I found this article by John Fenn of CWOWI to be very insightful.
Perhaps the single largest doctrinal error in Christian culture today revolves around the concept of forgiveness. What Jesus taught within the context of Jewish culture and Old Testament law is completely twisted by the modern church.
Paul stated in Ephesians 2:1: “And you has He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” Trespasses AND sins. They are not the same.
A trespass is one person sinning against another. It is horizontal, person to person, and deals with injury. A sin is against God, it is vertical and deals with the guilt.
Our inner demand for justice is built around the injury. They did wrong, we want them caught. We want to hold them accountable. Church culture says ‘forgive them’ which takes care of the guilt, but it doesn’t address the injury they inflicted on us. That is our conflict. We will forgive, but we want an apology. We want them to admit what they did. We want them to make it right.
Our inner demand for justice agrees with the Law of the Trespass. Everything Jesus and Paul taught on the subject is based on the Law of the Trespass.
Law of the Trespass: Leviticus 6: 1-7
“If anyone is unfaithful to the Lord by making a trespass against his neighbor in something entrusted to him, or something left in their care or something stolen, of if they cheat their neighbor, or find something lost and then lie about it or not return it. If they sin in these ways and realize their guilt…
“They must return what they stole or got by deceit or lying. They must return the lost property they found to their neighbor, and in anything like this that they lied about or did to their neighbor, AND add 20% of the value when they return it to the person they trespassed against.
“Then they (with the other person) will take all this to the priest who will make a sacrifice for them, and they will be forgiven of these trespasses.”
Notice they have to make it right with the person they trespassed against BEFORE they can be forgiven by God for that trespass.
That doesn’t threaten their salvation for the law is specific to each particular trespass. It means if they keep that which was stolen, or they never admit to the person they lied about something, or any trespass, and they never reconcile by admitting their trespass, when they stand before the Lord they will be held accountable.
The victim may forgive them, but they haven’t done what is right to be forgiven by God, which is to apologize to the person they trespassed again. For that trespass they will be held accountable by Him.
What does this look like in modern times?
How do you add 20% interest in our day? In their day, if someone found a lost leather coat that was worth $500, they would have to return the coat and add 20% or $100, and give the person they trespassed against the $100 and the coat, THEN go to the priest to receive God’s forgiveness.
Today, if we trespassed against someone and wanted to make it right, we would apologize to them, then that “20%” could be taking them to lunch, or meeting them for tea or coffee which you pay for. It could be sending a card or note after you reconciled, just to be sure all is right between you once again. That 20% would be doing something just to be sure you two are okay again.
BUT….If a person keeps the found coat instead of returning it, they become guilty of that sin of stealing before God. They won’t go to hell, but they will be held accountable for stealing.
Jesus spoke of the Law of the Trespass in Matthew 5: 25-26: “Agree with your adversary (the person you trespassed against) quickly while you are on the way with them. Or they might deliver you to the judge, who will turn you over to the officer and from there to prison. I tell you the truth, you won’t come out from there until you’ve paid every penny you owe.”
Christians have misunderstood this for years, thinking this is heaven or hell. It is not. It is simply an exhortation to reconcile with the person you trespassed against, for if you do not, you will be charged with theft, fined the 20% and sent to prison. That was the custom in that day.
The larger passage is about anger without cause, and ‘leave your gift at the altar and go and be reconciled to your brother.’ It’s about being willing to make it right when you’ve trespassed against someone.
This is the big one
Mark 11: 25-26: “And when you stand praying, forgive if you have something against another so that your Father in heaven may forgive your trespasses. But if you don’t forgive (their trespasses against you) neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
This is not heaven or hell, this is the Law of the Trespass. First, forgiveness is a decision, not an emotion. It is a decision to forgive that person who injured us. You don’t have to feel good about them or what happened for you were injured. They remain guilty before God unless they come to you and reconcile.
That said, both Jesus and Steven asked the Father NOT to charge their executioners of their trespass of murdering each. We have that option of asking the Father to forgive them anyway, even if they don’t account for their injury to us or seek reconciliation.
Jesus said at His resurrection: “Whosoever sins you forgive, they are forgiven. Whosoever sins you retain, they are retained.” We are given the authority to use His name against demons, to use His name to lay hands on the sick. We can come before the Father in His name to seek mercy and grace to help in time of need. We can also ask the Father to forgive a person’s trespass even if they don’t reconcile first with us and add that 20%. OR…we can ask Him to deal with them.
Paul in II Timothy 4: 14-16: In v16 he says when he was first indicted in Roman court none of his friends went with him to court, and he said: “I pray God that it won’t be laid to their account.”
But just before, in v14 he wrote this: “Alexander the Coppersmith did me much harm. The Lord will reward him according to what he did.”
In the case of Alexander the Coppersmith, Paul chose not to release him from the injury he did to Paul. I’m sure Paul forgave him the guilt, but he didn’t release him from the harm he did to Paul. Paul chose to let the Lord deal with him. That meant if Alexander never repented, he would stand before the Lord to give account on that harm of which Paul wrote.
There are some people who will not apologize for the injury they did to us, and we forgive them vertically, but we want them to face the consequences of their action. That is what Paul did – let the Lord deal with Alexander the Coppersmith. That isn’t unforgiveness. It is forgiving them vertically, but because they won’t do what is right horizontally, we release them into the Lord’s hands and go about our business.
The link to the article is here.
