The Heresy of Forgiveness

Or more precisely...

The Heresy of Requiring Forgiveness to Get Forgiveness

Many people fail to discern the difference between the preaching of Law that demands repentance and the preaching of Christ that demands trust in Him to redeem us. One heresy is the idea that, if we do not forgive all who sin against us, God will not forgive us. This is based on Jesus's preaching to the self-righteous Jews.

• "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Matthew 6:14-15

Jesus used the Law and rules like this to show self-righteous people that they could never achieve the level of righteousness needed to stand justified before God. 

• Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law [Jews], so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

Anything less than lifelong sinless perfection would desecrate God's holy presence. 

The Jews added thousands of commandments to the 600+ in the Old Testament, yet Jesus said...

• unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:20).

This was to drive us to depend on God's grace:

• the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. (Galatians 3:24).

So then, we are justified not by do's and don'ts such as forgiving others, but by the grace of God, and if justified by grace, then we are no longer under the law of death that condemns, but under the law of love that liberates and rewards.

• But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster (Galatians 3:24).

This does not mean we can get away with sins such as unforgiveness. God chastises us to form righteousness in us. 

• Listen up, Joel Osteen! Listen up, Prosperity preachers! For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives (Hebrews 12:6). Christians' lives are actually MORE painful than non-Christians' lives. But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons (verse 7).

But although we are under our loving Father's disciplinary hand, He will never, ever cast us out of His family, reverse our adoption, or un-birth us; and our Big Brother Jesus will never, ever disobey our Father's command to lose none of us. 

Saying that God's grace of forgiveness is contingent on our good work of forgiveness contradicts the gospel. It even contradicts itself: Grace means "gift," so anything earned cannot be grace. The gospel commands us to let go of all forms of self-merit and rely 100% on God's gift. If we do not receive the gift as a gift, we insult the Giver and receive neither the gift nor the Giver.

The unsaved forgive to get forgiveness. Christians forgive because they have been forgiven. To say otherwise may simply reflect confused and incomplete thinking about the gospel. However, adding any condition such as forgiveness to the gospel costs people their salvation. When salvation is jeopardized, heresy is not too strong a word.

If you depend on your ability to forgive others in order to attain to God's forgiveness, repent of this form of self-righteousness and trust Christ alone. Now, before you forget.

Copyright 2020, Richard Wheeler. Edited version of a previous post on Facebook. Permission granted for personal, non-profit use; but please give credit where credit is due.