By Kevin Harris, pastor of the Illawarra Community Baptist Church in Wollongong, NSW
And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.
2 Corinthians 12:21
Mere hours after 14 year old Michael Carneal took a gun to his Kentucky high school and killed three of his classmates and injured five others, surviving classmates put up a sign that said, ‘We forgive you, Mike!’
But is that a righteous response? Are we required to forgive those who are defiant?
In today’s verse the Apostle Paul foresees his next trip to Corinth being one of bewailing fornicating believers. To bewail is to grieve, and it was usually public and loud. Paul was concerned that he would have to weep publicly over sin that was not being forsaken and confessed.
Some people today would disagree. ‘Paul, why don’t you just forgive the Corinthians and move on? The past is the past.’
He would reply, ‘No, I can’t. They have not repented yet.’
The principle in the Bible is that forgiveness is never granted before repentance. I urge you study it out.
To forgive is to send away the guilt of the offender.
If we were automatically to forgive the offender like that Kentucky school shooter, we could close down our courts, send home our judges, and empty our prisons. But we all know that wouldn’t work.
While the Lord requires us to have a willingness to forgive those who sin against us (Matthew 6:14; Psalm 86:5), He did put a condition on it in Luke 17:3-4 ‘Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. 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.’
Notice that forgiveness is a response to repentance. We forgive if the sinner repents. This is why he says to rebuke him, and in Matthew 18:15, to approach him privately to seek to restore that relationship.
A woman named Jezebel had been given ‘space to repent of her fornication, and she repented not.’ Rather than forgive her, the Lord promised judgment would result (Revelation 2:21-22).
God Himself does not automatically forgive sinners. Otherwise there would be no hell. Instead He says, ‘Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish’ (Luke 13:3). God saves those who turn from their sin to the Saviour.
When our Lord said while hanging on the cross, ‘Father, forgive them…’ He was not absolving the Jewish haters and Roman executioners of all guilt. Otherwise He would be providing a way of salvation that didn’t require the very cross He was hanging on. Forgiveness would be obtained without the need of the Christ’s shed blood at all! No, He was praying that they might repent and believe the gospel.
Father, thank You for Your readiness to forgive me when I confess my sin and plead Your Son’s blood for my wrongdoings. Show me sins which I need to confess and forsake. And keep me ready to forgive those who wrong me. I ask this in the Name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
This article was written by Kevin Harris Dapto pastor of Illawarra Community Baptist Church.