Second Quarter 2003 Adult Sabbath School Lessons:
"The Forgiven"

Insights to Lesson 10: "Why Forgive?"

May 31-June 6, 2003

(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)

This week's lesson deals with the vital issue of the God's gift of forgiveness as it is exercised by human beings toward one another. The lesson also deals specifically with the issue of motivation as it relates to forgiving others. A right understanding of these issues is essential for the church to fulfill its role in demonstrating the character of Christ to the world.

Let's begin with the mandate to forgive. Both Colossians 3:13 (this week's memory text) and Ephesians 4:32 provide us with the divine directive to forgive one another, and as we read around both these verses, it becomes clear by what means we are to forgive others. For the sake of brevity, we will deal only with the memory text.

To begin with, Colossians 3:12 speaks of our election by God, that we are "holy and beloved." How we act toward others will depend to a great extent upon how we believe God acts toward us as a human family. If we believe that God has only forgiven those who have responded to Him in the same manner that we have, then we are tempted to be unforgiving toward those others as well. There have been many throughout history who have felt they were the "elect of God," but their treatment of others was terrible (e. g., many in the Hebrew church, the medieval church, some of our Puritan forefathers, "Christian" slaveholders in the USA).

The word of God teaches us that God has done something for every soul, in Christ, that "in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence … ." (Ephesians 1:7, 8). This gift of abundant grace clearly has been given to all men because "where sin abounded, grace abounded much more" (Romans 5:20). Since sin has touched every man, then certainly the gift of grace has touched every man as well, even superabounding sin's deadly touch. This being so, it is clear that the redemption, which is through the blood of Christ, which is the forgiveness of sins, has been graciously given to every soul. Once we understand that God has forgiven (in a judicial sense) the sins of every man, then we must say to ourselves, "Who am I to harbor an unforgiving spirit toward anyone when God Himself has forgiven all?" Therefore, forgiving others depends upon our having a right understanding and a heart appreciation of the gospel.

Colossians 3:12 also tells us that this forgiving attitude is one that must be "put on." This indicates clearly that the true spirit of forgiveness is not inherent within human nature, and must come from outside ourselves. Thus, there is no one who truly forgives apart from the righteousness of Christ. The attributes that make one a forgiver—"tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering"—are nothing but the righteousness of Christ manifested in the life of the believer. This is aptly stated in this week's lesson—"An unforgiving Christian is as much of an oxymoron as an atheistic Christian or a round square" (SS Lesson Quarterly, page 81).

Another point that is brought out in Colossians 3:14 is that "above all these things" love (Greek, agape, the unselfish love of God) is to be put on. The putting on of love (agape) is said to be "the bond of perfection." This text plainly states that agape is to be "above all these things" in the sense that agape is what informs and governs all the other attributes mentioned in verses 12 and 13. It is important to understand this, especially as it relates to forgiveness.

There is "forgiveness" practiced by the world, which is nothing more than unvarnished permissiveness—it is an unholy tolerance and acceptance of sin.

God forgives based upon His love, which does not tolerate or accept sin. God's forgiveness involved His meting out punishment for sin, while at the same time saving fallen humanity. We also are to practice forgiveness that is governed by agape, which means that forgiveness does not ignore the need for justice to be done. True, biblical forgiveness does not stand in the way of appropriate consequences for wrongdoing, either in the realm of the church or in the realm of civil justice.

Colossians 3:16 gives to us the means by which we may "put on love" and thus be found "forgiving one another … even as Christ forgave." Paul says, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom … ."

A. T. Jones, one of the messengers that God used in the 1888 era, emphasized the importance of the Word of God in the Christian experience of which forgiving one another is a crucial part. He wrote, "In the Christian life, everything depends upon the word of God. It is true that God is able, and desires to keep us from sinning; but this must be done through His word. So it is written, 'By the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.' 'Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.' This is the way that God has appointed, and there is no other way to have this thing accomplished" (Kept By the Word, Review and Herald, October 13, 1896; included in the compilation Lessons on Faith, page 91).

Letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly is what will make us forgivers like Him.

The lesson study wisely brings up the question of the motivation for forgiveness, giving the reader opportunity to look up several verses to get a panoramic view of the subject. On the surface, several of these texts could be misunderstood to say that we somehow make ourselves deserving of God's forgiveness by forgiving others.

In order to understand this correctly, we must keep in mind that God's forgiveness is more than just a release from the guilt and punishment of sin. God's forgiveness has an experiential component in which God changes the heart of the person. When anyone is brought to a heart appreciation of the gospel, God's forgiveness works a change in the person. Such a person has put on the attributes of a forgiver by putting on the righteousness of Christ. Therefore his actions in forgiving others come because he has been forgiven and demonstrate his heart appreciation of what it cost Christ to forgive Him.

This idea is clearly brought out in the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:23-35). In the parable, the servant was already forgiven by the king when he approached his fellow servant. "The pardon granted by this king represents a divine forgiveness of all sin. Christ is represented by the king, who, moved with compassion, forgave the debt of his servant. Man was under the condemnation of the broken law. He could not save himself, and for this reason Christ came to this world, clothed His divinity with humanity, and gave His life, the just for the unjust. He gave Himself for our sins, and to every soul He freely offers the blood-bought pardon. "With the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. Ps. 130:7" (Ellen G. White, Christ's Object Lessons, pg. 244). But the servant in the parable demonstrates that he cares nothing for the forgiveness of his great debt, since he refuses to forgive his fellow servant. In the end he finds himself under the obligation of debt from which he had once been freed because he despised the full, free forgiveness of the king.

So we see that our forgiveness of others does not make us deserving of God's forgiveness, but instead demonstrates what we think of His forgiveness. Those who despise and reject the forgiveness of God will never experience the change that that forgiveness works in human hearts and will, in the final judgment, find themselves obligated to pay their sin debt in full, though they had once been released from this debt. Rightly understood, there is no motivation to forgive which would tend toward self-preservation—it is all about loving others instead of ourselves.

A final thought on forgiveness and justice:

Although it may appear that "there is inherent in the concept of forgiveness a sense of unfairness and injustice" (SS Quarterly page 81), we are assured this is not actually the case since God, "in His forebearance" "had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness" (Romans 3:25, 26). Understanding that Christ took upon His sinless, divine nature our sinful nature helps us to see that our forgiveness involved the exercise of divine justice as well as divine mercy. Because He took upon Himself our corporate, fallen humanity, He could legally be charged with the corporate guilt of that humanity. He was born under law (Galatians 4:4), and at the cross the penalty of the law was meted out upon Him, not on account of any personal guilt (for He committed no sin), but because of the corporate guilt of the humanity which He took on.

All questions about the justice and fairness of forgiveness disappear when these issues are rightly understood. We can freely forgive others knowing that whatever wrong they have done has been justly dealt with by the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

May God bless your Sabbath School class this week!

Read the study notes for lesson 12