If I do not forgive others, does that mean my sins are not forgiven?

[Rick]

If I do not forgive others, does that mean my sins are not forgiven?
What does Matthew 6:14-15 mean?

[Russell]

Originally Posted by Rick

If I do not forgive others, does that mean my sins are not forgiven?
What does Matthew 6:14-15 mean?

I going to venture and say "I agree with the statement. No! My physical sins that affect me in this life are not forgiven".

Now there's a novel idea. Agreeing with scripture,

[NewHope]

I agree...the Message translation says "if you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God's part." So we have to obey and forgive others so that the Father can forgive us also.

[willieH]

willieH: Hi Rick!

Originally Posted by Rick

If I do not forgive others, does that mean my sins are not forgiven?
What does Matthew 6:14-15 mean?

If you are IN CHRIST, then you FORGIVE as did HE... if you are NOT IN CHRIST... then you do not, and the shame of the UNFORGIVENESS (which is a lack of Christ in you), shall be revealed in the Judgment. (Rev 3:18)

One shall activate the other. CHRIST took AWAY the SIN of the WORLD... (John 1:29 / 2 Cor 5:19 / 1 John 2:2)

As far as the ETERNAL, ...ALL SIN is no longer there (taken away / removed) and has been paid for in full by JESUS CHRIST, but the manifestation of TIME must be done in its order.

pEAce... willieH

[Rick]

Awesome answer. Thanks for sharing.

[4JC]

absolutly we must forgive to be forgiven.its in the scripture..one of the wonders of GOD..to me..is that his ways..always benefit us..and then not just us..but also those in our lives!! forgiving others is defintly GODS WAY..GODS PATH..with Christ being the ultimate example..and exact replication of the Father
When we forgive..wat other benefits follows along with also being forgiven by the lord..we also have freedom..in heart and soul...peace... joy..fellowship with the LORD..in our suffering..when we dont forgive..what follows besides us not being forgiven?? roots of bitterness..grieving the holy spirit once that comes in..we dont bear his image..we are not conforming to the the likeness of the son..As the psalmist said..bless the LORD..O my soul..AND FORGET NOT ALL HIS BENEFITS!!!who forgives all your iniquities..and heals your diseases!!

[John B]

Hi,
The answer lies in the meaning of "forgive". In scripture the word means "released".

There are 2 sets of consequences of sin: eternal consequences and temporal (in time) consequences.

When we accept Jesus as our saviour and Lord ALL of our sins are forgiven by God at that moment - including the sins we have not even committed yet! This is justification and it is a once for all transaction. Justification deals with the eternal consequences of sin:
(i) We are forgiven in the throneroom of heaven.
(ii) The penalty of death is reversed and we are "born again" spiritually.
(iii) We are on the way to heaven.

But the Temporal consequences of our sins are not blotted out at Justification. The drug addict or alcoholic does not normally find themselves set free at conversion. Babies conceived out of wedlock don't suddenly disappear from the mother's womb because she comes to Christ, things we have stolen form other peopld are not miraculously returned, lies we have told are not miraculously sorted out. The destruction (Gal 6) of the power of sin in us (or "Death" in Romans 6.7) is not miraculously reversed. This is the task of Sanctification
. The effects of sin still bind us in this life even though we are now a Christian, forgiven by God and on the way to heaven. In other words we are not yet "released" , i.e. forgiven our sins in an experiential way until we deal with them through sanctification.

In the same way our sins are not "forgiven" us, i.e. "released from us in an experiential way in the here and now" if we do not forgive. The question is not one about God's forgiveness, i.e. Justification, as that is secured by Christ for us and is given to us as a gift and is not dependent in any way on our actions, responses or forgiveness of others.


What Jesus is saying is that we have to release our judgements on other people if we want to experience the full freedom of forgiveness in experience. Any Christian counselor will tell you this - and most non Christian counselors too.

John B

[Rick]

Originally Posted by John B

Hi,
The answer lies in the meaning of "forgive". In scripture the word means "released".

There are 2 sets of consequences of sin: eternal consequences and temporal (in time) consequences.

When we accept Jesus as our saviour and Lord ALL of our sins are forgiven by God at that moment - including the sins we have not even committed yet! This is justification and it is a once for all transaction. Justification deals with the eternal consequences of sin:
(i) We are forgiven in the throneroom of heaven.
(ii) The penalty of death is reversed and we are "born again" spiritually.
(iii) We are on the way to heaven.

But the Temporal consequences of our sins are not blotted out at Justification. The drug addict or alcoholic does not normally find themselves set free at conversion. Babies conceived out of wedlock don't suddenly disappear from the mother's womb because she comes to Christ, things we have stolen form other peopld are not miraculously returned, lies we have told are not miraculously sorted out. The destruction (Gal 6) of the power of sin in us (or "Death" in Romans 6.7) is not miraculously reversed. This is the task of Sanctification
. The effects of sin still bind us in this life even though we are now a Christian, forgiven by God and on the way to heaven. In other words we are not yet "released" , i.e. forgiven our sins in an experiential way until we deal with them through sanctification.

In the same way our sins are not "forgiven" us, i.e. "released from us in an experiential way in the here and now" if we do not forgive. The question is not one about God's forgiveness, i.e. Justification, as that is secured by Christ for us and is given to us as a gift and is not dependent in any way on our actions, responses or forgiveness of others.


What Jesus is saying is that we have to release our judgements on other people if we want to experience the full freedom of forgiveness in experience. Any Christian counselor will tell you this - and most non Christian counselors too.

John B

Well said. I got a lot out of that.

[John B]

Hi Rick,
It is often difficult in scripture to decide when a particular scripture refers to justification or to sanctification. What I said before was my feeble understanding on this one question of forgiveness.

But the bottom line always has to fall down to the gospel message: If we have accepted Christ as our Lord and saviour we are justified, our sins ARE forgiven before God's throne - not because of any work we can do but solely because of the perfect work of Christ.

Any limitation of the forgiveness of God can only thus refer to sanctification, i.e. to our experience of being set free from the power of sin. To say otherwise is to deny the gospel - it is to add something to the finished work of Christ.

I hope you agree.

John B

[Rick]

Originally Posted by John B

Hi Rick,
It is often difficult in scripture to decide when a particular scripture refers to justification or to sanctification. What I said before was my feeble understanding on this one question of forgiveness.

But the bottom line always has to fall down to the gospel message: If we have accepted Christ as our Lord and saviour we are justified, our sins ARE forgiven before God's throne - not because of any work we can do but solely because of the perfect work of Christ.

Any limitation of the forgiveness of God can only thus refer to sanctification, i.e. to our experience of being set free from the power of sin. To say otherwise is to deny the gospel - it is to add something to the finished work of Christ.

I hope you agree.

John B

I certainly can agree with that. In fact that is an excellant way of expressing it into words.