ForgivenessSample

Forgiveness – Core to Salvation

“Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23.34

The criminals crucified with him didn’t know what they were saying, the religious rulers didn’t know what they were doing, and the Roman soldiers had no idea of what they had just done. The same could be said of us before we believed.

It is significant that Jesus verbalised this forgiveness before he died, as one of the thieves on the cross entered paradise that day because they acknowledged who Jesus was. And we can never know who of those in the crowd crucifying him came to believe later in Jesus. I’m sure some did.

Proclaiming forgiveness is vital as it has the power to release people from the dominion of sin, which is why the gospel must be preached. The thief on the cross knew this. It is dramatically displayed when the first martyr, Stephen, collapses to his knees because of the barrage of rocks killing him. His final words were virtually the same as Jesus’ words: “Lord,do not hold this sin against them.” Acts 7.60 What is often and easily overlooked is Paul was in the crowd urging on the men stoning him. Stephen’s words of forgiveness were part of how Paul encountered Jesus. We could conject that without the forgiveness of his sin of complicity in Stephen’s martyrdom, Paul may not have been saved from his sins. Stephen forgave them – Paul became a believer.

This same authority to forgive, because that is what it is, was given to the disciples after the resurrection when Jesus linked the giving of the Spirit with the forgiveness of sin. “He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’” John 20.22-23 This authority is not found just in preaching the gospel but also in the power of God’s church to extend forgiveness. (The Catholic Church takes this more seriously than we Protestants.)

The Lord’s prayer speaks of forgiving sins. Because we have been taught to use this prayer as individuals, we have missed the point that it was the prayer of the disciples, the church, of us gathered. We, as the church, can forgive people or not. Paul exemplified this when he, in the power of the Spirit, ejected an unrepentant man from the church in Corinth. The man’s sins were held, bound to him – until they received him back later on.

More on this tomorrow.