Statement #4. Forgiveness occurs properly only when certain conditions are met. TRUE.
If you said “false,” then you are not alone. Whenever I give this quiz, a number of people answer “false.” One author dedicated his book on forgiveness with this phrase: “To God who forgives all.” This is an unconditional statement. It says categorically that God forgives all. No exceptions.
Is that how it works? Does God forgive everyone?
Every time I think about that book dedication, I am puzzled. For a while I kept thinking I was missing something. I asked a lot of people, “Is that true? Does God forgive all?”
The answer to that question is decidedly “no.” Of course, it may feel warm and fuzzy to say that God forgives all, but the reality is that He does not. The Bible is full of true stories about people who were not forgiven.
God’s forgiveness is conditioned upon repentance. (Click here to read quotes from John Piper, MacArthur, Duncan, Ken Sande, and Justin Taylor on whether or not forgiveness is conditional).
Here is one such grim story that you know. Before, I even remind you of it, let me assure you, I am not making light of this. It is a story of awful judgment.
Picture it. Goliath went out every day and talked trash about God. Nine feet tall, cursing, spitting, taunting, he defied God. But, soon enough, David pulled off the quintessential upset of all time and took Goliath down with one smooth stone.
At the risk of grossing you out, did you ever meditate on what Scripture says David was lugging around when he debriefed with King Saul after the fight? Samuel 17:57 reads,
And as soon as David returned from the striking down of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.
It was Goliath’s head. David had Goliath’s head because he had severed it with the giant’s own sword. And now, rather than dropping the violence from the story, Scripture describes how David dragged Goliath’s dripping, discolored, already smelly head around.
After David knocked Goliath down, he did not offer Goliath an ice pack and lean over and whisper, “Goliath, you have really gotten a lot of people upset on the other side of the valley, but we love and forgive you.” No, he hacked off his head and drug it from the battlefield.
Is that not truly awful? Here is the thing. The story of David and Goliath is not in the Bible so we have an inspiring story for undersized children or so we have something to tell our football teams before they play a highly-ranked opponent. Nor is it a model of how we resolve interpersonal differences, lest you would accuse me of implying that! God included it in the Bible to show us the reality of his judgment and that he does not forgive all.
The reality of God’s justice is not limited to the Old Testament. Revelation, the last book in the Bible, graphically describes what will happen to those who are not forgiven. Jesus prophesied weeping and gnashing of teeth for the unforgiven. John wrote about forgiveness with a condition,
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
Make no mistake, “God does not forgive all.” God’s forgiveness is conditional. In Chapters 3-4, I explain this and why it is eternally important that we each understand what we believe about whether or not forgiveness is conditional.
And forgiveness is not only conditional for God. It should be conditional in our relationships, too. For sure, we must have an attitude of grace or a willingness to forgive all people. We are commanded to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:45-48). But, complete forgiveness can only take place when there is repentance. I develop this point in chapters 3-4.
1 John 1:9 can not be used as a proof text to prove when a believer is forgiven. “cleanse” and “forgive” are in the subjunctive mood. In greek, you can’t put time in a subjunctive mood. Consequently, you can not use 1 John 1:9 as a proof text to prove when a believer is forgiven.
The point is not so much temporal as logical.
expand please?
Ben, Scripture is clear that God forgives those who repent/believe. In that context, we are talking about logical connections rather than temporal, as in the ordo salutis.
A grammar discussion would be appropriately focused on the class of condition rather than the mood. Either way, it’s hard to see how someone could read the Bible and be a universalist.
I’ll ask you a couple rhetorical questions to begin: When where your sins taken care of? How many sins were taken care of? If you answered “the cross took care of all my sins” and at any point you asked Him to forgive you after you’ve begun your walk with Him, then that’s living a contradiction.
my contention(s) are as follows:
1 John 1:9 when it is studied thoroughly reveals nothing about “when” a believer’s sins are forgiven. All the verbs are in the subjunctive mood; and since the Greek will not allow you to insert a timeframe into this mood, it is impossible to use this verse to determine “when” a believer is forgiven. The subjunctive mood indicates a “kind” of action, not “time” of action. Consequently, this verse cannot teach that a person who already knows Christ is forgiven of sins committed at the time they ask for forgiveness. If this is to be true, no believer who had unconfessed sin could enter heaven. The entire forgiveness issue had to be dealt with at the point of justification; how else could He accept us into our Home?
Matthew 6:12 is perhaps another verse (although I didn’t read it in your posts) that could play a part in your presentation in conditional forgiveness. If you read it on the surface, it seems as if God is instructing all “believers” to ask for forgiveness when they commit acts of sin. There is no question that Jesus said these words before he went to the cross. Keeping that in mind and in context of covenant, the sin issue had not been dealt with. Remember, none of the old covenant animal sacrifices took away sins, only covered them (Heb 10:4,11). Jesus was addressing people who were living before the cross and their forgiveness was in the future, not past. Since the cross, everyone who becomes a believer has the wonderful privilege of having had all sin taken care of. Jesus’ teachings are the best teachings of all time; but we need to keep the entire Bible in context. I believe that determining forgiveness, one might look to 1 John 2:12, Eph 4:32, Col. 2:13, Heb 9:26, Heb 10:10,12, etc to realize that the tenses in those passages are past action, completed action, with a resulting state of being.
In conclusion (sorry for the novel), I do not believe we as Christians should ever ask for forgiveness. I DO believe however, we confess (agree with God) and repent (change our mind) concerning sin; but not to gain forgiveness- it’s already been taken care of.
p.s. I’m not a universalist…grace is only accepted by faith 🙂
I think we are basically in the same place. I agree that at conversion sins past, present, and future are forgiven. But, the point is we must turn in repentance and put our faith in Christ. Hence, forgiveness of sins is conditional. If we don’t believe, then we aren’t justified.
Thanks for taking the time to comment and to point to those other passages. They may well be better examples.
I came across your website looking for quizzes on forgiveness to attach to my website. I took your quiz and like others, I answered #4 False. I realize you are using the word “complete” and I understand this as it relates to Salvation and when we have sin we are to repent and turn from whatever caused us to sin. But on an individual level, I don’t see this as a possibility. Some people forgive people who have died. Often forgive people who have hurt them but do not confront them in order to repentance to happen. Are you then saying that there is complete forgiveness and incomplete forgiveness? Forgiveness is for the one who has been hurt and the one who causes the pain may or may not be around are willing to for repent. Could you please respond?
Also, what do you believe about “forgiving yourself?” thank you
Darlene,
Great to hear from you — really busy — but see this as it relates to forgiving ourselves: http://chrisbrauns.com/2011/10/how-can-i-forgive-myself-2/
Chris