The Doctrine of Forgiveness
Colossians 3:13, “Be tolerant with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as Christ forgave you.”
Christ always forgives unconditionally. A character trait of a spiritually mature believer is forgiveness. Understanding that God has forgiven us at salvation for all of sins should be a motivating factor for us to forgive others. Ephesians 1:7-8, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s gracethat He lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding.”
Who among us does not need to be forgiven from time to time? Should we not also give forgiveness to others? No one is perfect and therefore we all need someone else’s forgiveness at times. Proverbs 17:9, “Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it (the fault) separates close friends.”
Forgiveness is not the same as condoning a wrong done against us. It is however the correct response to that wrong. It is also a very wise decision on our part. An unforgiving attitude is a cancer in the soul that will eat away at a person, if allowed to do so. We all need to learn to forgive unconditionally, as Christ forgave. Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
Forgiveness is as much (if not more) for the person doing the forgiving as it is for the one being forgiven. Harboring resentment, bitterness, hatred, vindictiveness, or any other mental attitude sin against another person means we have not truly forgiven them. Jesus had more reason than any of us to harbor mental attitude sins against those who hated and abused Him. But Jesus harbored no ill will against anyone, even when He was on the Cross paying for the sins of the world. On the Cross, these are the words of Jesus in Luke 23:34, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
Mark 11:25, “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in Heaven will also forgive you your wrongdoings.”
Salvation Forgiveness
The first forgiveness is salvation forgiveness. All sins were judged on the Cross. The decision to believe in Jesus Christ results in the forgiveness of all sins prior to that moment. Believers’ pre-salvation sins are blotted out at the moment of salvation and God never remembers them again. Isaiah 43:25, “I, even I, am He who blots out your sins for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.”
The Greek word used for forgiveness of sins committed before faith in Christ is “charizomai,” meaning to bestow a favor unconditionally (grace). This means that God removes the penalty/debt we owe for Adam’s original sin, upon faith in Christ. Colossians 2:13-14, “And when you were dead in your wrongdoings and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our wrongdoings, having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the Cross.”
The first forgiveness qualifies you to live in the eternal state in a resurrection body.
The decrees against us are all of the sins of the human race which were or will be committed in human history. God the Father imputed these sins to Christ on the Cross. The judgment of our sins on the Cross is the basis for our forgiveness.
A spiritually dead person (unbeliever) can be forgiven only when they make a decision to believe that Jesus Christ paid the penalty for their sin on the Cross. God the Father invites the spiritually dead person to believe in Christ, which is called “the divine call.” The spiritually dead person, with the Holy Spirit acting as a human spirit, believes in Christ, and the Holy Spirit causes their faith to be effective for salvation, which is called efficacious grace. However, if any human works are added to faith in Christ as a requirement for salvation, the Holy Spirit cannot cause that faith to be effective.
The reason is that divine power and human power actually cancel each other out. Human works is human power, which is rejected by grace. Consequently, human works added to faith in Christ as a requirement for salvation cancels faith. Romans 11:6, “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, since otherwise grace is no longer grace.”
Therefore, salvation is not from ourselves since it is a matter of common grace, the divine call, and efficacious grace. That’s why it is a gift from God. Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Post-Salvation Forgiveness
The second forgiveness is post-salvation forgiveness. This occurs in a believer’s
post-salvation experience, in which their spiritual life is temporarily halted until the Rebound Technique is used. When you choose sin, you destroy your spiritual life. The second forgiveness qualifies you to continue your spiritual life. This second forgiveness is designed to make your eternal life magnificent based on your response to the teaching of accurate Bible doctrine. Psalm 32:5, “I acknowledged my sin to You, and I did not hide my guilt; I said, ‘I will confess my wrongdoings to the Lord’; and You forgave the guilt of my sin.”
The Greek word used for forgiveness of sins committed after faith in Christ is “aphiemi,” meaning to send away or send forth. This means that God pardons us from all personal sins we commit (sends away), when we acknowledge them to Him. 1 John 1:9, “If we confess (acknowledge) our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse (purify) us from all unrighteousness (wrongdoing).”
Post-salvation forgiveness cancels the negative results of sin and restores your spiritual life. This forgiveness qualifies you to continue to life the Christian Way of Life using the two power options of the spiritual life: the filling of the Holy Spirit and accurate Bible doctrine.
Forgiveness does not mean that the result of personal sin disappears from our lives. But whatever suffering is left as a result of divine discipline, God turns into blessing and spiritual growth. I Corinthians 11:31-32, “If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned with the world.”
The “Supreme Court of Heaven” has three categories of divine discipline against believers. Judging ourselves means using the Rebound Technique to acknowledge our personal sins. Naming our personal sins to God is self- judgment, which is compatible with the divine judgment of our sins on the Cross. God is then justified in turning cursing into blessing based on what Christ did on the Cross. I John 1:7, “But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Walking I the Light is an analogy for being in fellowship with God and filled with the Holy Spirit.