Forgiveness can be looked at in many ways, in relation to such concepts as covenant, sacrifice, reconciliation, removal of sin, and so forth. In this essay, I will look at it in terms of a new creation.
God created and creates a good world. This original good world has been and is being corrupted by sin and the powers of chaos. This is the first or old creation. Then, in Jesus Christ, and by the power of the resurrection, a new world is being created, one in which the powers of sin, death, and chaos, are forever banished. This is the new creation, and the dividing line between old and new creations is the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
What does it mean to forgive? When we forgive, we insist that another will not pay for their offence. Further, by our thoughts, words, and deeds, we renew the broken relationship, redeem what is lost, make good, and act for the sake of the other. Imagine, for a moment, the God who creates the world doing this. Jesus Christ was and is both human and divine. His words were human words and divine words of creative power. When, from the cross, he said, "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do," he refused to condemn his killers and all of us for our sin. Secondly, following that verdict, God acted to restore the broken relationship, redeem what was lost, made good what had been damaged. God did this in the resurrection which was experienced by the apostles as the dawn of a new age in which they were reconciled with God in Christ forever. That was forgiveness.
What does this mean practically? This means that God's power to forgive is so compelling that it overcomes everything. No situation is so desperate, so limited, so constricted, that it cannot be broken by forgiveness. Not even death can stand against forgiveness. However limited our options may be in life, we can always forgive. As we forgive, God abolishes all wrong, all unhappiness, all guilt, and all sorrow. He creates a new world in which, to use a biblical image, we sit at table with him in the world to come. This needs to be emphasized, forgiveness results in a new creation, the healing of our bodies, our hearts and minds, our relationships, and even the physical world. It is new heaven and a new earth, extended to all times and places by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Forgiveness is both a gift from God and a human achievement, and in that order. Sometimes the gift is quite simple, we forgive. At other times, we receive it only after arduous struggle, constant repentance and prayer, and acts of mercy toward those we need to forgive. Sometimes it takes years to forgive, or we may refuse or be unable to forgive. But whatever happens, it is the most potent thing we can do, to forgive and be forgiven.
At present, we live within and between the two creations. As members of the old creation, we are subject to sin and death. We fail to forgive and are afflicted by the unforgiveness of others. We are, however, leaving the old creation behind. As members of the new, we do forgive, and catch a glimpse of God's eternal kingdom. Above all, this happens in worship. At the end of the liturgy of the Word, we repent and are forgiven through confession and absolution. Then, all of us, forgiven and made clean, together with angels, archangels, and all the company of heaven, enter into God's presence and taste the power of the world to come. This is the new creation, even now breaking in upon the old, and its secret, the power of its coming, is forgiveness.(Plenteous Harvest, December, 1994.)
The Rev. Robert J. Sanders, Ph.D.
December, 1994
