As I’ve mentioned before, I’m working my way through Scot McKnight’s book Jesus Creed. He has a chapter on forgiveness. I’ll summarize some of the points from that chapter in this post.

First of all, forgiving one another is not really and Old Testament concept. In the OT it is God who forgives Israel. The only significant example of forgiveness in the OT is Joseph forgiving his brothers. There are no commands in the law concerning forgiveness. We don’t see David forgiving his enemies in the Psalms. However, in the New Testament Jesus commands that we forgive one another. In the OT repentance is required for God to forgive us. In the NT Jesus now says that forgiving one another is required for God to forgive us. Jesus exemplifies the requirement that we have a disposition of forgiveness toward others.

So how do we forgive? First it is helpful to distinguish two dimensions of forgiveness. There is subjective forgiveness and objective forgiveness. Subjective forgiveness is the experience of forgiving – the releasing of emotion and the choice to end the internal cycle of offense. Objective forgiveness (sometimes referred to as reconciliation) is the elimination of the offense from the relationship. This isn’t always possible as it depends a lot on the disposition of the offender.

So, how do we forgive? McKnight outlines 5 steps:

1. Confront the offense and the offender’s responsibility
   • This is where I usually get hung up. I pretend it’s no big deal and try to ignore it.
2. Recognize the impact
   • This is required for subjective forgiveness to occur. We can’t release our anger until we recognize the pain.
3. Choose to pursue objective forgiveness
   • The victim chooses to “get over it”, absorb the injustice and offer grace.
4. Actively purse objective forgiveness
   • This takes time and wisdom and isn’t always possible; for instance, if the offender is violent and unrepentant.
5. Forgiving creates an alternate reality
   • By offering forgiveness to others they become alive in a way they did not expect and a cycle of grace is begun in their heart.

So there you go. Forgiveness in 5 easy steps. Easier said than done.

I’ve been asked to do a couple of devotionals for the staff here at Cedarview Alliance Church. My topics are confession (which I’ll post today) and forgiveness (which I’ll post tomorrow). I thought I’d post them here to share with y’all.

Let’s talk a little more about Saul. In 1 Samuel 15 we find Saul is given instructions to attack the Amalekites and completely destroy them and all of their belongings. Saul disobeys. He attacks the Amalekites but keeps the best of their livestock for himself and spares the life of their King. Samuel comes to town and Saul greets him. Saul’s first attempt in v13 is to ignore his sin, and to even assert his obedience. His next tactic is to dissemble as seen in v15. First he deflects blame to the soldiers (who were under his command) and then he offers a justification for his disobedience. He continues this denial and justification in v20-21. We get around something like an admission in v24-25, but he follows it right up with an excuse and then a plea for quick forgiveness and restoration. This pattern repeats in v30.

We never see a true confession from Saul. He really is the Pete Rose of the Bible! We see denial, deflecting, blaming and excuses. When he is cornered he admits wrongdoing but wants to skip ahead to reconciliation without any real remorse. Saul isn’t serious about sin. He never acknowledges that he has sinned against God. Contrast that with David’s confession when confronted by Nathan in 2 Samuel 12 and Psalm 51. Here we see a truly contrite heart. Let that be our model for when we confess our sins.

It is interesting that Achan’s words are identical to David’s words when confronted with his sin. Yet Achan is stoned to death, and David is spared, though the innocent son he fathered with Bathsheba dies. Who ever heard of someone innocent paying for another person’s sin with his death?

Scot McKnight has a great line about King Saul in his book “Jesus Creed” which I’m working my way through. He says that King Saul is the Pete Rose of the Bible. I find that line particularly insightful, though it may just be that spring training is about to begin and my mind is turning to baseball.

If you think about it though, was Saul any worse than David? David was an adulterer and a murderer. When you read the accounts of David’s post-Bathsheba era, he wasn’t much of leader. There was the whole Absolom debacle, the census he took that God told him not to take. Things were just unraveling for him. And yet Saul is Pete Rose. Why? I think the key difference was David’s heart. He was a man after God’s own heart. David sinned big, but he also repented from his heart. Saul never fully repented from his sin.

So, any other great biblical character/sports figure analogies? Please avoid the temptation to compare Jesus to Tiger Woods/Wayne Gretzky/Michael Jordan. This is a blasphemy free blog.