 Are we required to forgive? What does the Bible say about this? Something that every single person has to deal with in life, Christian or not. Wise, unwise, old, young, it doesn't matter. We all have to deal with forgiveness. Either someone needs to forgive us or we need to forgive. The question is, what does the Bible say about forgiveness? Are we required to? Before we go there though, there needs to be a little bit of understanding and differentiation between two words that we need to know. One word obviously is to forgive or forgiveness or forgave any variation. And then another word that we sometimes don't think of is this word reconciliation. To forgive means to permit, to release, to let go. In other words, I will not hold what was done against me anymore. I won't hold it against you or the person. The other word though is this word reconciliation, to reconcile. That means to exist, to coexist, to bring together, to exist in harmony. The problem is those two words mean something differently. And in one case, both are required. In another case, one may not be required. In forgiveness, forgiveness is a one-sided issue. It is completely up to the person to forgive, whereas reconciliation, that's two-sided. Both parties have to agree. In reconciliation, it is necessary that there has to be forgiveness in order for there to be reconciliation. But in forgiveness, there may not be reconciliation. Obviously, that would be a preferable goal, but sometimes it's just not possible. The requirement for forgiveness depends upon who you are. There's two types of parties involved in this. One, God, and then us. Well, God's forgiveness is a little bit different. Because forgiveness can be either conditional or can be unconditional, meaning conditional. If you do this, then I'll forgive you. It can be unconditional, meaning I'll forgive you no matter what. Or you could just simply withhold the forgiveness. In God's case, all three of those could be applied. But in our case, only one is applicable. Only one is acceptable. God has the right to say that if you do this, then I'll forgive. So just what we see in 2 Chronicles 7, he says to Israel, if my people who are called by my name, if they will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, he says, then I will hear from heaven. And so here, forgiveness of Israel, in this case, is conditional. It also can be unconditional, especially if it's involving a particular act. Remember Jesus on the cross saying, Father, forgive them for they do not know what they're doing. He's saying forgive them for this particular act. Does that mean that they will be forgiven of everything, even if they don't believe in Christ, even if they don't place faith in Christ? Well, no. But on this thing, he says forgive them. This is unconditional. Then we also see that there are some sins that he absolutely will not forgive. For example, he says that the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven, not in this age or any age to come. So because he is God, he has the prerogative to forgive or not. He has the prerogative to make his forgiveness either conditional or unconditional. But what about us? We are given this way to pray. And in the prayer, we get an example of what God expects from us. He says, obviously, you know the prayer, our Father who art in heaven, who is in heaven, how will be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done. But look what he says. He says, and forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors. Meaning that this is something that we should do. That's the goal. That's what's required of us. And it's not optional. Notice what he says in Matthew 5, 23. He says, starting in verse 22, he says, but I said to you, everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court. In other words, if there's something that you have against your brother, then God is going to have a problem with that. God is not concerned with necessarily what the issue is, although it does matter. But he doesn't want you to be angry with your brother. And so going down to verse 23, he says, therefore, if you are presenting your offering at the offer and they remember that your brother has something against you, so now it's changed. And so in both cases, what we need to see is, one, if you have something against the person, he's saying for you to forgive that person. But here in verse 23, it changes. If the brother has something against you, meaning that you have done something, look what he says. Leave your offering there before the altar and go first and look at the word that's used here. This is not the word forgiveness. He says, first, be reconciled to your brother and then come and present your offering. So what he's showing is, if the offense was committed against me, I should forgive. But if I have committed the offense, then I should go and be reconciled to my brother, which requires me to do something. Which shows a little bit of the difference. I'll come back to this issue of reconciliation in a second, but let's go back to this issue of forgiving. Notice what's said also in Colossians 3.13. He says, bearing with one another and forgiving each other who has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. So if someone has done something to you, notice he's not saying, or even giving the option of if there is no such requirement, if the brother does this, then you should forgive. No, forgive. Why? Because it's required just as the Lord forgave you. And remember, you have been forgiven of an awful lot, just like I have. We all have. And so because of that, in view of that, the Lord forgave us, you should forgive likewise. This is exemplified vividly in the form of Stephen. Stephen is being stoned. And in the middle of his stoning, before he passes away, he makes this profound statement. He says, after falling on his knees, he says, Lord, do not hold this sin against him. Of course, forgive them. Having said this, then he fell asleep. Then he breathed his last breath. And so here we see Stephen, who is initially being stoned. And what is his prayer? Forgive them now of this. Now, is he saying forgive them of everything of all their sins? Well, no, because God will do so in this case, as far as salvation is concerned, he will do so conditionally. But in this instance, Stephen's prayer is that, forgive them. I don't hold this against them. And he's asking God not to hold that against them. In truth, we told if a person is in the place of a sinner, if the person is in the place of someone who's not a believer, well, then there's really truly only one sin that God is going to hold against them. That is, and it's conditional for forgiveness that he is them not placing their faith in Christ. Every other sin is immaterial because of the one outstanding sin, which is no faith in Christ. But going back to this issue of, and the difference between reconciliation and forgiveness. Yes, it's up to you to forgive. But what about reconciling the person? What if the person has done something so egregiously wrong to you that you can't? Well, Paul addresses this too. He says in chapter 12 verse 18 of Romans, he says, if possible, as far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Sometimes it's just not possible on your behalf. Someone is maybe they're defaming you. They're attacking you. What have you? You forgive them, but you cannot be reconciled. There's someone who is abusive, someone who's hurting someone, someone who is deranged, maybe someone who's violent. You can't be reconciled with them. However, you can forgive them, but you can forgive them at a distance. Because notice what the passage says. The passage says as much as it is possible with you, as so much as far as it depends on you. Sometimes it's out of your hand, and there's nothing that you can do about it. But if there's something that you can do about it, the goal, the idea is to be reconciled. If it's something that small or what have you, you can get past, well then try to be reconciled. Why? Because it's the same thing that God has done for us. Again, as much as it is possible for you. Again, we're told how beautiful it is for brothers to dwell together in unity. Even if it's an unbeliever, you still want to be at peace with them. Now, again, how so in what regard it's going to depend case by case, but the forgiveness portion of it, that part is not optional. It's the reconciliation part. That's the part that depends on both parties. And to drive this point home, let's go back to where Jesus is offering us how to pray and go to verse 14. And let's see what he says. He says, For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. If you forgive others, but notice what he says, but if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions. So it seems to be that our forgiveness by him is conditional. Well, is that the case? Well, what is he speaking of? If a person has in his heart, hatred or anger for his brother and cannot forgive, that's likely the indication the person is not a believer and it's not part of the community that found with the church. And because of that, then God won't forgive. So it seems to be that a Christian will forgive. Now does that mean that a Christian will be reconciled with everyone else? No, because again, as much as it depends on you, some things are out of your control, but the one thing that is within your control is your forgiveness. Yes, I know. Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes they've said some things. Sometimes they've done some things. Cory, you don't know what was done to me. I understand that. God does. And the God who does know still states that you must forgive. So if you do not forgive, then what will God not do? This is his conditional promise that he will not forgive. But if you do forgive, then he will forgive. He did not say that if you are not reconciled, then you won't be reconciled. No, different thing. If you are forgiven, if you forgive, then you will be forgiven. But that depends upon the person's repentant heart understanding person foremost. And this is where the difference comes in. Understanding that you are just as an egregious violator of God as someone is to us. Whatever someone has done to us, it pales in comparison to all the things that we have done. And recognizing that, then we can see why it is so easy to forgive others. Again, reconciliation of the story. But forgiveness, we are required to do so. And if we say we love God, then we should also love our brothers, our fellow man who is with us as well. May not be able to coexist with them at the moment, but prayerfully, maybe they will come around. And so if you have something against that person, forgive them. If someone has something against you and they have forgiven you, then go be reconciled with that person. Amen.