William H. Smith January 26, 2002

1204 Christmas Tree Lane about 800 words

Pearce, Az. 85625

303-36-7671

(520) 826-1029

Forgiveness

By

William H. Smith

Everyone wants forgiveness of their sins; Christians want forgiveness because they want to be with their Savior Jesus Christ, criminals want forgiveness because they have no desire to go to prison. Where do we find forgiveness in the Bible?

Mark seems to have much to say about forgiveness. Mark 2:10, Jesus Says, “But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins”,

Jesus will forgive your sins, but he puts stipulations on it. Mark 10:15, Jesus says, “Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein”.

Mark 10:38, Jesus says, “Ye know not what you ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? This seems to say you must be baptized with water and the Holy Spirit, to be forgiven.

Mark 11:25-26, Jesus says, “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses”. “But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses”. Here we find, that not only Jesus forgives sins, but the Father also forgives sins. This agrees with the Lord’s Prayer.

Mark 12:29-31, Jesus our Lord and Savior says, “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, There is none other commandment greater than these.” If these two commandants are believed and followed then forgiveness is at hand.

Mark 13:22, Jesus says, “For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.” Here we find that even Christians can have forgiveness withheld, if they chose to believe false Christs and false prophets. I would question the cliché, once saved always saved.

Mark 16:16, Jesus says, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” The path toward salvation is straight and narrow, and plain and simple. The “believeth” part would be the most difficult phase to achieve, this would require putting away worldly ways and putting on the cloak of God’s forgiveness. To be baptized would require being baptized with water and the Holy Spirit. Not all will receive the Holy Spirit after being baptized with water, because they will have a problem truly believing and receiving God’s gift.

Luke 15:28-30, a parable of Jesus’, “and he was angry, and would not go in : therefore came his father out, and entreated him. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.” By being a true and faithful Christian longer will not give a person privilege over a new Christian, our Father rejoices when a new sole has found the way. By being saved longer gives the older Christian less chance of dying without being saved.

Luke 17:3-4, Jesus states, “Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.” And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day , and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.” We must forgive to be forgiven, regardless of the number of times we are trespassed against. Throughout our Christian days we will trespass against our Father, but we must ask his forgiveness and he will forgive us. We must forgive others when they ask forgiveness, if we expect to find forgiveness ourselves.

The explanation of “forgiveness that is written in Zondervan’s pictorial Bible dictionary. The offense may be a deprivation of a person’s property, rights, or honor; or it may be a violation of moral law. The normal conditions of forgiveness are repentance and the willingness to make reparation, restoration of both parties to the former state of relationship. Christ taught that forgiveness is a duty, and that no limit should be set to the extent of forgiveness. An unforgiving spirit is one of the most serious of sins.

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