We all have witnessed troubles in
the church, such as families torn apart and brethren grown apart.
Feelings of ill-will are then handed down to the next generation and
so on. A largely contributing factor is that we have not learned to
forgive those who wrong us.
Let’s look at the Bible
definitions of forgiveness.In
Isaiah 55:7 we read, “Let the
wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let
him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our
God, for he will abundantly pardon.” The first definition of
forgiveness, “to pardon,” means to release a person from further
punishment for a crime or to excuse somebody.
Another definition of forgiveness
mentioned in Isaiah is a blotting out. “I,
even I, am
he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will
not remember thy sins”
(Isa. 43:25).A
blot is a spot or stain; a bad mark. To blot out means to erase that
bad mark.
Jeremiah defines forgiveness as
remembering no more or forgetting.
“And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every
man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me,
from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for
I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
(Jer. 31:34)
We find that the act of forgiving
is a godly thing; it is like God. True forgiveness can only be done by
godly people. According to Psalms 86:5, it is God’s nature to always
be ready to forgive: “For
thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in
mercy unto all them that call upon thee.”
In the forgiveness of God, his
grace comes into play. Jesus told a parable about a creditor who
forgave two debtors in Luke 7:40-43. In this parable, God is pictured
as a creditor, and we are the debtors because we have sinned. The
point is that all the money in the world will never be enough for us
to pay our debts. Therefore, God frankly forgives us. It takes a lot
of grace and mercy to forgive. The more you have to forgive, the more
grace it requires (Rom. 5:20). The reason that God can forgive is that
He is full of grace and mercy.
Forgiveness is a godly thing
because it involves the death of Christ. “In
[Jesus Christ] whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:” (Col. 1:14) It was required
that Jesus die first, so that we could have the forgiveness of sins.
“And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and
without shedding of blood is no remission.” (Heb. 9:22)Jesus’
blood was shed. If He had never shed Hisblood, then there never would have been forgiveness.
So far we have discussed
forgiveness from the standpoint of God being the one who does the
forgiving. There are many things that God does that man cannot do
because of man’s lack of wisdom and power. However, forgiveness is
one thing that God does that man can also do! Let us go into the
subject of forgiveness as it applies to us.
Consider Jacob and Esau. Esau
sold his birthright to Jacob, and Jacob stole Esau’s blessings.
Would you forgive Jacob if you were Esau? Most people would not.
Notice the reaction of Esau in Genesis 33:4-15. He forgave his
brother. Likewise, a Christian is obliged to forgive hisfellow man. Some might say, “Yes, I will forgive Jacob after
that birthright incident, but that little trick about obtaining
Isaac’s blessings is too much!”
Jesus said in Luke 17:3-4,
“Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee,
rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against
thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to
thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.”
If a person does you wrong
multiple times in a day you must forgive him, but only if he repents.
Repentance is the key to forgiveness. The Bible does not teach that we
have to forgive everybody who wrongs us. We must be readyto forgive, and if those who wrong us seek forgiveness, we are not
to withhold it from them. Forgiveness is conditional according to Luke
17:3.
Some will ask, “What if he
doesn’t repent? Should I still be ready to forgive him?” All I can
tell you is to turn to the scriptures and let it be your guide. Christ
said in Matthew 18:15-17,
“Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and
tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee,
thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee,then take with thee
one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every
word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the
church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican.”
So even if someone does us wrong
and that person does not ask for forgiveness, we still have an
obligation and a responsibility to try to make things right. This is
similar to the way God waits for our baptism before adding us to the
church.
What would you do if someone
cursed you and said bad things against you? This happened to David.
This example of forgiveness can be seen in 2 Samuel 19:18-20 where a
man asks for forgiveness from David. In the following verses we read
of two different reactions to this plea.
“But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said, Shall not
Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the LORD's
anointed? And David said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of
Zeruiah, that ye should this day be adversaries unto me? shall there
any man be put to death this day in
Israel
? for do not I know that I am this day king over
Israel
? Therefore the king said unto Shimei, Thou shalt not die. And the
king swore unto him.”
(2 Sam. 19:21-23)
Are we like Abishai, ready to
kill a man for sinning or are we like David?
We also have New Testament
examples, most notably that of Jesus. He was wrongly punished with an
unfair trial. What would you do, hanging on the cross and looking at
those who had a lot to do with your torture? In Luke 23:33-34 we find
that Jesus forgave.
“And when they were come to the place, which is called
Calvary
, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right
hand, and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive
them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and
cast lots.”
We showed earlier in Luke 17 that
it takes repentance on the part of the sinner before he can receive
forgiveness. But these people did not repent at this time. In Acts 2
we read that 3,000 did repent, and that is when they were forgiven of
this great crime. The conclusion is that these people were not
forgiven at the time that Jesus gave this saying, but it shows the
willingness of Jesus to forgive.
Consider the benefits of
forgiving. Human nature is not to forgive unless we get something out
of it. Mark 11:25-26 says, “And
when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any: that
your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your
trespasses.” It is a great benefit when we forgive someone, to
know that God will also forgive us. Another benefit is that by
forgiving a brother or sister, we can help restore that person to
Christian fellowship and back on the pathway that leads to heaven.
“Sufficient to such a man is
this punishment, which wasinflicted of many. So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him,
and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed
up with overmuch sorrow.”
(2 Cor. 2:6-7)
Instead of punishing our brethren
for doing wrong against us, we should forgive and comfort them in
hopes of restoring them back to being a Christian.
Forgiving is a hard thing to do.
The objective is to make up for a wrong, to overlook it, and to save
the offender. How does one forgive? You don’t go and “tell one
off” to embarrass him, to get even, or to hurt that person. Very
likely that will only make matters worse. The proper thing to do (See
Matt. 18:15-17) would be to go to the offender and let him know in a
kind and considerate manner that you have been wronged and that you
would like to see things corrected. It would be best to state the
wrong as objectively as possible and state clearly that you believe it
is of sufficient consequence that it deserves attention. Admit at the
outset that your calculations might be faulty and ask for help to
understand what appears to be a puzzling situation. There is the
possibility that you may have misunderstood and that you may have
contributed to the wrong. Express a readiness to repent if you have
contributed in any way to the unpleasant situation. With the right
spirit, the matter can be corrected.
Ask yourself the following
questions about forgiveness. “Can I forgive?” “Do I want to
forgive?” “Am I able to forgive?” “Do I have a burning desire
to forgive?” Be ready to forgive!
QUESTION: What is the meaning
behind Psalm 82:6, “I have
said, ye are gods”? Jesus quoted this passage to the Jews in
John 10:34 when He asserted His deity to them. It has been stated by
some interpreters that these passages support the idea that there can
exist lesser gods, and that Jesus was in fact one of them. How should
we understand these verses correctly?
Answer:
The bedrock of the Christian system is a firm belief that Jesus is the
Son of God.This was what
Jesus said would be the foundation of His church. In Matthew the 16th
chapter in verses 15-18 we read,
“He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon
Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living
God.” Jesus answered and said to him, blessed are you, Simon
Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my
Father who is in heaven. And I say to you that you are Peter, and on
this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not
prevail against it.”
In fact we find that our belief
in the truthfulness of His deity is a requirement to enter into the
new birth as was evidenced in Philip’s message to the Ethiopian
eunuch recorded for us in Acts 8:26-38. After the preaching of the
Gospel the eunuch asked what would hinder him from being baptized. To
which Philip said, “If you
believe with all your heart, you may.” The eunuch responded by
saying, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God”.
It is no surprise that Satan has
for centuries sought to bring into question the deity of Christ. As
the question suggests, there are those who seek to use the Scripture
to substantiate the idea that Jesus was not God but rather a lesser
being. The passages in our question are often used as proof texts to
this idea.
Therefore, before we look at what
is meant by the passages mentioned above it is necessary for us to set
forth the answer to the question “Is Jesus a lesser god or is He
God?” The Bible is plain in answering this question.
One of the most powerful
statements in the Scripture on this matter is found in John 1:1-3.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were
made through Him and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
We find two notable truths in the
above passage. First, we find that the Word was in the beginning. Note
that it did not say the Word began in the beginning but that when all
things began the Word was! Secondly, we note that the Word coexisted
with God and that the Word was God. Whoever the Word was there can be
no question of His nature. Here the writer plainly states that the
Word was God, thus indicating that the Word was deity. The identity of
the Word was stated a little later in the passage. In verse 14 we
read,
“And
the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the
glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace.”
From the above we find that the
Word is God and Jesus is the Word, resulting in the indisputable fact
that Jesus is God! We offer the above passages so that one can see
that whatever is meant by the statement “ye are gods” does not
mean that Jesus was not God or was a lesser god as some have
erroneously concluded.
Now that we have established what
the phrase does not mean we will turn our attention to what is meant
by the phrase. Our readers will note that the main passage is found in
the book of Psalms and then was quoted by Jesus in His discussion with
the people of His day.
The context of Psalms 82 is that
of God as the divine judge, the judge of all judges so to speak. The
latter part of verse 1 states that He judges among the gods who are
said to judge unjustly by showing partiality to the wicked. In
addition these “gods” were failing in defending the widows and the
fatherless. The context shows that the term “gods” was used to
refer to the judges or magistrates of
Israel
. They were rulers that were perverting their roles and failing to do
that which God had called them to do. However, for that failure they
would be judged by God. Note verse 6 and 7:
“I
said that, “You are gods,” and all of you are children of the Most
High. But you shall die like men and fall like one of the princes.”
God had given these rulers, who
were children of the Most High, their authority which they abused. As
a result they would fall from their position.
The word god is used here to mean
mighty and great, not divinity. In fact the Hebrew word from which it
is translated can mean strength and power as well as different
offices, people, or concepts. It does not always refer to deity.
Now we turn our attention to the
use of the word by Jesus in John 10. The passage shows that the event
that caused Jesus to use this Old Testament passage was the reaction
of the Jews to His claim of being God. Jesus had said that “I
and my Father are one”. They considered this to be blasphemy
which was punishable by death under the Law of Moses.
Jesus did not deny that He was
God. In fact, if He was not deity, here would have been a good time to
tell them. Instead He quotes Psalm 82:6.
“Is
it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If He called them
gods unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be
broken; Say ye of Him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into
the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?”
This purpose in using this
passage was not, as stated previously, to deny that He was God but
rather that it was right to apply the term to those who had authority
or those in office. If it applied to the judges or magistrates among
them, it cannot be considered blasphemy to apply this word to one who
is more exalted than they. If it could be applied to those to whom the
Word came why could it not be applied to one sanctified by the Father
who was the Word? If mortal men carried the title then surely they
could not object to the claim that Jesus made.
His was not an attempt to deny
anything about His nature but rather to show that they were not
consistent in their application of the scripture. This is similar to
the passage inMatthew 19
where Jesus told the rich young ruler that there was none good but
God. He was not denying being God but was showing the misuse of the
term good by the young man.
1.According
to Deuteronomy Moses said that because God was angry with the
people, God would not allow Moses to do what?
2.What
did Job say that once his testing was over he would come forth as?
3.In
Lamentations Jeremiah said that people who remained in
Jerusalem
were doing what?
4.In
Luke’s account when the prodigal son wasted all his inheritance,
what did he end up doing?
5.What
gift did Paul state that the Corinthians should especially desire?
ANSWERS NEXT MONTH . . .
and
remember last month’s questions?
1.How
many of Jacob’s descendants originally went to
Egypt
?SEVENTY (Exo.
1:5)
2.According
to the book of Joshua, when instructions were given for setting out
for the new land, how far away were the people supposed to stay from
the ark of the covenant?TWO
THOUSANDCUBITS (Josh. 3:4)
3.In
Psalms 14, What has the fool said in his heart?“THERE IS NO GOD” (Psa. 14:1)
4.Which
disciples accompanied Jesus to the top of the mountain where the
transfiguration occurred?PETER, JAMES, AND JOHN (Mark 9:2)
5.According
to Romans, Paul said that God shows mercy to some people and to
others what does he do? HARDENS (Rom. 9:18)
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