The Repentant and Unrepentant do not receive the same measure of forgiveness.
To the unrepentant, be Willing to Forgive
To the Repentant, Forgive and cancel the debt.
The Measure of Forgiveness for the Unrepentant
To the unrepentant, be Willing To Forgive
A forgiving heart is a heart that is always willing to forgive.
To be willing to forgive means you choose not to repay evil with evil, but welcome reconciliation. As Christians, we must always be willing and ready to forgive no matter the level of offence.
Has God forgiven the entire human race? Certainly Not! If God has forgiven everyone, then none will face his tribunal or punishment on the last day.
Is God ready and willing to forgive the entire human race? Yes of course. God freely grants forgiveness to anyone who repents from his evil ways. They are spared from his wrath. Now is the acceptable year of the Lord. All who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus will be saved.
The Lord Jesus is willing and ready to forgive anyone who comes to him in repentance (Luke 24.47 Bible verse). We must follow his footsteps.
To be willing to forgive does not mean to actually forgive. To be willing to forgive simply means the offended is not going to repay evil/wrong, and he is ready for reconciliation.
The Measure of Forgiveness for the Repentant
To the Repentant, Forgive and cancel the debt.
What is Forgiveness?
Forgiveness means to discharge the offender of the debt he owes, and to work to restore the broken relationship. As Christians, we must always forgive our transgressors when they repent. Let us take a look at verses on forgiveness in the Bible:
Watch yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. Even if he sins against you seven times in a day and comes back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” (Luke 17.3-4 Bible verse)
The Lord Jesus forgives all those who repent and receives them back in his sheepfold. He does not remember their sins. We must follow in his footsteps. Forgiveness means to forget the wrong and restore the relationship.
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This is truly terrible and dangerous advice. Forgiveness is definitely Christian but advising people to stay in an abusive marriage is abuse. Saying sorry and then doing the same thing is not sorry, it’s abuse. Narcissists and sociopaths exist, educate yourselves.
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Hi Ffiona. Thanks for visiting. Are you a Christian? Did you carefully read the entire post?
If you are a Christian, then you find faults, not with me, but with the words of Christ.
To let you know, I have lived with narcissistic people and I know the pain involved.
If a person wrongs you and tells you sorry even if it is 70*7 times in a day, you must forgive him.
If he does not say sorry after he wrong you, you are not obligated to forgive him, but you must be ready for reconciliation if he repents.
If he says sorry, and you know deep within you that he does not really mean, you must still forgive him but do not trust him.
If you are in a marriage with a narcissist, you must be ready to forgive if he says sorry, but you must not remain close to him. If he continues his abuse, you can leave him (not divorce) for a while to let him reconsider his ways. You are not permitted by God to divorce a narcissist or divorce and remarry. If he abuses you again, leave him again and again (not divorce) till he truly reconsiders his ways. I cannot advice you to remain in constant emotional pain. God wants us children well. If this narcissist, instead of repenting, commits adultery, then you are free to divorce him.
Being a Christian is hard. The temptation to disobey Christ is very strong for those in emotional pain. The narcissist will not only have tortured you, he will have succeeded to make you disobey God. If this happens, the devil has won over your soul.
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Thanks for such valuable input Brother Bill. We thank God it blesses anyone who reads it. God bless you.
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The key to it all, as you stated, is that the offender must be willing to repent. Without repentance, forgiveness is unachievable. As with offenses between loved ones/family members, it is oftentimes difficult to rebuke a loved one, especially if there has been an exchange of heated words. Difficult because of hurt feelings or wounded pride. These feelings must be set aside in order for an open flow of communication. If after bringing said offense to their attention they refuse to repent, all that is left is prayer. Turn it over to our Lord in prayer, asking Him to enable the offender to realize the error of his or her way. We have to approach forgiveness with an understanding that some people are, regrettably so, unforgivable.
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