Second Quarter
2003 Adult Sabbath School Lessons:
"The Forgiven"
Insights
to Lesson 2: Forgiveness in the Hebrew Bible
April 5-11,
2003
(Produced
by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)
The
overall thesis of this week's lesson is divine forgiveness in the Old
Testament. The emphasis of the entire quarter is the kindness,
graciousness, and mercy of God toward us in His willingness to forgive the
sinner. And thus we should likewise forgive those who injure us. Divine
forgiveness is a wonderful thought. Without it we would all be lost. But
the emphasis that seems to be lacking is the cost of that divine
forgiveness. Can God simply declare that the sinner, who has broken His
holy law, is forgiven because he has confessed his sin?
The
Hebrew Bible is emphatic that the basis of all forgiveness or atonement is
the shedding of blood (Leviticus 17:11). "For the life of the flesh
is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make
atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for
your souls." The idea that God, out of the goodness of His heart,
simply forgives the transgressor of His law by a divine proclamation is
foreign to the Bible. This idea, sometimes called the "moral
influence theory" or "exemplarism," was expounded by Peter
Abelard in the early 12th century and has been promoted in greater or
lesser degrees throughout the centuries even to this day. Although the
lesson quarterly in no way suggests this idea, it is what is not said and
emphasized that can lead to a shallow concept of the balance between God's
mercy and His justice. It is the perfect blending of His mercy and justice
in the Hebrew Bible that leads to His amazing grace and forgiveness.
The
shedding of blood and the legal framework of the atonement are intimately
connected with divine forgiveness. The Hebrew Bible is permeated with the
relationship of blood and forgiveness in the consistent worship pattern
that runs through the entire Bible. Abel brought a better sacrifice
(blood) than Cain. Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all worshipped by
bringing the blood sacrifice and found forgiveness through the Lamb that
was slain from the foundation of the world. What God was looking for was
not the blood of goats and bulls, but a "broken spirit" and
"a broken and contrite heart" that resulted from beholding the
Lamb of God, which those sacrifices symbolized. This is why David found
forgiveness in Psalm 51 and was called "a man after God's own
heart."
Forgiveness
and justification require the destruction of sin and the death of the race
of men in which sin dwells. Does the Hebrew Bible teach the idea of a
substitutionary atonement? "All we like sheep have gone astray; we
have turned every one to His own way; and the Lord laid on Him the
iniquity of us all." "We esteemed Him stricken, smitten of
God." "He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for
our iniquities." "By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall
justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities" (Isaiah 53).
The
Hebrew Bible is in perfect harmony with the New Testament which also
teaches the necessity of a substitutionary atonement. "If One died
for all, then all died" (2 Corinthians 5:14). Only by virtue of the
incarnation, whereby the Son of God took our sinful human nature upon His
sinless divine nature, could a perfect substitutionary atonement be
accomplished. It was our humanity borne by the son of God that died at the
cross, and a perfect forgiveness was wrought out for mankind.
As
Sunday's lesson says, God "is willing to forgive, again and again
(after all, we sin again and again)." But let us remember that the
Hebrew word kapar has the meaning of atone, forgive and expiate.
Likewise, nasah not only means to bear or carry but also to lift up
and take away. The idea brought to light is that forgiveness implies that
the sin is cast out both by God and also by the forgiven sinner.
Yes,
we all agree that the most poignant picture of forgiveness in the Hebrew
Bible is the story of Hosea and his adulterous wife, which illustrates
Christ's call to His Church in the message to Laodicea—a call to respond
to His forgiveness purchased at such extravagant cost.
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