Is Forgiveness Among Christian Brothers Conditional?

[Ddavid from NC]

Many passages taken at face value seem to command us to forgive freely and openly without requirement? Some passages like Matthew 18 however seem to suggest that confrontation and a willingness to see their error means we grant forgiveness when they see their need. What is your take on forgiveness, is it conditional or unconditional among the body of Christ?

[wyguy]

I think the measure of personal forgiveness depends on each individual situation.

[Fez]

It is a command, with no conditions attached as far as I see...

Mat 6:14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,

Mat 6:15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Seems simple?

Because Mathew 18 ends with this

Mat 18:35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart."

Again, it is a command, with no conditions attached, regardless of the parable Jesus uses as the example. The parable actually leads to the above scripture.

It means that you choose to forgive by saying "I forgive you, you hurt me, but I choose to forgive you and will never mention or use your offense against you in any way, ever"

It does not mean, "I forgive you, and that means you have license to hurt me in the same way again, and again, while I forgive you again and again".

[Littlelambseativy]

For your own mental health and heart I say forgive before they ask. You may not have to tell them anything but in your own mind and heart forgive. Jesus did not tell all those individually who spit, smote and crucified Him that the Father forgive them. But He forgave them.

Just so the forgiveness is more for you than for the other person.

[nebula]

One thing to note -

Forgiveness does not negate the offender to suffer the consequences.

The Lord forgave David, yet He still punished David for what he had done - although a different punishment than what he deserved.

[Fez]

Some of you know that I am going through a rough patch at the moment, and it all stems from a combination of work factors.

One of my staff members, who has worked for me for 10 years and I trusted implicitly, let me down so badly that it has cost us $1000

[Ddavid from NC]

One thing to note -

Forgiveness does not negate the offender to suffer the consequences.

The Lord forgave David, yet He still punished David for what he had done - although a different punishment than what he deserved.

She is talking about King David...but I guess she could be talking about me too

[nebula]

On Scripture, someone who stole had to repay something like three times what they stole. Jesus even said when you offer a gift on the altar, if you know your brother has ought against you, leave your gift on the altar, go reconcile with your brother, and then offer your gift.

The person obviously caused damage that "sorry" cant fix. Repentance ought to require some form of effort to recompense that damage.

Example, if you break a fence, help get it repaired, either with finances or labor or both.

Make sense?

[Ddavid from NC]

I believe what we see even God demonstrate is that love for His is unconditional but His forgiveness is conditional. The same as we have for our children we love them regardless of where they are at or sometimes regardless of how they respond to us. But we will not allow breaches in the relationship to go unaddressed or unresolved. For instance Matthew 18 the chapter suggest that forgiveness is conditional to repentance, the steps of confrontation are taken with the goal of restoration in focus.