restart’ or born again commitment. Previously the high priest took blood and the peoples sins through the veil once a year, but also came out again, alive, so he could do it again the following year! (Hebrews 9:7)
Christ however, only went through once and didn’t come back out again, because it cost him his life for all of us. (Hebrews 9:12)
Therefore, according to Hebrews 6:4-6 and Hebrews 10:26-27 when we commit ourselves through repentance and baptism, there is no return or looking back to a sinful life? Remember Lot’s wife, in Genesis 19:17 & 26, who looked back to the sinful city of Sodom and was turned into a pillar of salt, after she was told not to!

So to summarize, the Old Testament had the same moral laws, plus very strict worship rules, along with ongoing forgiveness every year.
The New Testament maintained the moral laws, with freedom from the worship rules, but a once only forgiveness of sins! (John 8:32) Unintentional sins are still acceptable in the New Testament as portrayed in Hebrews 10:26, which can be compared to Numbers 15:28-30.
So what happens if we sin wilfully after our repentance and commitment? Well, we read on from Hebrews 10:26 to verse 31, making special note of verse 27 which should make us all think very carefully before returning to our old ways and therefore waste our first forgiveness!!??

Peter also made the same point, describing someone that turns away after learning the truth, as a dog returning to its vomit, or a sow returning to the mud after being washed!! (2Peter 2:20-22)
This all sounds impossible to achieve, but that is what self control is all about, which the apostles also taught!! It’s no different to giving up smoking, and then starting up again a month later!!
Our sins can only be forgiven through Jesus Christ, not a priest or weekly church or anything else; but once they are forgiven, we can’t go back! Take heed of the statement Jesus made, “For many are called, but few are chosen”. (Math 20:16 & 22:14)
Also, in John 8, he didn’t tell the adulteress woman it was OK to keep doing it??
To reinforce the statements I’ve made, I have quoted bible chapter and verse for you to read. The article would be too long if I wrote them all out!
I hope this provides food for thought.

Peace to all, Colin Bowater.