QUESTION: Does Biblical forgiveness require repentance?
How many times do we remember seeing some extraordinarily evil person unleash terror on some Christian only to have said Christian say on the news that they forgive them? Parents of raped & murdered children or the thief that essentially stole someone’s retirement. In a way it resembles a miraculous feat to be able to forgive someone after committing something so heinous –it can be a beautiful thing. But is it biblical to do so?
First of all, what does it mean to forgive someone? Dictionary.com has two different meanings listed:
1. to grant pardon for or remission of (an offense, debt, etc.)
2. to cease to blame or hold resentment against
It is the latter definition that I think many of us understand as the forgiveness we need to be passing out. One involves a debt (most likely one that cannot be repaid) and the other deals with resentment and blame. Without getting into the original Hebrew / Greek words used in the original Biblical text, I believe that the Bible is talking about the former definition when mentioning forgiveness. Here is one of the scriptures that has brought up this question in my own life:
Luke 17:3-5
“If your brother or sister[a] sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”
a) The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a fellow disciple, whether man or woman.
–I still laugh a little at the response of the apostles when I read this one. I think the point can be made that this is referring to fellow disciples (something I didn’t catch before) and I don’t think Jesus was talking bout people outside of that circle at that moment but…
Matthew 18:21-22
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
–Here again I see the person being called into question is “my brother” (a note of interest at this point “…and who is my brother?” can be another study) but there is no mention of repentance. Jesus then goes on to the parable of the unmerciful servant where many large debts are being pardoned. In context, it is hard to add an element of repentance as it deals with debts that simply cannot be paid back -repentance is impossible to apply to the parable.
***Here’s a few others that are closely related***
Matthew 6:14-16
For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Mark 11:25
And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.
Luke 6:37
Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
–All three verses make a correlation between how we forgive and how God forgives. That makes an interesting point to me. God forgives our own sins ONLY when we repent from what I read (1 John 1:9) -and we’re called to treat others as God treats us. This makes the concept simple to me: forgiveness IS conditional. Still, I think that we tend to make a connection between the connotation and the denotation of the term. Conditional forgiveness doesn’t mean that we can hold resentment against the unrepentant.