“Basic Christianity, Part 56” by Romans
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We are continuing in our Series, “Basic Christianity.” Tonight, we are continuing in the review and examination of our Christian walk, as a facet of Basic Christianity. We are going to continue our acrostic review of the phrase, “By Growing in Grace,” in regard to our following in the steps of Christ. We have individually reviewed and examined all of the letters in that phrase. Last week was Part Two for the letter “E” in the word, “Grace.”
So, from Torrey's Bible Dictionary's, from their article: “The Example of Christ.” we covered the Examples Jesus left for us to follow: Holiness, Love and Humility, and Obedience unto death, Meekness, Self-Denial, Taking Up Our Own Cross, and Bearing One Another's Burdens, and last week's Ministering to Others. Tonight, we'll continue to review and examine the many Examples Jesus left for us, as listed in Torrey's List, the verses related to them, and I will share some Commentaries on those verses.
Tonight, we will look at an Example Jesus left for us that is absolutely critical to Basic Christianity, namely, Forgiving Injuries. There were several times during Jesus' ministry when He forgave the sins of those just before healing them. When He got the attention of His detractors, He said, “But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house” (Matthew 9:16).
Jesus' Example for us to follow, that I want to zero in on, tonight, is His forgiveness of those who, after He was mercilessly scourged, and while He was nailed to the cross, and was dying in agony, He said, interceding for those who were now celebrating His agony: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
Of this Matthew Henry writes, “Christ's prayer for his enemies: Father, forgive them. Seven remarkable words Christ spoke after he was nailed to the cross, and before he died, and this is the first. One reason why he died the death of the cross was that he might have liberty of speech to the last, and so might glorify his Father and edify those about him. As soon as ever he was fastened to the cross, or while they were nailing him, he prayed this prayer, in which observe,
(1.) The petition: Father, forgive them. One would think that he should have prayed, “Father, consume them; the Lord look upon it, and requite it.” The sin they were now guilty of might justly have been made unpardonable, and justly might they have been excepted by name out of the act of indemnity. No, these are particularly prayed for.
Now he made intercession for transgressors, as was foretold (Isaiah 53:12), and it is to be added to his prayer (in John 17), to complete the specimen he gave of his intercession within the veil: that for saints, this for sinners. Now the sayings of Christ upon the cross as well as his sufferings had a further intention than they seemed to have.
This was a mediatorial word, and explicatory of the intent and meaning of his death: “Father, forgive them, not only these, but all that shall repent, and believe the gospel;” and he did not intend that these should be forgiven upon any other terms. “Father, that which I am now suffering and dying for is in order to this, that poor sinners may be pardoned.”
Note, [1.] The great thing which Christ died to purchase and procure for us is the forgiveness of sin. [2.] This is that for which Christ intercedes for all that repent and believe in the virtue of his satisfaction; his blood speaks this: Father, forgive them. [3.] The greatest sinners may, through Christ, upon their repentance, hope to find mercy. Though they were his persecutors and murderers, he prayed, Father, forgive them.
(2.) The plea: For they know not what they do; for, if they had known, they would not have crucified him, (1Corinthians 2:8). There was a veil upon his glory and upon their understandings; and how could they see through two veils? They wished his blood on them and their children: but, had they known what they did, they would have unwished it again.
Note, [1.] The crucifiers of Christ know not what they do. They that speak ill or religion speak ill of that which they know not, and it is because they will not know it. [2.] There is a kind of ignorance that does in part excuse sin: ignorance through want of the means of knowledge or of a capacity to receive instruction, through the infelicities of education, or inadvertency.
The crucifiers of Christ were kept in ignorance by their rulers, and had prejudices against him instilled into them, so that in what they did against Christ and his doctrine they thought they did God service, (see John 16:2). Such as to be pitied and prayed for. This prayer of Christ was answered not long after, when many of those that had a hand in his death were converted by Peter's preaching.
This is written also for example to us. First, We must in prayer call God Father, and come to him with reverence and confidence, as children to a father. Secondly, The great thing we must beg of God, both for ourselves and others, is the forgiveness of sins.
Thirdly, We must pray for our enemies, and those that hate and persecute us, must extenuate their offences, and not aggravate them as we must our own (They know not what they do; peradventure it was an oversight); and we must be earnest with God in prayer for the forgiveness of their sins, their sins against us.
This is Christ's example to his own rule (Matthew 5:44-45), Love your enemies); and it very much strengthens the rule, for, if Christ loved and prayed for such enemies, what enemies can we have that we are not obliged to love and pray for?” This This is worthy of repeating: “... if Christ loved and prayed for such enemies, what enemies can we have that we are not obliged to love and pray for?”
Of Jesus forgiving the jeering mob gathered at the cross, Alexander MacClaren adds, “It is very significantly set in the centre of the paragraph (vs. 33-38) which recounts the heartless cruelty and mockery of soldiers and rulers. Surrounded by that whirlwind of abuse, contempt and ferocious glee at His sufferings, He gave back no taunt, nor uttered any cry of pain, nor was moved to the faintest anger, but let His heart go out in pity for all who took part in that wicked tragedy;
and, while ‘He opened not His mouth’ in complaint or reviling, He did open it in intercession. But the wonderful prayer smote no heart with compunction, and, after it, the storm of mocking and savage triumph hurtled on as before. Luke gathers all the details together in summary fashion, and piles them on one another without enlarging on any. The effect produced is like that of a succession of breakers beating on some lonely rock, or of blows struck by a battering-ram on a fortress.
‘They crucified Him,’-there is no need to say who ‘they’ were. Others than the soldiers, who did the work, did the deed. Contempt gave Him two malefactors for companions and hung the King of the Jews in the place of honour in the midst. Did John remember what his brother and he had asked?
Matter-of-fact indifference as to a piece of military duty, and shameless greed, impelled the legionaries to cast lots for the clothes stripped from a living man. What did the crucifying of another Jew or two matter to them? Gaping curiosity, and the strange love of the horrible, so strong in the vulgar mind, led the people, who had been shouting Hosanna! less than a week ago, to stand gazing on the sight without pity but in a few hearts.
The bitter hatred of the rulers, and their inhuman glee at getting rid of a heretic, gave them bad preeminence in sin. Their scoff acknowledged that He had ‘saved others,’ and their hate had so blinded their eyes that they could not see how manifestly His refusal to use His power to save Himself proved Him the Son of God.
He could not save Himself, just because He would save these scoffing Rabbis and all the world. The rough soldiers knew little about Him, but they followed suit, and thought it an excellent jest to bring the ‘vinegar,’ provided in kindness, to Jesus with a mockery of reverence as to a king. The gibe was double-barrelled, like the inscription over the Cross; for it was meant to hit both this Pretender to royalty and His alleged subjects.
And to all this Christ’s sole answer was the ever-memorable prayer. One of the women who bravely stood at the Cross must have caught the perhaps low-voiced supplication, and it breathed so much of the aspect of Christ’s character in which Luke especially delights that he could not leave it out. It opens many large questions which cannot be dealt with here.
All sin has in it an element of ignorance, but it is not wholly ignorance as some modern teachers affirm. If the ignorance were complete, the sin would be nonexistent. The persons covered by the ample folds of this prayer were ignorant in very different degrees, and had had very different opportunities of changing ignorance for knowledge. The soldiers and the rulers were in different positions in that respect.
But none were so entirely blind that they had no sin, and none were so entirely seeing that they were beyond the reach of Christ’s pity or the power of His intercession. In that prayer we learn, not only His infinite forgivingness for insults and unbelief levelled at Himself, but His exaltation as the Intercessor, whom the Father heareth always. The dying Christ prayed for His enemies; the glorified Christ lives to make intercession for us.”
As we apply this to an Example we are to follow, let's look, first, at a phrase that I think I am safe to say that we all know, and that we have all spoken in our prayers. It is found in The Lord's Prayer, the pattern for prayer that Jesus taught us, as His followers, to pray: “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). Notice: The phrase is “AND forgive us...”
I think it is very important to note that immediately before we pray for forgiveness, Jesus has us pray, “Give us this day our daily bread. AND And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:11-12). Jesus has us asking for our DAILY bread because we need to eat on a daily basis. But He links that daily need, using the conjunction “And” to our daily need to be forgiven. We eat every day, we sin every day, and we need to be forgiven every day for those sins.
I urge you to not read over the fact that Jesus links the forgiveness that the Father is willing to give with the forgiveness that we apply to the offenses and injuries committed against us by our fellow man. In the ESV, Jesus phrased this petition: “... and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” The forgiveness we provide is an assumed prerequisite to our being forgiven.
I am greatly concerned when I think about how many people do not realize the obligation that we have to forgive those who offend us, who injure us, who insult and abuse us, and who go out of their way to make our lives miserable. They might be spouses, parents, children, relatives, neighbors, teachers, bosses, co-workers, or complete strangers. Whoever they are, offenses will come!
Jesus said in no uncertain terms, “It is impossible but that offences will come” (Luke 17:1). And not “if” but when they come, we have to be willing to forgive those offenses, even when they are done repeatedly! Peter asked Jesus: “Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:21-22). Jesus would have us repeatedly and without limitation forgive those who sin against us, as He forgives without number or maximum our daily sins and offenses.
The Sermon Bible says regarding tonight's key phrase in The Lord's Prayer that we ask to be forgiven AS we forgive: “Self-examination may become morbid, and produce nothing but torture and despondency. Let us not, however, overlook the necessity of systematic, or rather active self-examination, as the condition of thoughtful confession. It is evident that the commencement of Christian life is absolutely impossible without some knowledge of self.
To seek pardon, we must know our sin; to pray for renewal, we must know the evil of our heart. Why is self-knowledge so difficult? The great difficulty in the work is, that we do not like our vanity to be wounded, our pride to be brought low; the more skill we obtain in examining our heart and life, the deeper will our humiliation be. Self-love blinds us, and sin brings with it the darkening atmosphere to hide it from our eyes.
II. True, candid, and full confession depends chiefly on our realizing the Divine presence—the presence of a forgiving and loving God. The very petition which we are now considering is the greatest help to self-examination. Our relation to our fellowmen and to those that trespass against us is the chief test of our actual condition before God. If our hearts are humble and loving towards God, our attitude to our neighbour will be kind and forgiving.
He who feels his sin and unworthiness is able to bear the unjust opinion and the severe criticism of men; without bitterness he will endeavour to profit by every humiliating experience. He who rejoices in God and praises Him for His goodness and patience will be cheerful, long-suffering, and hopeful in his dealings with others.
If we know God, and if the countenance of Christ is our study, we shall be able not merely to praise the dead and to build the graves of the prophets, as the Pharisees were wont to do, but to help and comfort the disciples as we have opportunity. A. Saphir, Lectures on the Lord’s Prayer; p. 314.”
Matthew Henry says of this: “A petition; Father in heaven forgive us our debts, our debts to thee. Note, [1.] Our sins are our debts; there is a debt of duty, which, as creatures, we owe to our Creator; we do not pray to be discharged from that, but upon the non-payment of that there arises a debt of punishment; in default of obedience to the will of God, we become obnoxious to the wrath of God; and for not observing the precept of the law, we stand obliged to the penalty.
A debtor is liable to process, so are we; a malefactor is a debtor to the law, so are we. [2.] Our hearts' desire and prayer to our heavenly Father every day should be, that he would forgive us our debts; that the obligation to punishment may be cancelled and vacated, that we may not come into condemnation; that we may be discharged, and have the comfort of it.
In suing out the pardon of our sins, the great plea we have to rely upon is the satisfaction that was made to the justice of God for the sin of man, by the dying of the Lord Jesus our Surety, or rather Bail to the action, that undertook our discharge.
(2.) An argument to enforce this petition; as we forgive our debtors. This is not a plea of merit, but a plea of grace. Note, Those that come to God for the forgiveness of their sins against him, must make conscience of forgiving those who have offended them, else they curse themselves when they say the Lord's prayer.
Our duty is to forgive our debtors; as to debts of money, we must not be rigorous and severe in exacting them from those that cannot pay them without ruining themselves and their families; but this means debt of injury; our debtors are those that trespass against us, that smite us (Matthew 5:39-40), and in strictness of law, might be prosecuted for it;
we must forbear, and forgive, and forget the affronts put upon us, and the wrongs done us; and this is a moral qualification for pardon and peace; it encourages to hope, that God will forgive us; for if there be in us this gracious disposition, it is wrought of God, and therefore is a perfection eminently and transcendently in himself; it will be an evidence to us that he has forgiven us, having wrought in us the condition of forgiveness.”
After concluding The Lord's Prayer, and just to make sure no one missed it, Jesus adds, “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15).
Albert Barnes says of this: “This is constantly required in the Bible.” And forgive us our debts ... - The word “debts” is used here figuratively. It does not mean “literally” that we are “debtors to God,” but that our sins have a resemblance to debts. Debtors are those who are bound to others for some claim in commercial transactions; for something which we have had, and for which we are bound to pay according to contract.
“Literally” there can be no such transaction between God and us. It must be used figuratively. We have not met the claims of law. We have violated its obligations. We are exposed to its penalty. We are guilty, and God only can forgive, in the same way as none but a “creditor” can forgive a debtor.
The word “debts” here, therefore, means “sins,” or offences against God - offences which none but God can forgive. In the parallel place in Luke 11:4, the word sins is used. The measure by which we may expect forgiveness is that which we use in reference to others See Psalm 18:25-26; Mattew 18:23; Mark 11:26; Luke 11:4).
This is the invariable rule by which God dispenses pardon He that comes before him unwilling to forgive, harboring dark and revengeful thoughts, how can he expect that God will show him that mercy which he is unwilling to show to others? It is not, however, required that we should forgive “debts” in a pecuniary sense.
To them we have a right, though they should not be pushed with an overbearing and oppressive spirit; not so as to sacrifice the feelings of mercy in order to secure the claims of justice. No one has a right to oppress; and when a debt cannot be paid, or when it would greatly distress a debtor’s wife and children, or a widow and an orphan, or when calamity has put it out of the power of an honest man to pay the debt, the spirit of Christianity requires that it should be forgiven.
To such cases this petition in the Lord’s prayer doubtless extends. But it was probably intended to refer principally to injuries of character or person which we have received from others. If we cannot from the heart forgive them, we have the assurance that God will never forgive us.
Our Saviour says we should forgive even if the offence be committed seventy times seven times. By this is meant, that when a man asks forgiveness, we are cordially and forever to pardon the offence; we are to declare our willingness to forgive him. If he does not ask forgiveness, yet we are still to treat him kindly;
not to harbor malice, not to speak ill of him, to be ready to do him good, and be always prepared to declare him forgiven when he asks it, and if we are not ready and willing to forgive him; we are assured that God will not forgive us.”
The Apostle Paul reminds his Colossian readers and us, “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye” (Colossians 3:12-13).
The Preacher's Homiletical says of this: “It is not enough that the old man—the sinful principle—is suppressed, mortified, deadened; all the graces of the new man—the new spiritual nature—must be assumed and sedulously cultivated. Religion is not a dry, sapless, dead negation, but a grand positive reality—an active, ever-growing life, pushing its way through every channel of man’s nature, and fashioning his character after the loftiest pattern of moral loveliness and purity.
The change the Colossians had experienced furnished the most forcible reason why they should advance in spiritual development. Having risen with Christ, and having put off the old man, with his deeds, there is an unmistakable emphasis in the exhortation—Put on, therefore, the characteristics of the new man.
I. Christian character is distinguished by a heartfelt sympathy.—1. This sympathy arises from a spirit of tender mercy. “Bowels of mercies” (Colossians 3:12)—a phrase which expresses the effect on the body of strong emotions of pity. It was said of Joseph that “his bowels did yearn over his brethren, and he sought where to weep.”
The miseries of our fellow-creatures, especially of those who are in a worse condition than ourselves, call for our compassion and help; and a genuine pity is not only visible in the countenance and uttered by the lips, but felt in the inmost heart, and prompts to generous actions.
2. This sympathy arises from a spirit of kindness.—“Kindness” refers to the temper we should show towards those we meet in the daily intercourse of life who are on an equality with ourselves. The Christian should be amiable, courteous, kind in speech and action, eager to relieve others according to his means—the farthest remove from a crabbed, sullen, churlish disposition. A hard, cold, selfish, unfeeling heart is a characteristic of fallen, unrewed man; bowels of mercies and kindness of the renewed one.
II. Christian character is distinguished by a genuine humility.—“Humbleness of mind” (Colossians 3:12). These words describe the estimate that is to be formed of self. The believer is taught not to overrate nor unduly to depreciate himself. He is governed by the apostolic rule, “Let each esteem other better than themselves.”
The more exalted his views of God, and the more he remembers his own unworthiness, weakness, ignorance, and sin, the more softly and lowly does he seek to walk. As in the garden that branch hangs down the lowest which is most heavily laden with fruit, so in the Church the ripest saints are those who walk humbly with God.
The humble man is the most susceptible to compassion and genuine in its practical manifestation. The proud man is too full of himself to feel for others; he is always dissatisfied, always embroiling in quarrels the family, the Church, the social circle where he resides. The humblest man is the bravest man. He endures with composure the contempt and arrogance of others.
III. Christian character is distinguished by a gentle and patient spirit.—“Meekness, longsuffering” (Colossians 3:12). 1. The Christian spirit is gentle.—“Meekness.” This grace indicates what should be our conduct towards others in their treatment of us. Meekness is evidenced in modesty of countenance, gentleness of manner, softness of voice, and mildness of language; it is opposed to rudeness or harshness. It is slow to take, and scorns to give, offence.
2. The Christian spirit is patient.—“Longsuffering,” which is meekness continued, though subjected to the fiercest provocations. It is opposed to resentment, revenge, wrath. Meekness exercises itself in matters of chagrin, impertinence, folly; longsuffering in those of violent outrage, affront, injury. Meekness may be required by the mere manner of others towards us; longsuffering is often necessary by their conduct.
There is a difference between enduring long and longsuffering. The genuine grace is accompanied, not only with patience, but with joyous activity and watchfulness. It is not like the senseless rock which endures the full force of the storm unmoved and unresponsive, but like the nimble vessel that, while it bends to the tempest, is at the same time diligently speeding on its mission.
IV. Christian character is distinguished by a practical manifestation of a spirit of mutual forbearance and forgiveness.—1. Mutual forbearance and forgiveness are to be exercised universally. “Forbearing one another and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any” (Colossians 3:13). The word “quarrel” is better rendered complaint. It takes two to make a quarrel, and of these the Christian should never be one.
Whatever occasion of offence may arise, whatever cause of complaint, in any man, under any circumstances, and however just the complaint may appear, forbearance is to be exercised; and even if the forbearance is abused and injury be added, we must forgive.
It is never on one side only that the fault exists. It is one another, each in his turn, that gives and receives forbearance. If this were more frequently observed, how many unseemly discords and mischievous separations would be prevented!
2. The exercise of forgiveness is enforced by the highest example.—“Even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye” (Colossians 3:13). These words come as an impressive climax, enforcing the duty of forgiveness by the strongest motive. The more difficult the duty, the more powerful should be the arguments urging its performance.
What are the injuries committed by others against us compared with the number and enormity of our sins against God? Yet Christ forgave us all, freely, fully, unreservedly, and for ever. The heart that is not moved to forgiveness by such an example is hopelessly incorrigible. The example of Christ is supreme in its authority.”
Jesus' Example of forgiveness that we reviewed and examined, tonight, is absolutely critical to our Salvation. We can forgive our enemies, and all those who offend us and sin against us, but only by and through the indwelling empowerment of God's Holy Spirit. That is how we can apply and live Jesus' words to all the first disciples He called 2,000 years ago, and to all of us and each of us, today: “Follow Me.”
This concludes this evening's Discussion, “Basic Christianity, Part 56.”
This Discussion was originally presented “live” on October 27th, 2021
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