By Tin-chee Lo (TC); March 17, 2020
Forgiveness is a virtue in Jewish culture. Rabbi teaches you to forgive those who offend you up to three times. Peter was a Jew, and he certainly knew this. One day, he came to Jesus and asked, “How many times should I forgive my brother?” Without waiting for Jesus’ reply, Peter immediately asked another question, “Can it be seven times?” The second question is actually Peter’s answer to his first question. The way Peter asked in this manner was not that he longed to hear Jesus’ answer, but that he expected Jesus would praise his magnanimity. Knowing his heart, Jesus asserted, “Not seven times, but seventy times seven times.” This does not mean that Jesus was toying with a number game by setting a limit of 490 times. What Jesus said was that there is no upper limit for forgiving others. Forgiving others is a basic way of life as a disciple, one of the characteristics of the people of heaven. To reinforce this idea, Jesus made the following parable to his disciples: Read Matt. 18: 23-35.
The first part of this parable says that a servant owed the king an astronomical debt, which he could not pay in his lifetime. His only way was to ask for mercy from the king. The king moved his compassion, tore up the debt paper to pieces. The servant became a free man, no longer burdened by debt, and his family was free too.
We can easily and rightly relate this story to the gospel message. The king represents the Heavenly Father. All who are under the rule of the king are servants, not king’s slaves. It is impossible for a slave to owe that much debt to the king as described in the parable. The servant in the story may be a court official in the palace. He must have a special access to the resources of the king’s treasury. Because the kingdom represents the kingdom of God, we can say that this person is a Christian. Before and even after his conversion, he owed his Heavenly Father an unplayable debt. The only way to get rid of this debt is forgiveness from God the Father. There is no other way (vv. 21-27).
Religions in the world teach that when you commit a sin, you can do a good deed to nullify it. This is impossible, because in the king’s eyes, a servant’s good deeds are nothing more than a tattered garment, dirty and useless. The servant in the story pleaded with the king (asking for forgiveness), and the king cancelled his debt. This is truly due to the king’s mercy and grace; he is not obligated to do that, but he did it. This is a story of salvation in Jesus Christ. This is the gospel.
The second part of the metaphor tells that that servant was so indifferent to the king’s kindness just shown upon him. Gripped by his ingratitude, he implemented a strict measure against his companion, who owed him a debt, but a much lesser debt. It is true that the debt that his companion owed him was not small, but it was far less than the debt that he originally owed to the king (vv. 28-30). When other servants saw it, they became so angry that they told the king (v. 31). The king was furious and resurrected the man’s original debt position and took him back to prison (vv. 32-34). Leaving aside whether these servants’ actions are reasonable. Here is a reflection for myself: Have I ever invoked criticism from coworkers or family members because I did not forgive others? This is a thought-provoking self-examination. Now, let’s discuss the way the king punished this hard hearted servant.
If the king’s forgiveness represents salvation, wouldn’t the king’s acts of sending him back to jail, dealing with him severe punishment, and restoring his indebtedness represent the loss of this man’s salvation? Imaginative people immediately thought of this re-imprisonment incident as a “purgatory” experience believed in Catholicism, but this association has no biblical basis. So how do we understand this passage (vv. 32-34)? First of all, we need to know that this is a metaphor or parable, pointing especially to the kingdom of heaven. The principle of interpreting metaphors should be: Don’t “excessively” stick to details; pay attention to the main purpose of the metaphor; more importantly, the interpretation must comply with basic doctrine. Here several Bible doctrines are in view.
* Doctrine of the “perseverance of the saints,” that is, saved once, saved forever. “I (Jesus) give them (Jesus’ sheep, the elected) eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand (John 10:28).”
* Doctrine of the “thoroughness of God’s forgiveness”, based on God’s faithfulness and immutability. “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm: 103:11-12). God’s forgiveness is complete.
Jesus called this servant a “wicked servant” (v. 32). 「The Chinese Bible translated as “wicked slave”」This is an emphatic term. The Bible reserves this title for those who do not believe in God. No true believer would do such an unkind thing to his brethren. So this “unforgiving person” must be someone who has never accepted the gospel. It is not possible that this person got the salvation and later lost it. A true believer would not lose his or her eternal life. So he has never been regenerated. Therefore, the purpose of this parable is to challenge the authenticity of disciples’ salvation. A man who is truly regenerated will never do such a great deal of ingratitude. In another parable Jesus said: “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit (Mt 7:18).” As the quality of the tree can be recognized from its fruit, this man’s lostness can also be recognized. In our daily life, we should be very careful not to judge who is saved and who is not. We don’t know because we cannot read people’s heart, only God can. But we can be sure that this servant described in the second part of the story is unsaved. His eternal state is made clear by the fact that he was handed over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed, and we know that he could never pay back the debt (v. 34). If the prison represents hell, he is in eternal damnation.
We must now ask: Why does the first half of the story say that this man is a true believer in Christ pardoned by God, and the second half of the story says that he is unsaved? Ah! Here we see the wisdom of Jesus. Jesus deliberately presents us a horrible hypothetical situation to make an important contrast: If the behavior of this evil slave is so unbelievable, it is equally unbelievable for Christians, who have been pardoned by God for a lifetime, and refused to forgive others.
Since forgiveness is the distinct characteristic of the citizens of the kingdom of heaven, should we offer “unilaterally forgive” to anyone who wrongs us ? This problem may stem from our misunderstanding of one phrase uttered by Jesus while He was hung on the cross. Jesus cried to the Father, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing (Lk 23:34).” Is unilateral pardon a command of Jesus?
The answer is “No”. The Bible’s consistently teaches that repentance precedes forgiveness. The word “them” in Jesus’ words does not refer to ALL people, but only to those who saw the righteousness of Jesus and were illuminated by the Holy Spirit and then repented in their hearts. The crucified robber next to Jesus was one of them. If “they” represents ALL people, it becomes universalism rather than the gospel.
On the other hand, the answer may also be “Yes”. Because there are some minor offenses which we should forgive unilaterally, whether the offender apologizes to you or not. As Peter said, “love covers over a multitude of sins (1 Pt 4:8).” Why do you get bothered if someone owe you only five dollars? Why do you feel annoyed when people give you only a little bit trouble? Put these trivial things behind you and simply forgive them unilaterally without demanding their apology. You will feel better with a forgiving spirit.
Serious offenses, however, must be dealt with. The Word of God shows us how:
“If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector (Mt. 18: 15-16).” The purity of the church is important; one bad apple can spoil the whole barrel. All these steps are necessary and are done with one purpose: to restore this brother back to the right track with Christ-like love. If all offenses are treated with “unilateral pardon,” then the above-mentioned disciplinary process taught by the Bible is meaningless.
The gist of the whole parable is this: Forgiveness is unlimited, it is a Christian life style, and it is the character of the people of heaven. Although unilateral forgiveness is not a Bible requirement, we should be ready to forgive those who will repent anytime, anywhere. If we do not forgive others for their sins, although our salvation will not be lost, we are risking “God refuses to forgive us.” Lastly, let us remember, we need to be forgiven too.
