Many times during the years I spent in the Institutional Church I was told that, regardless of what anyone did to me, I was to unconditionally forgive him or her.  According to those instructing me, there were no caveats (exceptions) to that rule.  I was told time and again from pulpit and podium, from television and radio, in print and in person–I MUST FORGIVE EVERY SIN COMMITTED AGAINST ME.  Otherwise, God would not forgive the sins I would inevitably (thanks to Adam) commit against Him.  This sounds like “Thus saith the Lord” doesn’t it?  But the question is, as with all things spiritual: IS IT BIBLICALLY TRUE?  Is this “headline” a Biblical, Holy Spirit-inspired Truth?  Or is there a caveat connected to God’s command to forgive others for their trespasses (sins) against us.  Does His forgiveness of our sins depend on our unconditional forgiveness of the sins others commit against us?  Matthew 6:12-15 records the Words of Jesus relative to this subject.  Here Jesus is teaching His disciples how to pray: “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors …. For if you (disciples) forgive men their sins (against you), (then) your heavenly Father will also forgive your sins (against Him).

Billions of church people, including myself, have remembered those Words (which came straight from the mouth of Jesus Christ) when confronted with a situation in which someone wronged us.  We had been told time and again that blanket, carte blanche, no-exception forgiveness on our part was commanded from on high.  Or was it?  This is an excellent example of how we are taught in church to focus on the Lord’s Biblical “headlines” while being steered away from knowledge of His Biblical “fine print.”  Through his false prophets, Satan has successfully guided billions of people away from “the whole counsel of God” which the Apostle Paul and all other apostles and prophets taught and recorded in the Holy Bible.  But the “whole counsel of God” concerning forgiveness of others has been successfully hidden from Truth seekers for almost 2000 years.  Jesus promised His true saints, “You will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free” (from error).  But to know the Truth one must study it.  In John 17:17 Jesus identified the Truth as God’s Word.  Everything goes back to the Word of God.  The Holy Bible is not the “gold standard” relative to spiritual Truth, it is the ONLY STANDARD.

Many times I have watched news reports in which people in court cases were allowed to address those who have either killed or caused to be killed a loved one.  In almost every case the speaker, noting that what he/she is about to do is commanded by God, has sincerely forgiven the guilty party.  At first glance, and relying on what we have been taught in church, this appears to be an act of true Christianity.  But is it?  As Paul wrote to Timothy, let us “Study to show yourself approved by God” (2 Tim. 2:25).  Let us “Prove all things of God” (I Thes. 5:21) by studying His Word diligently and with an open heart so that we can hear His “voice” of Truth (Jn. 17:17).

The ultimate statement relative to forgiveness of another’s sin against us is found in John 20:22,23: “And when He (Jesus) had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’  Whosoever sins you remit (forgive) they are remitted (removed from them); whosoever sins you retain (cause them to keep), they are retained (by them).”  Here Jesus is telling His spiritual brethren (identified in Matthew 12:50), who are His friends (identified in Jn. 15:13,14) that there are circumstances in which they are NOT TO FORGIVE THE SINS COMMITTED AGAINST THEM.  This refutes what we were all taught in church as “Gospel Truth.”  As readers of this website know, most of what was and continues to be taught in church is refuted by God’s unspun, uninterpreted, pure Word.

In John 20 Jesus is telling us that when we remit (forgive) the sins of a guilty person, God also remits the sin and does not hold it against them.  Our forgiveness triggers His forgiveness.  However, if we retain (refuse to forgive) their sin, neither does God forgive it.  The guilty party keeps its sin.  What determines whether one retains or releases one’s sins against another?  The answer is REPENTANCE.

This Truth is brought out by Jesus in Luke 17:3: “Take heed to yourself (remember this), if your brother trespass against you, rebuke him, and IF HE REPENTS, (then and only then) forgive him.  Note it: ONE IS TO FORGIVE A SPIRITUAL BROTHER’S TRESPASS (SIN) ONLY IF HE SINCERELY REPENTS.  If a true saint’s spiritual brother is held to this standard, would not the Lord hold everyone else to the same standard in that He is “no respecter of persons?”

The word “sincerely” (my word) is very important in the Lord’s repent–forgive formula.  This Truth is brought out in 2 Corinthians 7:9-11 where the Apostle Paul tells the church that, in order to be forgiven by God and the victim, repentance must be “of a godly kind” that brings about a total change in the guilty party so that he can be “cleared” of the sin and thereby gain the “approval” of God, which renders him able to go on “unto salvation.”  Please read this passage carefully and prayerfully because it has eternal implications.  And recall that Paul is writing to the church about the church.

In 2 Corinthians 7:9-11 Paul is referring to church members’ sins against God.  But let us remember that when we offend one of God’s children, we are in fact offending Him because He lives within His children in the form of His Holy Spirit.  In His Words, He and His children are “one.”  Therefore, to sin against one of His children is to sin against Him.  Recall that Jesus said:  “In that you did it (good or bad) to one of the least of these My (spiritual) brethren, you did it unto Me” (Mat. 25:31-46).  This is the same Jesus Who said about Himself, “I am the Lord, I change not.”  It is written about Him: “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever,” in Whom there is “no shadow of turning (changing).”  His rule then is His rule now.

In the 2 Corinthians 7:9-11 passage Paul highlights the difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow.  In verse 10 he says: “For godly sorrow brings about true repentance which can lead to salvation if the offense is not repeated.  If the person continues to sin, this proves that his repentance is of the worldly sort which leads to death.  In the first verse of chapter 7 Paul tells us that we “cleanse ourselves” by repentance which must be followed by holiness (sinlessness).  This is accomplished by our “cleansing ourselves from ALL SINS OF THE FLESH AND SPIRIT (thereby) PERFECT(ING) HOLINESS IN THE FEAR OF GOD.”  It is only through such fear-initiated repentance and permanent cleansing that we can “attain the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13), which is necessary in order to be saved upon His return to earth.

This cannot be done within the confines of the Institutional Catholic/Protestant Church system as Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1.  By reading this passage carefully and prayerfully one will note that God is serious about its message.  Note that only if one “comes out” of and does not “touch” that “unclean thing” can one be “cleansed of all filthiness of the flesh and spirit,” and in the process, “perfect holiness in the fear of God.”

In summary, we must not relieve an unrepentant sinner of his guilt by forgiving him of his sin.  And IF (not when) we offend God (1 Jn. 2:1) we must manifest godly sorrow and repentance in order to be forgiven.  Sinners saved by grace do not believe this clearly-stated Truth.  When they repent they know they are going to sin again because they have been told by Satan’s false prophets that they must sin, they must sin due to Adam’s fall, but that they will get away with it every time because they “have taken Jesus as their personal Savior.”  Going through the sorrow/repentance ritual is all that is needed to make the system work.  Because of what they are being told, their sorrow and repentance are of the worldly sort and do not reach the ears of God.

In John 9:41 Jesus is talking to a group of Pharisees who claim to be God’s people.  They are spiritual twins of today’s sinners saved by grace.  Jesus tells them (both groups) that they have been blinded to God’s Truth (gospel) and have deliberately remained blind to it.  Therefore, their “SINS REMAIN.”  In 2 Timothy 2:25 Paul says that those who refuse to obey God relative to repentance are “opposing themselves.”  They are deliberately doing spiritual damage to themselves, thereby committing spiritual masochism (self-torture) and do not know it.  L.J.