{"id":2932,"date":"2019-07-17T10:38:34","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T09:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.manual4life.org\/en\/?p=2932"},"modified":"2019-07-17T10:40:43","modified_gmt":"2019-07-17T09:40:43","slug":"forgiveness-basic-principles-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/delevensschool.org\/en\/forgiveness-basic-principles-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Forgiveness – basic principles 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few basic principles about forgiveness are developed further in this new study, which is a sequel to the studies \u2018To forgive – word study\u2019<\/span><\/a> and \u2018Forgiving in practice\u2019<\/span><\/a>.
\nElements from the previous studies may be referred to in this study, without further mention.<\/p>\n

Basis principle 1: Relationship between God and man.<\/span><\/h3>\n

God knew that man, created with a free will, would make wrong choices.
\nThis is why He does not cast man away because of sin, for:<\/p>\n

Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But that is not what God desires; rather, he devises ways so that a banished person does not remain banished from him.\u00a0\u00a0 (2 Samuel 14:14)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He already demonstrated this with Adam and Eve, in paradise.
\nThey had become frightened of Him because, after eating the forbidden fruit, they had discovered that they were naked.
\nGod did not condemn them, however, and He proved this by clothing them with an animal skin, thus hiding their nakedness. (Genesis 3:8 et seq.)
\nThis did not mean that their disobedience was without consequences \u2013 both for them and for the whole of creation, because their sin had brought about a definitive separation in the relationship between God and man.<\/p>\n

In order to prevent man from remaining separated from Him, God, who is love, provided an \u2018exit\u2019, so that the relationship<\/strong> with Him could be restored<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This was fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ, as Paul writes:<\/p>\n

He (God) chose<\/strong> us in him (Jesus Christ) before the creation of the world<\/strong> to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love.
\n(Ephesians 1:4)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Or, as the well-known text in the Gospel according to John states:<\/p>\n

For God so loved<\/strong> the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish<\/strong> but have eternal life.\u00a0\u00a0 (John 3:16)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And Paul writes:<\/p>\n

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem<\/strong> those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.\u00a0\u00a0 (Galatians 4:4-5)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For:<\/p>\n

God demonstrates his own love<\/strong> for us in this: While we were still sinners<\/strong>, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood<\/strong>, how much more shall we be saved from God\u2019s wrath through him! For if, while we<\/strong> were God\u2019s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son<\/strong>, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0 (Romans 5:8-11)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ<\/strong> and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting<\/strong> people\u2019s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ\u2019s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ\u2019s behalf: Be reconciled to God<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0 (2 Corinthians 5:18-20)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What does this mean?<\/span><\/strong>
\nBecause God is thrice holy<\/span><\/a>, no one who sins can remain in His presence.
\nThis is why Satan and the angels who were unfaithful were banned from heaven and why natural, sinful man is also unable to enter into Gods presence after his earthly life.<\/p>\n

However, because God created man specifically to live in a relationship<\/strong> with him, He does not want access to heaven to be definitively denied to him.
\nBased on this desire God has determined a way, \u201cso that a banished person does not remain banished from him.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 (2 Samuel 14:14)<\/em><\/p>\n

In the sacrifice of Jesus Christ God gives man, in complete freedom, the possibility of entering into a relationship with Him.
\nThe apostle\u00a0 Paul writes to those who accept forgiveness of their sins through faith in Jesus Christ:<\/p>\n

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0 (Ephesians 2:13)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

God wipes the sponge over the past for everyone who realises that he\/she is unable to progress further in life and asks Jesus Christ to rescue him from his situation.
\nThis is illustrated by the sacrifice for sin offered on the Great Day of Atonement<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Man is thus set free from the sins of the past, through faith in Jesus Christ<\/strong>. In this way those who were far away from God come near to Him, because through the forgiveness of sins they are raised by God to new (spiritual) life.<\/p>\n

Paul writes:<\/p>\n

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!\u00a0\u00a0 (2 Corinthians 5:17)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The question is, whether the believer who has been raised to new spiritual life, reconciles himself to God as well.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Expressed otherwise:<\/strong>
\n Whether he\/she is prepared to accept God as Father, living according to His will as He has had it recorded in the Bible.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For:<\/p>\n

To all who did receive him (Jesus), to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children<\/strong> of God \u2014children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband\u2019s will, but born (better: conceived<\/a><\/span>) of God.\u00a0\u00a0 (John 1:12-13)<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In fact, one is not automatically<\/strong> a child of God at conversion through faith in Jesus Christ, but one has received the right (the authority) to be adopted by God as His child.
\nThis is tantamount to saying<\/strong>: that a believer desires to submit himself<\/span><\/a> to the rule and the authority of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

When a believer makes this decision and thereby hands over the authority over his\/her life to Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit pours out the love of God into his heart:<\/p>\n

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship<\/strong>. And by him we cry, \u201cAbba, Father.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>(Romans 8:15)
\n(A desire that God had already expressed 600 years earlier: see Jeremiah 3:19.
\nCrying Abba\/papa<\/strong>: presupposes an intimate relationship between a child and its father.)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That Spirit causes a disciple to reconcile himself to God, as Father<\/strong> and go on to desire to live in obedience, according to His teaching, depending on Jesus Christ<\/span><\/a> as the Good Shepherd.<\/p>\n

Consider the parable of the prodigal son in this respect (Luke 15), how the youngest son considers his father as having died, claims his inheritance and departs abroad. Then, when he is totally impoverished, he decides to return, to dare to look his father in the eye and to reconcile himself to him<\/strong>, being willing to submit to him and to serve him as a servant<\/strong> (as a slave).
\nWhen he arrived home, however, he was once again accepted by the father as his child<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

If he had not made the decision to submit<\/strong> to his father, he would have died of hunger and his father, who all the time remained ready to take him back again into the family, would have been unable to do anything for him.<\/p>\n

Summary:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n