Forgiveness

“If we confess our sins,” writes John (1 John 1.9), “God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

But do we need to confess our sins – be repentant – before God will forgive us? Jesus taught us to pray, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” (Matthew 6.12) The precondition to God forgiving us is not that we confess our sins but that we forgive others. Jesus emphasises this point in the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18.23-35), where the King cancels a servant’s debt simply because the servant has no way of paying it back. But then the servant goes out and refuses to cancel a miniscule debt that a fellow servant owes him – and as a result the King un-cancels the debt the first servant owes to him, and throws him into prison. Confession and repentance aren’t even mentioned in the parable.

Jesus went about forgiving sin – whether or not the sinner repented. For example the man who was let down through a hole in the roof (Mark 2.1-12). The first thing Jesus did was forgive his sin. The man had not even been given an opportunity to confess his sin.

Another example: the parable of the lost son. The Father didn’t even give his son an opportunity to make his penitent speech – it didn’t matter to him (Luke 15.21-22). He was forgiven, whether or not he was penitent.

And then there’s Jesus’ own prayer: “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.” (Luke 23.34) Did God answer this prayer? Those who hammered the nails into his wrists didn’t repent. The Jewish leaders who condemned him to death had no desire to “confess their sins”. But Jesus forgave them.

If God just forgives everyone whether they ask for it or not, whether they want it or not, we have universalism: everyone will wind up in heaven. But it’s unlikely that people would be forced into heaven who have no desire to be there. On the other hand (as Dallas Willard writes) God is unlikely to turn away from heaven anyone who would sincerely like to be there. Heaven is a place of grace, of forgiveness. Those who prefer ungrace, unforgiveness would not feel at home there. Perhaps that’s the general principle of who winds up in heaven – like the parable of the unforgiving servant: those who choose unforgiveness wind up in the place of unforgiveness while those who choose forgiveness wind up in the place of grace and forgiveness. By choosing forgiveness I am choosing to forgive those who sin against me. By choosing unforgiveness I am choosing to not forgive those who sin against me.