The Kingdom Come

It is often common today to say things like "I'm sorry" or "I apologize" when you have somehow wronged a person in some way. But these phrases don't carry the sense of remorse the phrase; "Forgive me" carries. To say "I'm sorry" could mean many things, such as; "I'm sorry I got caught" or "I'm sorry you don't like it but...". Similarly, the word apology actually means "to make a defense", such as in the concept of Christian Apologetics. Someone who is truly remorseful for what they have done doesn't defend themselves.

Look, just ask your spouse which they'd rather hear when you have wrong them and you'll see what I mean.

But what is worse is there are some people who claim to be Christians saying that a person need not repent before they are forgiven. Can you forgive a person without their repentance? Yes indeed. Is it following the biblical pattern? For example; does Jesus just summarily forgive everyone without repentance or does the Bible call people to REPENT and believe?

• Mt 21:32  - For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.
• Mk 1:14-15 - After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!"
• Acts 2:21 - And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
• Acts 16:29-31 - The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.  He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"  They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household."
• Rom 10:9-13 - If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.  As Scripture says, "Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame." For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

So then, for Calvinists, or rather Christians in general is WHY will a person repent and believe?  Is it because some egotistical seminarian blathers on and on or footnotes some obscure theologian?  No, the Bible clearly says why people repent and believe:

• John 6:64-65 - Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them."

Perhaps a person will argue from Lk 23:34 where Jesus was on the Cross and says: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

However WHO is the "they" in this context? Some of the same people who claim you should forgive people without repentance say Jesus was calling for the blanket forgiveness of the Jews and especially the Pharisees who seemed to know He was probably the Christ yet still wanted Him crucified. Rather, let's read the rest of Lk 23:34 - And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. This should give us a bit more insight as to who the THEY is in this context. Was it the Jews or specifically the Pharisees that divided up Jesus' clothing among them?

It is interesting that there is even some dispute as to whether Luke 23:34 was in some early manuscripts. (ref1 (ref2). However, I am in no way saying the Bible has errors. I'm saying the same as the first reference seems to imply; that if some copyists assumed the appeal was to forgive the Jews, apparently God did not since Jerusalem was destroyed anyway. Rather, if we keep to the context that the appeal for forgiveness for people who didn't know what they were doing was in reference to the Romans; then there is no difficulty. For the person who tries to use Lk 23:34 to justify their erroneous doctrine of summarily forgiving people without repentance, they lose on several accounts.

(1). I'm talking about not summarily forgiving people who have been told they have sinned (see Mt 18:15 where the offender's sin is pointed out).
(2). If we are to believe the appeal was for the Jews, apparently God either didn't forgive them or the consequences remain unchanged even if there was forgivenss. The Jews did not repent.

We should ALWAYS be ready and willing to forgive (see Mt 18:21-22 and Lk 17:4-5). But it does require repentance. It is not simply so that you can feel vindicated or get your "pound of flesh". Forgiveness without repentance is damaging to the person you are forgiving if they know they have sinned against you.

Luke 17:3-5 couldn't be clearer:

So watch yourselves. If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

Notice the IF THEY REPENT clause. Do we often summarily forgive people who may have sinned against us without knowing and whom we will never pursue to point out that sin? Yes. As a matter of fact, we Christians should always be praying that we are forgiven for unknowingly "trespassing" against others. In the course of a day we may do things in offense to others that we aren't even aware is an offense. However, known sins should be dealt with as directly prescribed by the Bible.

As you can see, even the apostles requested their faith be increased since forgiving repeat offenders is a difficult thing to do. But even here, the offend FIRST repents. There is no call for them to be summarily forgiven. It would be destructive to forgive people without repentance.

In soteriologyⁱ, forgiveness without repentance is universalismⁱ; where everyone is saved no matter what. As we have seen, the Bible is clear that belief and repentance is required and even that is only by the enabling of the person by God.

So, next time you hear someone offer or urge forgiveness without repentance; consider their motivation for it. Why would a person want to pass over this very important and biblical step?