Have you ever been the object of a great offense and had someone commit a great sin against you? How did you deal with it? How did it make you feel? Were you capable of forgiving the other person? For many of us, it's indeed a very difficult thing to do this. So, let's take a moment and see why forgiving others is an essential part of the Christian life.
Welcome to answers from an apostolic faith.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.
Forgiving others seems to be a common moral and ethical standard across all of human cultures. That basically means that for the most part, no matter your race, your culture, your background or your faith, most people seem to elevate the act of forgiving another person. It is perceived to carry within it other highly esteemed virtues, such as mercy and compassion and even maturity. Forgiveness seems to be something that is to be honoured and respected.
However, we are at times tempted to evaluate another person's sin worse than our own. We try to defend ourselves saying that this person's sin is unforgivable or that I would never do this or that against them. What then are we to do? Why should we forgive others when the sins committed against us are considered too great to ignore? Let's investigate this in a much greater detail to find out why forgiveness is so important within the Christian mindset.
The teachings of Scripture are very clear in regards to forgiving others. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself teaches us that to forgive is a divine act which we receive freely from God, and so, we ought to forgive others. He says to us:
'' 14 ''For if you forgive [others] their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.'' '' (Matthew 6:14)
And again, the Lord comes and teaches us and says:
'' 3 ''Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, 'I repent', you shall forgive him.'' '' (Luke 17:3-4)
My beloved, it's not only the Lord Christ, but also the words of Scriptures through St. Paul. He teaches us this Christian virtue by saying, in Colossians:
'' 12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.'' (Colossians 3:12-13)
We are very clearly encouraged to forgive. And this is done, because we ourselves are constantly in need of forgiveness. For this very reason, we are taught by the Lord to pray in the Our Father prayer: Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
If therefore we are constantly asking for the forgiveness of our sins, our mistakes and our wrongdoings, then why would we not return the very same mercy and compassion of forgiveness when others have wronged us? The power of forgiveness is not only that it allows for the grace of reconciliation, but it also begins the process of freeing the person who was hurt from their pain and anger. And it's truly therapeutic, the medicine or remedy that leads to restoring the sound mind and heart and soul to peace and joy in the Lord.
St. John Chrysostom, in his commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew, he explains that there is a very good reason why the Lord narrates the Lord's Prayer to us in the plural form. OUR Father... give US this day OUR daily bread... forgive US OUR trespasses... St. John explains that the reason is that we may always have our neighbour on our minds.
We are never separate or divorced from the other members of the body of Christ. And so, forgiveness, naturally, is the means by which we can reconcile all of us to one another. St. John says:
''Nothing makes us so like God as our readiness to forgive the wicked and [the] wrongdoer. For it is God who has made 'the sun to shine on the evil and on the good'.'' (St. John Chrysostom, Commentary on Matthew 5:45)
He explains that to forgive points to our likeness to God. And truly, when our... one forgives someone a grave sin that has been committed against them, it is the work of a divine grace in that person's life.
In those very difficult moments where we may feel like it's not fair or it's not okay what was done, the human person immediately experiences a conflict between their sense of justice and their desire to show mercy. And while I myself do not possess the wisdom and the grace of discernment to explain when and how we can forgive the offenses of others, all I can do is look to my Saviour, Jesus Christ, as an example.
While hanging on the cross, falsely accused, unjustly condemned to death, betrayed by His very own, it is He who spoke the words: Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.
The Church, through the words of Christ, teaches us that sin is illness. And even in the words of our Lord, there seems to be a hint that when we sin, we don't know what we're doing, almost as if to say: we are ill. And truly, this is the case. I, as a sinner, am ill and when my brother or sister in Christ sins against me, they are suffering from their illness.
Now, their spiritual malady may be different than mine, but the strength to forgive comes from recognizing that we are both in the Lord's hospital seeking healing from the Great Physician. St. Cyril of Alexandria, he approaches the subject in a very similar way. He encourages us to deal with others as physicians would deal with their patients. He says:
''We must rather imitate those whose business it is to heal our bodily diseases and who do not care for a sick person once only or twice, but just as often as he happens to become ill. Let us remember that we also are liable to infirmities and overpowered by our passions. This being the case, we pray that those who have the duty to rebuke us and who have the authority to punish us may show themselves forgiving and kind to us.
''It is our duty, having a common feeling for our mutual infirmities, to bear one another's burdens, so we will fulfill the law of Christ. Observe also that in the Gospel according to Matthew, Peter makes the inquiry, 'How often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?' [And] the Lord tells the apostles, 'Although he sins seven times in the day', that is, frequently, 'and will acknowledge his fault, you shall forgive him' '' (St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke)
These are the words of St. Cyril in a commentary on the Gospel of Luke. My beloved, the ultimate test of forgiveness is that I recognize my deep need to be forgiven as well; to recognize that, as a person who also falls and sins often, that I should extend to others the very free gift of forgiveness that has been given to me.
And to those of us who can forgive and seek peace and reconciliation with others, we will also be forgiven when repenting, as the Lord has faithfully promised us.
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