Blog

Posted on

Is Forgiveness Conditional or Unconditional?

Or a Case for Attitudinal Forgiveness

A friend asked me a question about forgiveness and while I’ve blogged on this before, I wanted to take another run at this question. I have no illusions that this will put this question to bed, but I hope it is faithful to the Bible and gives some truth to consider. There are good Christians that disagree on this very issue. 

So the question is, if God’s forgiveness is our pattern (Eph 4:32), is His forgiveness unconditional? And the clear answer is no. Jesus doesn’t save everybody; only those that repent. So if that’s the pattern, then should my forgiveness of others also be conditional? Should I expect repentance before I forgive them?

We can put this in the form of a syllogism.

•          Major Premise: We are to forgive as God forgave us. 
•          Minor Premise: God only forgives those that repent.
•          Conclusion: We only forgive those that repent.

That’s the set up for the question, but there are other passages that can make us lean one way or the other. For example, there are incidents in Scripture that would indicate forgiveness is unconditional.

Acts 7:60 (NASB95) Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep. 

If their sin is not held against them, then they are forgiven. That’s what Stephen is requesting.

Luke 6:27–28 (NASB95) “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 

These are Christ’s words in the Sermon on the Mount. Wouldn’t an enemy receiving this kind of love think his sin has been forgiven by you? What’s the difference between this kind of love and actual forgiveness if there is a difference?

Luke 23:33–34 (NASB95) When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves. 

Jesus on the cross is asking the Father to forgive men who didn’t repent and didn’t request forgiveness.

But there are also passages that indicate forgiveness is conditioned on the other person’s repentance.

Luke 17:3–4 (NASB95) “Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. “And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” 
“Forgive as Christ forgave you” (Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:13).

Those who understand forgiveness to be conditional normally look at forgiveness as a transaction between two parties. They claim if the person hasn’t asked forgiveness, it would be meaningless to make a promise not to bring it up. The offender never requested that. And they base this on Eph 4:32.

I like what John MacArthur says about Eph 4:32, 

To make conditionality the gist of Christlike forgiving seems to miss the whole point of what Scripture is saying. When Scripture instructs us to forgive in the manner we have been forgiven, what is in view is not the idea of withholding forgiveness until the offender expresses repentance. 
The attitude of the forgiver is where the focus of Scripture lies, not the terms of forgiveness. [1]John MacArthur, The Freedom and Power of Forgiveness (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1998), 118, 119.

There are more passages that help me lean towards attitudinal forgiveness. 

Matthew 6:12–15 (ESV) and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Our forgiveness from God depends upon us granting forgiveness, and there is no mention of whether the person repented or not. I need to lean towards forgiveness with those that sin against me.

James 2:13 (ESV) For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

We need to be merciful people. Those that aren’t merciful will receive merciless judgment.

Matthew 18:35 (ESV) So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” 
Luke 6:36–38 (ESV) Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

God wants us to be forgiving, merciful people. 

Mark 11:25–26 (NASB95) “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. “But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.”

Forgive even if they haven’t asked for it. Just have a desire to forgive. There is no mention of confrontation.

So I ride the fence and say forgiveness is conditional and unconditional. The reality is that some forgiveness is offered unilaterally and without conditions, while at other times it is a two-way transaction and is only offered when requested. 

Some Sins Are Confronted in Love

In Luke 17:3 and Matthew 18:15-17 there are specific steps to be followed in confronting the offender and at each step if the person repents, the person is forgiven. The final step for the unrepentant is discipline from the church. This is obviously conditional forgiveness.

But not every offense calls for confronting the offender. The Bible gives us another procedure for handling offenses, and this procedure helps me have a forgiving attitude. 

Some Sins Are Covered in Love 

Proverbs 10:12 (NASB95) Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all transgressions. 
Proverbs 17:9 (NASB95) He who conceals a transgression seeks love, But he who repeats a matter separates intimate friends. 
1 Peter 4:7–8 (NASB95) The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. 

And I believe when 1 Cor 13:5 says love doesn’t keep account of a wrong suffered that’s an example of forgiveness without conditions also.

In other words, some sins you choose to forgive without confronting because of your love. When you do this, you are making the same promise (not to bring it up to them or others and not to dwell on it) even though they are not aware of it.

The word cover (kalupto, καλύπτῶ) in 1 Peter 4:8 means to cover up or to remove from sight (BAG and Liddell & Scott). This is what forgiveness does. Covering sin in 1 Peter 4:8 is the same as forgiveness. We know this because of the definition of the word but also because covering sin is equated with forgiveness in other passages.

Psalm 32:1 (NASB95) How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered! 
Psalm 85:2 (NASB95) You forgave the iniquity of Your people; You covered all their sin. Selah. 
James 5:20 (NASB95) let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. 

“A lost sheep is saved from destruction and his sins (the sins of the restored one, not the restorer) are covered as if a veil were thrown over them. He can move ahead again on the path toward spiritual maturity.” [2]Walvoord, John F., Roy B. Zuck, and Dallas Theological Seminary. The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983-c1985.

So if in this situation you are actually forgiving the person, then we know that forgiveness is sometimes unconditional (attitudinal) and not conditional (transactional). We are to be forgiving people. In fact, our forgiveness from God is dependent on our forgiving others (Mark 11:25). In this passage forgive is an imperative. Forgiveness is an issue of obedience; it is a choice. There is no mention of confrontation and repentance in this passage.

I believe forgiveness is both conditional and unconditional or transactional and attitudinal. The Bible says both. Ideally the offender admits his sin and seeks forgiveness. But if he doesn’t, I still love my enemies. I overcome evil with good. I cover his sin with love. What does that look like to the offender? It probably looks like forgiveness, right? [3]There’s great stuff on forgiveness in John MacArthur’s book, The Freedom and Power of Forgiveness, and Chris Braun’s book, Unpacking Forgiveness. Chris Braun says it’s only transactional. An … Continue reading 

References[+]

References
↑1 John MacArthur, The Freedom and Power of Forgiveness (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1998), 118, 119.
↑2 Walvoord, John F., Roy B. Zuck, and Dallas Theological Seminary. The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983-c1985.
↑3 There’s great stuff on forgiveness in John MacArthur’s book, The Freedom and Power of Forgiveness, and Chris Braun’s book, Unpacking Forgiveness. Chris Braun says it’s only transactional. An offender that never repents and asks for forgiveness can’t be forgiven. MacArthur says at times it’s attitudinal. You need to cultivate a forgiving spirit towards the offender even if he never admits his sin.
Posted on

How to Detect a Sham Gospel

I am preaching through 1 Timothy for the first time and I came across verse 11 of chapter 1.

…and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. (1 Tim 1:10b–11 ESV)

This might be heart of all false gospels–they elevate humanity and downplay Christ. False gospels say that you aren’t that bad. Yes, you fall short of your aspirations, but really, you’re not a terrible person. One person summarized it this way: 

“Deep down you’re okay; God accepts you just as you are. God smiles on you even if you don’t jump through any hoops. You have intrinsic worth. God accepts you, warts and all. You can relax, bask in His smile, and let the basically good, real you emerge.”[1]“God’s Love: Better Than Unconditional” in David Powlison, Seeing With New Eyes (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2003), 169.

That is popular and wrong. It is not the gospel, and it exalts humanity. And by doing so, they take some of the glory that belongs to God and shift it to humanity. They shift it to you. That’s every false gospel.

The gospel brings God glory. Maybe that seems simple to you, but it’s a significant truth. He is glorified by the message and by every person that believes it. If you are there when a person goes from darkness to light, you are witnessing God being glorified.

God saving you didn’t happen because you were so wonderful, and he couldn’t imagine heaven without you. He saved you because he is wonderful. God took the initiative in salvation. You were not able to save yourself. Your good works would never be enough. In fact, they really weren’t good works at all.

For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our wrongdoings, like the wind, take us away. (Isaiah 64:6 NASB 2020)

So you were a mess. I was a mess. We couldn’t save ourselves. The true gospel glorifies God, not us. It shows God’s love and holiness. It shows our sin. God is glorified.

False gospels, of which there are many, glorify man.

The social gospel has been around for over 130 years. Religious people that didn’t believe in miracles, the Resurrection, the divinity of Jesus, or that the Bible is God’s Word turned the focus to saving humanity now (e.g., labor laws, poverty, health, education, etc.). But by doing so they deemphasized sin, Jesus, hell, and God’s holiness.

They believed that humanity could save itself because man is basically good. The social gospel glorifies humanity. It is a false gospel. Certainly Jesus cared about the poor, but making a poor person wealthy without telling them how to be reconciled to God through Christ gives them a more comfortable road to hell.

The Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) was in the news this past week because they closed their office of Presbyterian World Mission and fired their remaining missionaries.[2] https://www.al.com/news/2025/04/presbyterian-church-usa-fires-missionaries-ends-mission-agency.html. The PCUSA is one of the mainline denominations that was completely compromised by religious liberalism about 100 years ago and has been on a slow decline ever since. The PCUSA has been teaching the social gospel for decades and decades. And at the end of March they gave up any pretense of foreign missions and closed their office. Why have foreign missions if you don’t believe people need Jesus Christ? People do need clean water, but they need Jesus more. They’ve been preaching a false, man-centered gospel for about a century.

The prosperity gospel has a more recent history but it is just as damning as any other false gospel. This is the belief that God intends us to be healthy and wealthy and the only obstacle to that is your lack of faith. If you just believe hard enough, you can be rich. It’s a false gospel. It glorifies you. How? Because your faith is what manipulates God into making you rich and healthy. You have faith in your faith, not faith in God. It’s faith in you, not God. And being rich is about your glory. Your wealth says that you’re something in the eyes of God. That glorifies you.

The gospel of works says that you can save yourself. You work hard enough. You can change yourself. You can get yourself to heaven. And who gets the glory and praise in that scenario? Why you do.

The Pope died over a week ago. What gospel did the Pope believe? Was it the true gospel? A few years ago he said this,

All religions are paths to God. I will use an analogy: they are like different languages that express the divine…There is only one God, and religions are like languages, paths to reach God. Some are Sikh, some Muslim, some Hindu, some Christian.[3] https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/sep/18/no-pope-francis-all-religions-arent-path-to-god/. Also in https://thecripplegate.com/what-will-jesus-say-to-pope-francis-on-judgment-day/

Is that the true gospel? Does that fit with John 14:6?

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6 NASB 2020)

The Pope was an incredibly religious person. One of his titles is the Vicar of Christ. Do very religious people go to heaven? Is that what the Bible says?

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ (Matt 7:21–23 NASB 2020)

I’ve quoted this passage at my church many times because this is such a stark warning from the lips of Jesus. The religious don’t get into heaven. It’s only those that repent and trust Jesus alone. The Pope preached the gospel of works; that is a sham gospel. Unless in his last few moments he repented, he is not in heaven.

Maybe that offends you. I mean how could I sit in judgment of the Pope? Paul is writing to Timothy because what you believe about the gospel is of incredible importance. It determines heaven or hell; life or death.

All false gospels are man-centered. The true gospel glorifies God and God only.

Does your gospel make you feel better about yourself or does it lead you to praise God?

References[+]

Posted on

“I Don’t Deserve This”

How do I know if I am self-righteous? I’m concerned with Christian counselees that are focused on their own good deeds, but don’t realize it. For this blog I’m defining self-righteousness as the belief that I have earned some favor with God through my behavior, character, thoughts, or deeds. So how would I know if I’m self-righteous? What would one symptom be?

There might be a few tests, but one is this: do you believe you don’t deserve your past or present suffering? Let me clarify. I’m not saying that if you were sinned against by another person, that you must agree that you deserved that from them. “Kraig, my friend betrayed me and stabbed me in the back. I didn’t do anything to them. I didn’t deserve that.” Yes, on a human scale—peer-to-peer—there are things that we don’t deserve. That happens all the time. A husband may yell at his family when it’s completely unprovoked. An employer may fire you just because he can and you didn’t deserve that. You could even be accused of a crime and go through the court system when you are not guilty.

But if you look at your past or present trials and believe that you don’t deserve them, then you are probably self-righteous. Here’s why I believe I can say that. In order to think that you don’t deserve what has been providentially brought into your life, you must believe also that you have lived in a way that deserves better from God. You are living by a spiritual formula that says good Christians don’t suffer the way you’re suffering. You’re a good Christian, so God owes you the easy, blessed life. God has disappointed you.

But that’s incorrect. What do each of us deserve because of our sin? We deserve hell. Isn’t anything less than hell—even suffering and trials—better than what we deserve? So God owes you nothing. And God has given you a lot! He’s already given you everything in Christ. You have all spiritual blessings in Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, Eph 1:3 (NASB95)

Any good, and I mean any good thing in your life has come from God.

Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. Jam 1:17 (NASB95)

So he’s given you a lot of good that you don’t deserve. You cannot plead that you don’t deserve this or that suffering.

Now maybe you object that King David seemed to plead with God in several psalms that he didn’t deserve what he was facing. It does seem that way. But I think we find that David pleads for God’s mercy. Mercy by definition is undeserved.

David pleaded God’s mercy after his adultery with Bathsheba. Of course this is David’s psalm of repentance so he was acknowledging his sin. He knew he didn’t deserve God’s mercy.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Psalm 51:1 (ESV)

But we see other examples of David pleading for mercy. David prayed for God’s mercy when he fled from Saul. He didn’t claim that he didn’t deserve this since he was God’s servant and therefore God should change his circumstances. No, he asked God for mercy.

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by. Psalm 57:1 (ESV)

In Psalm 86 David prays for God’s mercy.

But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth. Turn to me, and be gracious to me; Oh grant Your strength to Your servant, And save the son of Your handmaid. Psalm 86:15–16 (NASB95)

David seems to do both in this psalm: point out he deserves help and also pray for mercy.

Preserve my soul, for I am a godly man; O You my God, save Your servant who trusts in You. Be gracious to me, O Lord, For to You I cry all day long. Psalm 86:2–3 (NASB95)

So David claims he is a godly man, but he also asks God for grace. His godliness didn’t mean he was undeserving of his circumstances. He knew he needed God’s mercy, and he asked for it.

Jeremiah hoped in God’s mercy after describing his own suffering in poetic detail.

This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. Lam 3:21–23 (NASB95)

Can you ask God to end your trial? Of course you can. But we don’t demand anything from God as if we deserve better than what we’re facing. We cannot make that claim. Thankfully God is abundantly merciful, and it’s his mercy we plead when we pray, not our deserving better circumstances.

So if your regular thought has been how you deserve better than what you’ve experienced, maybe you’re self-righteous. At least consider that you might be. And if so, you should repent of your self-righteousness. It’s better to plead God’s mercy anyway. His compassions fail not Jeremiah tells us. His mercies are renewed every morning. And we can come confidently to him and ask for mercy. Confidently?! Yes, confidently!

Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Heb 4:16 (NASB95)
Posted on

Matchbox Cars, GI Joes, and Jesus

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us….

It’s an amazing truth. Jesus became human. The Word created the world, but He became part of our world. The incarnation is the enfleshment of the Word. Remaining what He always had been—God, He became what He never had been—human, ever so to remain—the God-man.

I played with Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars when I was a kid. We had a sandbox in our backyard and I remember carving out roads and tunnels and caves. It seemed so cool to me. And, as a boy would, I imagined what it would be like to actually live in my little sandbox world. It seemed cooler than the real world I actually lived in. After all, in my dreams I would be able to drive these Hot Wheels cars.

I also played with G.I. Joes—the full size one with a stubbly beard and a realistic facial scar. Oh, and for the record, they are not dolls; they are action figures. My brother and I would play in our basement with them. We strung string all over the basement imagining that our GI Joes could go hand over hand wherever they needed to go to fight. And again I imagined what it would be like to actually be a GI Joe. As a child it seemed pretty epic.

But I never entered either of those worlds. I was stuck with being human. I was always outside of those worlds I created.

Maturity helped me understand that entering those worlds would not have been good. For one, our sandbox world sometimes ended with plastic soldiers placed all over it and me and my friend throwing baseballs at them. The sandbox world got laid waste.

And for the GI Joes, they got lost, misplaced, or laid aside for years. Sometimes they lost arms—they always lost shirts and boots for some reason. On the coldest day in our basement, my GI Joe was shirtless.

In retrospect, it wouldn’t have been a good idea to enter those worlds. It was good to be above them, apart from them.

…and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Did you ever watch ants as a kid? Maybe you even had an ant farm where you could see them construct their vast tunnel structure underground. Maybe, like a lot of kids, you wished you could be an ant even if just for a day so you could crawl around their tunnels.

But entering that world isn’t a good idea either. Lots of ants get squashed by humans. Some get fried by the magnifying glass in the hand of a young boy in Green Bay, WI in the summer of 1980… just an example. No one in specific. 😉

What’s the distance between you and a Matchbox world? … What’s the distance between you and a GI Joe world? … What’s the distance between you and an ant world? It’s a pretty big distance, right? It sounds fun to experience for a 10-year old, but if you could actually do it, you wouldn’t. It would be so far beneath you. You wouldn’t become “enfleshed” in plastic to save your Hot Wheels from certain death from a baseball. You wouldn’t become an ant to lecture them on the benefits of capitalism or how democracy could change their world.

Why would God become human? It’s way more ridiculous than a boy becoming a GI Joe. I use ridiculous respectfully. It’s an outlandish idea. It’s preposterous. It’s so far beneath the God of the universe. He created this world; he wouldn’t enter it.

And yet exactly that is what we celebrate at Christmas. God the Son became human. The distance between you and an ant is finite. It’s a big distance, but it’s measurable. The distance between God and man is infinite. And God became man. Jesus was born in a stable—a world he created he came to rescue.

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. … No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. John 1:14, 18 (NASB95)
Posted on

Which Jesus at Christmas?

There are lots of wrong ways to think about Jesus at Christmas, aren’t there? There’s the sentimental Jesus. This is the view that the baby in the manger is just a nice story. We repeat it because it’s part of Christmas folklore. The Jesus story gives us warm feelings at Christmas time. Sentimental Jesus is very popular. He doesn’t ask anything of you, and he just gives good feelings. We feel warm and cozy thinking about sentimental Jesus.

There’s the view that Jesus was just a good man. He was better than most people and that’s why we celebrate His birth. We talk about Him on Christmas to motivate all of us to be better too. His story might help me think about others at Christmas. Good Jesus is popular too. Good Jesus is good by our definition of good. Good Jesus certainly wouldn’t call anyone a sinner. He wouldn’t demand your repentance. Good Jesus doesn’t judge anybody for his or her rebellion against God.

There’s the view that Jesus wasn’t a real, historical figure. His existence is a myth that grew up over the centuries. Oh there probably was a real person named Jesus, but we’ve mythologized Him—kind of like Paul Bunyan. Well, really, kind of like Santa Claus. Christians just tell some tall tales about Jesus—walking on water, healing the lepers. Those are the types of stories that are told about mythical characters. Mythical Jesus is just a story that we can take or leave. He wasn’t real, but it’s really harmless and even quaint that people still believe in Him.

Hopefully, Christians are not tempted to think of Jesus in those terms. But there’s another wrong way to think about Jesus that Christians are susceptible to. This is Sunday Jesus. Who’s Sunday Jesus you ask? It’s the belief that Jesus was real, but all He asks of us is our Sundays. We give Him a Sunday—and not even all of them. I think He’s fine with just a Sunday once in a while. It’s more of a courtesy, a tip so to speak. We give Him a Sunday and the rest of the week we’re on our own. Sunday Jesus doesn’t make a difference the rest of the week. We sing about Him on Sunday, but we’re on our own on Monday. Well, it’s not that we’re on our own, but that we can ignore Him on Monday.

Sunday Jesus is King in the same sense that most men are the “kings” of their houses. His wife and kids kind of wink and allow the man to pretend he’s in charge. We nod and wink and let Jesus pretend He’s in charge. “King of kings” is more of an honorary title than a real description of Jesus.

Sunday Jesus isn’t Lord either. He doesn’t really call the shots in our lives. Again, I’m giving Him some of my Sundays. If He’s Lord, it’s on those days. It’s not all the time. I determine His lordship, which means He’s not really in charge.

Sunday Jesus doesn’t demand that we become like Him. That’s more of a suggestion. When it works out, if you can without much effort or inconvenience follow His lead, then by all means do so. But only if the cost is low enough, only if it doesn’t disrupt your plans.

Really Sunday Jesus is a shriveled Jesus. He’s a shadow of the Jesus described in the Gospels. He’s a shadow of the Jesus described in the Christmas story.

Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Acts 2:36 (ESV)
On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. Rev 19:16 (ESV)

Are you worshipping Sunday Jesus or the real Jesus who is King and Lord and Savior?

Exit mobile version