God's Ink

Colossians 3:13
“Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

The divine forgiveness of sins is made available to humanity when surrendered to the Second Person of the Trinity.

The nature and Person of Jesus is emphatically the most valuable piece to understanding the Trinitarian view on the doctrine of forgiveness.

Whenever one Person of the triune Godhead is addressed, the whole must be previously understood. Jesus Christ is the answer to my researched question, “How is humanity authorized and capable to render the divine forgiveness of sins?”

As a caveat to Christianity, believers must identify with the character of Christ to truly be considered Christian; thus I argue that the propitiation of the Second Person of the Trinity authorizes Christians [in the order of Melchizedek], to render divine forgiveness by pardoning the offense from the offender.

Forgiveness is described in several different ways depending upon the vantage point.

There are three perspectives: the offended, offender, and God.

The offended position is the one deemed to be the most difficult and significant. Clearly the injured is the one with expectant wounds and is usually the position with the least grace.

It is assumed that forgiveness is undeserved for the perpetrator of error and therefore the discretion rests with the victim and God.

Lastly, but certainly not least, God has the ultimate prerogative over forgiveness. It is God’s intention to always forgive, upon His just circumstances, and expects that same forgiveness from believers.

Walter A. Elwell defines forgiveness in the Evangelical Dictionary of Theology as kipper from the Old Testament (Hebrew) meaning “to cover;” nasa—to bear or take away [guilt],” and salah—”to pardon.”1.

Elwell also defines the most common translation of the Greek term aphesis in the New Testament meaning “sending away” or “letting go.” 2.

In the article, “The Dilemma of Divine Forgiveness,” Glen Pettigrove reveals the dilemma of divine forgiveness and human expectation of justice. It uncovers the challenges Christians undergo when faced with the mandate of forgiveness. 3.

Because the injury of the offense dwells within the human soul—emotions, Christians often find it difficult to separate God’s mandate of forgiveness with His promise of justice.

There is a legal connotation associated with God as a pardoner of sins. Only a judge possesses the right to liberate or inflict punishment of a crime. Not only is this the right of the judge but it his obligation. A judge that does not uphold the law in a criminal case is considered to be unjust. 4.

Divine forgiveness is the spiritual equivalent to this secular analogy and provides the best definition.

But there is a Dilemma of Punishment

The dilemma of punishment derives from the dilemma of divine forgiveness. Glen Pettigrove discusses four challenges in the comfort people take in the thought that God forgives wrongdoing. 5.

He identifies the issue of just punishment for deserving individuals, changing attitudes towards the wrongdoer, the implication of divine emotions, and misconception of God’s standing to render forgiveness. 6.

The key to understanding sin is that all transgressions are ultimately against God.

Jesus said plainly, “Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40).

This passage refers to both the good and bad, so God’s response to forgive is just as warranted as the response of the other victim.

God is both the God of punishment and love but His will prefers love over wrath.

Revelations 1:15 describes Jesus feet like bronze glowing in a furnace insinuating that His feet looked heavy. Christ will carry out the judgment on the Bema seat of Christ, but His intent is to bring forth reward; thus, His judgment towards unrepentant sin is slow, allowing time for the principles of divine forgiveness to take place.

The implication of divine emotions is unfounded because emotions are not applicable to the decision of forgiveness. Emotions are attached to the guilt and can become a paralyzing force to individuals.

Dr. R.C. Sproul explains this relationship of guilt and emotions identifying it as the number one issue cause of psychological problems. 7.

Violators of the Law of God enter into guilt, with or without the conviction of emotions; however, Satan and the Holy Spirit are actively attempting to gain their attention.

How one feels has no merit on a guilty verdict but has the choice to adhere to the prickling of the Holy Spirit or condemnation of Satan. Guilt by itself is not a bad thing, its purpose is to allow confrontation of sin to lead to repentance.

Satan, on the contrary, counterfeits this process of confrontation to paralyze believers in condemnation and hinder repentance.

Fundamentally, divine forgiveness is what most Christians understand as God’s mercy of the remittance of punishment. The issue arises when mercy becomes the accomplice for bad behavior because the fear of punishment is absent. 8.

Divine forgiveness does pardon punishment but believers trust that God’s decision is unanimous to all who are forgiven. The focus must be removed from the victim and placed on God and His glory.

Typically, forgiveness aims for reconciliation and is certainly the purpose of Christ’s redemptive work on the cross, but it is not a guarantee.

The most ideal form of forgiveness includes reconciliation which restores the relationship back to a healthy state.

In the case of divine forgiveness, reconciliation is guaranteed as God promises to “remember sins no more.”

In human forgiveness, it is possible to pardon without reconciling the relationship to the place prior to the offense.

Human forgiveness is not just a measurement of our exousia–authority in Christ but also a condition to which must be met to secure salvation.

The Lord’s Prayer best explains this as Jesus says, “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12).

Frank J. Matera portrays another perspective of reconciliation found in the redemption and forgiveness presented by the blood of Jesus Christ. 8.

The Book of Ephesians opens with Paul’s address to the Gentiles who are no longer “alienated from God.” Paul portrays Christ as the Reconciler who resurrected a new pagan community into the holy nation of Israel. 10.

Paul reminds them of their former status of death in transgression and infers this reconciliation as the restoration that has saved them by grace into a citizenship in the house of God (Ephesians 2:5, 8). 11.

Ultimately, God’s purpose is to reconcile all of humanity to one another and to Him as brethren and heirs of Christ.

Paul notes that while humanity was dead in their transgressions, God resuscitated them through the death of Jesus and raising of Christ to establish a co-resurrection and exaltation with humanity. 12.

God’s divine forgiveness has joined Jews and Gentiles into a new humanity reconciled as one body to one God through His manifested unconditional love and grace.

This new reconciled humanity is what the bible considers to be, “a royal priesthood;” a nation led by the archetype of Melchizedek.

But, we will discuss that another day! 😉

Click the image below to hear my teaching on the final stage: Forgiveness

Blessings 💚

Contents pulled from exerps of my research paper entitled, “Divine Forgiveness Authorized Through the Second Person of the Trinity”

Footnotes:

1. Walter A. Elwell, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2nd ed (Grand Rapids: Baker Academics, 2001) 460.
2. Ibid.
3. Glen Pettigrove, “The Dilemma of Divine Forgiveness.” Religious Studies 44, no. 4 (December 2008), 458.
4.William Lane Craig, Reformers’ Doctrine of Penal Substitutionary Atonement Against the Attack of Contemporary Critic Eleonore Stump, Reasonable Faith (lecture, Q and A, Annual Joint Conferences of the Evangelical Theological/Philosophical Societies, November, 2017) https://www.youtu.be/Sm9eHTyn9hA (accessed March 7, 2020). 5. Glen Pettigrove, “The Dilemma of Divine Forgiveness,” 457. 6. Ibid.

7. R.C. Sproul, Guilt and Forgiveness: Pleasing God with R.C. Sproul. Ligonier Ministries (lecture 6 of “Pleasing God Series,” July 29, 2019) https://youtu.be/k0W7h8zLztQ (accessed March 7, 2020).
8. Pettigrove, 458.
9. Frank J. Matera, New Testament Christology (Louisville: Westminister John Knox Press, 1999) 153.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid., 154.
12. Ibid.