Forgiveness

2023-12-18

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:14-15)

Forgiveness is at the center of Christianity because Jesus Christ is the reconciliation between God and humankind. If we do not forgive people, we have missed an essential doctrine of the Faith.

How could I say this? Consider Christ has forgiven the worst of all of us, and all sin is against Him. If He forgives sin against Him and we don’t forgive those same sins, how evil is that? All our sin put Him on the cross, and God’s wrath against our sin fell on Him. Unforgiveness is worse than most other sins. Recall the man who would not forgive his fellow servant 100 pence when he was forgiven 10,000 talents (Matthew 18:21-35).

Forgiveness may require going to someone and making it right. But it also must be from the heart. “So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses” (Matthew 18:35). We also must seek others’ forgiveness: “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift” (Matthew 5:23-24).

If you look at the first verses quoted above, we see that a proper relationship with God depends on how we forgive others. A healthy church is also dependent on it: “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32).

Part of forgiving other people is realizing that the sin is already forgiven by God; we just agree with Him that it is forgiven.

It is not always easy. This does not always come easy to me, and sometimes it has been very difficult.

In extreme cases, there are cases of murder and sinister evil. Think of the evils that Nazism has done. Forgiveness does not mean that we endorse wickedness. Forgiveness does mean you drop any right you have personally at retaliation and hope that they will turn to the Lord.