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NASB | Luke 17:3 "Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Luke 17:3 "Pay attention and always be on guard [looking out for one another]! If your brother sins and disregards God's precepts, solemnly warn him; and if he repents and changes, forgive him. |
Bible Question: Yes, I agree with the "repent", "remorse".... I am suggesting that if a person does a bad act, apologises and repeats deliberately, 7 times in one day... I am required to forgive? lol, I must have expressed poorly. I was born a christian, and now atheist. But since our culture operates by biblical moral, it is necessary to know and understand it. And quite frankly, I can not follow it, if it leaves no room to not forgive. Some people are evil and learn biblical ways and play them like musical instrument. Those people really like this achilles heal on forgiveness.... Is this the same forgiveness that guy got his head crushed in, in the LA riots and forgave the guy who did it? Was he required to.... by any interpretation? Could he opt not to, even if the guy offered remorse? In Luke 17:4, it indicates that he had no choice if there was remorse. |
Bible Answer: Hi, Pete2! Jesus was not setting up a clause with which we can beat God over the head and gain eternal salvation while doing it! Jesus is teaching us, Christians, what the Father wants from us: 'You have heard how it was said, You will love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say this to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on the bad as well as the good, and sends down rain to fall on the upright and the wicked alike. For if you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even the tax collectors do as much? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Do not even the gentiles do as much? You must therefore be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.' (Matthew 5:43-48) Using a little artistic license we can visualize a brother/sister in the Faith sinning against us not once or twice a day, perhaps even more than seven times a day... do we stop forgiving at the seventh time, the eigth, the twentieth? And how many times should God forgive us for our own trespasses, once, twenty, fifty times per day? Who is to judge? Who's task would it be to set the limit on forgiveness? God did not!: 'Come, let us talk this over.' says Yahweh. 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they sahll be like wool. (Isaiah 1:18--view this in light of Ezekiel 18.) Then Peter went up to him and said, 'Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?' Jesus answered, 'Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times. (Matthew 18:21-22) As we can see from the above cited passages God's mercy knows no bounds and He commands that we imitate His mercy and generosity! It could be that one person may commit the same act over and over; but, as Christians, we are supposed to allow the Holy Spirit to guide us and the Spirit of God will convict us of our error. This does not mean that the person who was boastful cannot sin again mere seconds after asking for forgiveness--he/she could err by doing something else and not see the error of his/her ways until pointed out yet again! Jesus is quite adamant if we seek God's forgiveness (mercy and generosity) and we do not behave likewise with our fellow human beings, how can we expect to receive from God that which we deny to those around us?: And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us. (Matthew 6:12) 'And so the kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a king who decided to settle his accounts with his servants. When the reckoning began, they brought him a man who owed ten thousand talents; he had no means of paying, so his master gave orders that he should be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, to meet the debt. At this, the servant threw himself down at his master's feet, with the words, "Be patient with me and I will pay the whole sum." And the servant's master felt so sorry for him that he let him go and cancelled the debt. Now as this servant went out, he happened to meet a fellow-servant who owed him one hundred denarii; and he seized him by the throat and began to throttle him, saying "Pay what you owe me." His fellow-servant fell at this feet and appealed to him, saying, "Be patient with me and I will pay you." But the other would not agree; on the contrary, he had him thrown into prison till he should pay the debt. His fellow-servants were deeply distressed when they saw what had happened, and they sent to their master and reported the whole affair to him. Then the master sent for the man and said to him, "You wicked servant, I cancelled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me. Were you not bound, then, to have pity on your fellow-servant just as I had pity on you?" And in his anger the master handed him over to the torturers till he should pay all his debt. And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart.' (Matthew 18:23-35) We may choose to set a limit on forgiving our fellow man, but we are forewarned: "...the standard you use will be the standard used for you.' (Luke 6:38) God Bless! Angel |