Luke 17 v 3 Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.
4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.
If you have rebuked but they refuse to repent are you obligated to forgive ??
Hope you don't mind, PaPa, if I give my thought.
I believe we're to live in a constand state of forgiveness and leave the judgment up to GOD - IF there is any - because when we forgive, it frees them so that GOD can work on them and they may be more prone to repent before they even need to be judged. It's the Goodness of GOD that leads to repentence, also.
GOD Bless you!!
If you have rebuked but they refuse to repent are you obligated to forgive ??
It depends. Do you want God to forgive you or not?
Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
“At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
So you see, it depends on whether you want forgiveness or not. The withholding of forgiveness caused the debt (that had already beed forgiven by the king) do be assessed again and anew because the servant refused to forgive what was a piddly little amount compared to what he had been forgiven. The wrongs to you or I are nothing compared to the things God forgave us of.... so to hold back forgiveness from others will cause our forgiveness to be withdrawn in this scripture.
Hi Solomon101,
Re Solomon101 wrote //So you see, it depends on whether you want forgiveness or not. The withholding of forgiveness caused the debt (that had already beed forgiven by the king) do be assessed again and anew because the servant refused to forgive what was a piddly little amount compared to what he had been forgiven. The wrongs to you or I are nothing compared to the things God forgave us of.... so to hold back forgiveness from others will cause our forgiveness to be withdrawn in this scripture.//
But in this scripture there was repentance //‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
“But he refused.//
Edit/ the question was If you have rebuked but they refuse to repent are you obligated to forgive ??
In this case they begged for mercey and promised to pay back they repented.
Hi Jesus-is-GOD, you wrote // I believe we're to live in a constand state of forgiveness and leave the judgment up to GOD - IF there is any - because when we forgive, it frees them so that GOD can work on them and they may be more prone to repent before they even need to be judged. It's the Goodness of GOD that leads to repentence, also.//
What does this forgiveness look like??
Would we say that Paul forgave Alexander the coppersmith, I would say in the since that he choose to give those feelings up to God and not harbor on them and not to personally seek retaliation. But I do not find any evidence that he sought relationship with him after the fact.
2Ti 4:14 Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works:
2Ti 4:15 Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words.
2Ti 4:16 At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me:
I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.
I believe, as you've said, there's no desire for revenge.
"What does this forgiveness look like?"
Well, not seeking any harm toward them but Paul did show authority in vs 14 - but that's a tough call for us ... we're not one of the Apostles and Alexander came against the Apostles words - so it wasn't just a personal hurt.
It surely would have to be GOD to pray like that.
And you're right, that was Paul's last letter, so it doesn't look like they ever had a relationship while Paul was still alive.
I was taught that we must forgive everyone but we don't have to keep company with them if GOD has warned us to beware, but to be sure it's GOD and not some type of paranoia that doesn't trust GOD or that we haven't died to self or that we haven't really forgiven them.
How does "love your enemies" fit in here, PaPa?
Thanks for the topic! They say, whenever we speak anything of His truths, we'll be tested on it shortly.
Well, the Preachers used to say that about their sermons.
GOD help us.
@Jesus-is-GOD,
I was right about to respond, but then I refreshed the page and saw that you said more or less what I was going to say anyway. Thanks for posting that.
GOD Bless you.
You mean the "GOD help us" part - right?
Amen! We're related by His Blood. Family!
Time for me to read the Sermon on the Mount again. They're reading it on the radio right now.
Shalom, dear Saint.
Just meant the part about Paul's reference and attitude towards Alexander the coppersmith and what he was doing in general. But "GOD help us" I also agree with fully. :)
Hi Saints
There have been some very wise biblically sound advice on this topic God be praised! Original post asked if we are to forgive the unrepentant individual. From my own personal experience yes yes yes! I have been tested so many times in this area and every time The Lord has impressed on me to forgive.
Is it possible to do so? By His grace alone all things are possible. I have found that God is faithful in healing the wounds of deep hurt . Sometimes when we forgive we may not necessarily restore the relationship for the sake of wisdom. I had a friend who became a threat to my marriage God made me forgive her and my husband however the close relationship stopped I still speak to her occasionally but I can not invite her or welcome her to our home. It is difficult at times because when we form close friendships with those around us we tend to grow to love these people by His grace and love so imagine not being able to keep that bond sometimes.
It is my conviction that God would have us forgive offences no matter how big seventy times seven times and I know He is able to provide the strength to do so. He would never ask us to do something that He knows we are unable to do. Jesus said unless we abide in His word or vine we would not be able to produce fruit. We have to abide in the branch and we will produce fruit. Love covers a multitude of sins. It is very possible to love and forgive those who hurt us but only in Christ Jesus the true vine!
Love in Christ
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