INTRO: This is our third message on forgiveness. What we have said so far is very simple. One, God cannot and will not forgive without repentance. Two, many Christians believe that Christians must forgive their fellow man even if there is no repentance.
Let me just mention one thing I could not get into the last message. Most of the writers I quoted, who say they hold to unconditional forgiveness do not truly hold that position. For example, MacLintock and Strong say, “Repentance and confession are indispensable, when one has intentionally injured us in any way, to restore him to our fellowship and approbation. But what is a necessary condition of this is not a necessary condition of forgiving.” So, if you forgive unconditionally, that other person can still not be restored to fellowship. The wall is still there. To restore the fellowship he must first repent. So, in a sense that is conditional forgiveness.
John MacArthur considers himself an unconditional forgiveness man, but says, “It is obvious from Scripture that sometimes forgiveness must be conditional. For example, in certain cases the offender is to be confronted and ultimately even excommunicated from the church if he or she refuses to repent (Luke 17:3; Matt. 18:15-17)”. So is he a conditional or unconditional forgiveness man? Conditional, at least in some cases, according to that quote. |
