The longer I am a Christian, and as long as I strive to continue growing (2 Peter 3:18), I am convinced that the most major of all doctrines which is crucial to Christian living is that of forgiveness. God is Holy, and His holiness governs all other attributes of Him. Under that holiness "umbrella" then are cardinal doctrines by which we as Christians must live. So allow me to take a few posts to discuss forgiveness. I propose that this doctrine is talked about much, practiced little, and properly understood even less. Hebrews 8:12 and other similar texts are so horribly misunderstood and misused.
Does God remember sin? If the question is "Can He forget?", well, of course not. Yet the word we think we know as 'remember', when used Biblically regarding forgiveness, actually means 'recall and hold against'. When He says He will not remember a believer's sins, He is literally saying He will not bring it up again, assuming it is properly confessed. The assumption of proper confession is inter-woven in my thinking here, because as we get into thinking of examples in daily life, forgiveness will Biblically follow repentance/confession, when both are managed in a God-glorifying manner.
I was a sinner, positionally separated from God, having never asked Christ to be my personal Savior. Once I confessed to God that I was, indeed, that sinner He said I was, His promise was to then look to Christ when He looks at me, and see His righteousness, in which I have placed my trust. When it comes time for my soul to be judged to Heaven or Hell, He will "not remember" my sin, but rather fulfill the promise of His forgiveness. OK, that's the big, weighty, theology of forgiveness, and it covers all other aspects of all forgiveness.
1 John 1:9 says that IF we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive all our sins. Now we are talking about those daily, regular sins we commit. We are talking also about sin against our fellow Christians. I can think of little else as damaging as sin against a brother or sister in Christ, which goes either un-confessed or unforgiven. If I you sin against me, and then you confess that sin to me, the ball is in my court to forgive you. I might be mad at you, or think I was right all along, and yet, when you say "I'm sorry", and truly mean it, my requirement (not optional!) is to forgive. If I do not, then I cannot say that I am Christ-like.
Closing out this piece, that forgiveness that I give to you MUST, let me repeat that, MUST mirror the forgiveness God has given to me. If I truly forgive, I then will do three things:
1) Never bring it up to you again.
2) Never bring it up to God again.
3) Never bring it up in my own mind again.
The third is probably the toughest, because we spend so much time with ourselves. Yet this is exactly what God has done and continues to do in and through Christ for all who believe.
Do you have someone to forgive today, do I? Let's get it done, if we truly are walking in the Light.
Holding Fast to the Name of our Creator
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