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Originally Posted by BobVigneault  Is Jesus split? Either scripture is contradicting here or there are two different kinds of forgiveness. So where do you go now? |
I suppose I would want to know what it really means to forgive someone. Earlier I said this:
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Originally Posted by me It may depend on what one means by "forgive." If by "forgive" you mean that the person is entitled to the same privileges they had before the offense, the I don't think anyone would say that we should forgive the unrepentant. This would do away with church discipline altogether. Also, I may be able to "let go of my anger" toward a person who has wronged me, but if they don't repent I wouldn't want to be friends with them anymore. |
Can we distinguish two kinds of forgiveness? This came into my mind again when you quoted Christ on the Cross. When Christ asked the Father to forgive all the people there, it obviously doesn't mean "forgive" in the first sense I mentioned, because not everyone about whom he was speaking (as far as I know) was forgiven of their sins and granted eternal life. I can forgive people for doing cruel things to me in one sense, that is, I can stop holding a grudge against them. But I'm not going to let someone who sins against me without repentance be someone to whom I entrust myself in any real way. And this is how it is ultimately between God and unrepentant sinners. That's why I was wondering if it's possible to speak about forgiveness in the context of actual reconciliation as well as within the context of letting go of any personal grudge a person may hold. So in Luke 17, when the person repents of his sin, we are supposed to remain in fellowship with them. This would be the same in situations of church discipline. However, if we were to forgive people in the fullest sense of the word who are unrepentant, wouldn't that undermine church discipline and our duty to "shun the immoral brother" as well as stay away from dangerous characters in general?