Posted by Doug Showalter on February 27, 1998 at 05:41:22:
In Reply to: Is it unbiblical to forgive the unrepentant? posted by Doug Showalter on December 17, 1997 at 13:25:39:
I would add this 7th, and I believe very telling, point to my argument that it is NOT unbiblical to forgive those who are unrepentant.
7. Immediately after giving "The Lord's Prayer" in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says in Matthew 6:14-15:
"For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."
Consider the logic of the situation. Suppose it were true, as some people say, that a Christian must WITHHOLD forgiveness until the person who hurt them repents. In that case, according to the above passage, the Christian him/herself would remain unforgiven by God.
In other words, if Christians must withhold forgiveness until repentance comes, then the salvation of individual Christians ultimately depends, not upon themselves, but upon the people who hurt them, and whether or not those people repent or not.
In my understanding, such a scenario is a great distortion of the Christian faith. In Christian teaching, each of us is ultimately responsible for ourselves before God. Therefore, the view that forgiveness must be withheld until repentance is forthcoming, cannot be right--because it leads to that distortion.
As the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 2:12-13:
"Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure."
We, and not some other person, are responsible for our own salvation before God.