Forgiveness: Conditional or Unconditional?

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Should the victim of an offense forgive the offender unconditionally?

  • Yes - Forgiveness is unconditional, and is not dependent on whether the offender confesses/repents.

    Votes: 4 50.0%
  • No - Forgiveness is conditional; the offender should confess/repent first.

    Votes: 4 50.0%

  • Total voters
    8

notuptome

Senior Member
May 17, 2013
15,050
2,538
113
#21
You know if you do not take offense you do not need to wrestle with forgiveness?

Why would one want to go about asking if they have offended someone else? If you intentionally offend with malice and the Lord convicts your heart then you must settle it with the Lord.

For the cause of Christ
Roger
 

Edify

Well-known member
Jan 27, 2021
1,554
648
113
#22
If there were conditions you could meet it would no longer be salvation by grace through faith.
Repentance is a condition.
Mark 1:15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God [l]is at hand; repent and [m]believe in the gospel.”
Matt 3:8Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance;
 
E

eternally-gratefull

Guest
#23
But Jesus still told the woman to sin no more. If she sins again, is there still automatic forgiveness? Or does she need to repent.
did he pay the penalty for he sin or not?

if he did not she can repent 100 times, that sin will never be redeemed
 

notuptome

Senior Member
May 17, 2013
15,050
2,538
113
#24
Repentance is a condition.
Mark 1:15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God [l]is at hand; repent and [m]believe in the gospel.”
Matt 3:8Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance;
You fail to understand that repentance is part of faith. You cannot have one without the other.

For the cause of Christ
Roger
 
Jan 21, 2021
66
36
18
#25
Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34).

Jesus shows us the perfect way to forgive, unconditionally. For what you don't forgive will eat away at you inside. Forgiveness is personnel healing, it helps you move on from what happened and is chicken soup for the soul.

Luke 6:37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven."

Matthew 6: 14-15 "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."
 
Jan 21, 2021
66
36
18
#26
Just to add, it talks of forgiveness in the Lords prayer, it does not state conditions for forgiveness

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
 
Feb 20, 2021
30
11
8
#27
except ye repent, ye shall al likewise perish. Lk.13:3

unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Mt.18:3
Any form of accomplishment toward being saved is false.
All people need to GIVE UP on any form of goodness or Godliness to emanate from themselves.

Becoming as children means you trust without trying to suppose that there is something you must do to make it happen.

Thinking that you need to have hoops to jump through is yet being in the mentioned state you need to turn from.
 
Feb 20, 2021
30
11
8
#28
But Jesus still told the woman to sin no more. If she sins again, is there still automatic forgiveness? Or does she need to repent.
When Jesus told the woman to sin no more it was to show the standard is eternal, and that we are not forgiven to repeat an offense.

It is this standard that Jesus fulfilled on the cross, having no sin. With people, the standard is far beyond their capability.

This is what Jesus meant when he said sad people would be happy; happy because Jesus saved them from their doomed position.
 
Feb 20, 2021
30
11
8
#29
There is already a thread on this with great responses but not everyone gave yes or no answers. Please participate in the poll and support your decision with Bible verses.
No one at ANY time makes themselves pure. This is the work of the holy spirit in the making of a new person from the old---and holy because that person is then part of God's life.

No one at any time repents and confesses or changes sufficiently, but looks in the correct direction to God. If man could do any thing exactly Jesus would have come to Earth on a fool's errand.
 

Journeyman

Well-known member
Jan 10, 2019
2,107
763
113
#30
Any form of accomplishment toward being saved is false.
All people need to GIVE UP on any form of goodness or Godliness to emanate from themselves.
To see how our Lord God patiently suffered
the hatred of men, all the while continuing to love them through the immense pain they inflicted on him, is grace. It's enough to humble sinners. And,

do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? Rom.2:4

Becoming as children means you trust without trying to suppose that there is something you must do to make it happen.
Actually, little children are humble and very teachable, which is why our dear Savior warned his listeners about offending little children who believe in God.

If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned Mt.18:6

Thinking that you need to have hoops to jump through is yet being in the mentioned state you need to turn from.
Actually, our King said,

If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. Mt.18:8-9

So you can lead children astray, or rear them in the ways of our Lord by your conduct.
 

2ndTimothyGroup

Well-known member
Feb 20, 2021
5,883
1,952
113
#31
Forgiveness, if understood in the below way, is something that a person can do naturally . . . and I mean to forgive all people who have ever caused harm. I would have appreciated this teaching from our pastors (as it seems to reflect the message of the Bible):

Romans 7:17, 20 NKJV - "But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me." ... 20 "Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me."

If this additional entity within Paul caused him to disobey (before he knew Christ), then we can give a similar form of Grace and Understanding that Paul extends to himself. It is this very understanding that allowed Paul to forgive himself for imprisoning, torturing, and killing good Christian people, for he didn't know what he was doing. And this is the essence of what Jesus, Stephen, and Paul all said about others, which was, "Forgive them, Father, for they know not of what they do."

Why would we ever be upset with a person if we are able to realize that whatever problems a person (or child) is causing . . . they are not the source of it. Instead, it is the Devil who is running the program within them. Therefore, be upset with the Devil, but forgive (or simply Understand) the person. Hence, "hate the sin, but love the person." Paul teaches that it is the Sinful State of a person that is the root of evil in their life. Without the Sin Nature, what are we? We are simply human with an accompanying Human Nature. What is the definition of the Human Nature? Servant. That's right . . . the Human Nature is to serve, and it will do whatever it is told, or perhaps even suggested to do (think Adam and Eve prior to sinning when they followed the advice of Satan). This is the person who Paul was referring to . . . which was his God-given Human Nature when he said, "It isn't me sinning!" But a person who still possesses the Sin Nature . . . this person will continue to harm himself and those around him. Conversely, a person who has been cleansed of this Sinful Way, it is removed and replaced by the Divine Nature of Christ, and it is this Nature Who tells the Human Nature what to do, and it thus obeys.

We need to be patient with those who have yet to have their Sinful Nature cut out and removed. For, the sin that comes through them . . . does not come [from] them. We've got to remember that it is the Sinful Way that generates sinful behavior. So as we punish others for their wrong-doing, it is important to make a distinction between the two. I would have appreciated my parents teaching me these things as a child . . . instead of using belts and garden hoses as instruments of managing the wrong things we often did.

Think about it: Why does it hurt so much to be punished? Because the good side of us, the Human Nature side, is innocent and struggles to understand why things are painfully the way they are. The Human Nature is unfairly innocent of transgressions against another, yet here we stand . . . holding the smoking gun, so to speak. Satan gets his way and performs the dirty work through us, and yet there we stand with the convicting evidence in our hands and there isn't anything we can do about it. We all have this good, basic Human Nature to us all . . . but we must all turn to Christ to have the Evil Nature carved out of our Hearts. Once this is done . . . living in a continual state of forgiveness will be easier than breathing air. We must receive the Holy Operation of Faith of Christ in order to forgive this precise way. We cannot forgive in this way until we are whole and complete through, and by, Christ alone.

(Read the below with your favorite translation . . . they're all amazing. NLT is phenomenal)
Colossians 2:9-15 KJV - "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it."