Part 1: Introduction | Part 2: Description | Part 3: Compassion | Part 4: Grace | Part 5: Patience | Part 6: Loyal Love | Part 7: Faithfulness
So far we’ve seen that God is compassionate, and gracious, and slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness, and abounding in truth. The next item in our list in Exodus 34.6-7 is “keeping lovingkindness for thousands,” but with your kind permission I’m going to skip that one and come back to it later, when we look into “visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children.”
So we’ll move to the next clause, which states that God “forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin.” The statement seems clear enough, but there are things to note here that will enrich our understanding of its meaning.
I’d like to start with the end. Why doesn’t God just say that he “forgives sin”? Why does he pile on the synonyms? I think he does this for at least two reasons.
- First, repetition in most languages is a means
of emphasis, and in Hebrew particularly. A common Hebraism is to repeat a word
so as to say simply “very” or “surely.” There’s an example of this right at the
beginning of Scripture, where God tells Adam that if he eats of the fruit from
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, ”dying you shall die” (Gen 2.17).
Most English translations render that construction “You shall surely die” (KJV
NKJV NASB ESV) or “You will certainly die” (NIV GW CSB). So perhaps here God is
emphasizing the sinfulness of sin and the certainty of his willingness to
forgive. - But further, I think God is making the point
that his forgiveness is as broad and deep and extensive as the very nature of
sin itself. Cultures have lots of synonyms for words referring to concepts that
they encounter a lot. There’s an old observation that
Eskimos (Inuit) have lots of words for snow. As Nahum demonstrates, ancient
Near Eastern languages had lots of words for locusts (Nah 3.15-17). And in both
Hebrew and Greek, there are lots of words for
sin. We humans have found that sin manifests itself in multiple forms and works
with multiple methods and appeals to multiple human weaknesses. It’s a
deep-seated, complex, exceedingly difficult problem.
The words God lists here are just 3 of many Hebrew words for sin. Each of these tells us a little more about the problem.
- “Iniquity” is ‘awon, used 232 times in
the OT. It speaks specifically of being twisted, bent, or perverse, and it
includes the guilt that comes from such perversity. Sin is brokenness, the kind
that should be disgusting to us but sadly isn’t. It interferes with our
designed function, much as a broken arm keeps the patient from writing or
throwing or hugging in the way he was designed to. - “Transgression” is pesha`. It speaks of
crossing a line that shouldn’t be crossed, of transgressing a boundary, and
thus of rebellion, acting willfully, brazenly, and obstinately against the
rules (Is 57.4). This is the kind of behavior in children that makes the
grownups really angry. - “Sin” is chatta’, a word that emphasizes
that the act is an offense, a violation, and deserves to be punished.
Working backwards through the phrase, we come to the verb. God “forgives” all these things. The root means to lift (2K 4.36) or to carry (Josh 3.6), and thus to carry away (Gen 27.3), to dispose of (Ex 28.38)—of sin, to forgive (Gen 50.17; 1S 25.28). This is a burden the forgiver bears; he is the one who takes action to remove the offense.
God forgives—carries away—our sins, in all their complexity and multiplicity and pervasive rottenness. He throws them behind his back (Is 38.17), to the bottom of the sea (Mic 7.19), as far as the east is from the west (Ps 103.12). He knows all about them, and he can remember them, but he will not (Jer 31.34). “Omniscient, all-knowing, he counts not their sum.”
We should do that too. We should move toward those who disgust us, who revulse us, inexorably drawn to the image of God in them—as God himself is—and act for their benefit in seeking to liberate them from the overwhelming burden of the complex sinful condition they bear.
Doing that is an act of worship.
Hating them isn’t.
Part 9: Justice & Mercy | Part 10: Relenting
Photo by Uriel Soberanes on Unsplash
Dan says
Recently, I became aware the following thought process within a certain group:
1) God forgives us if we repent
2) Therefore, we shouldn’t forgive others unless they first repent
This thought process then follows up with the claim that bitterness and lack of forgiveness are two different things. I never was given a detailed explanation as to how they are different.
Thoughts?
Dan Olinger says
Dan,
I heard that view preached decades ago by someone whom I admired (and whose memory I continue to admire today). But I think the statement needs qualification.
Of course God doesn’t forgive anyone until he repents. And to the extent that we are to be like God, we shouldn’t either.
But.
First, judicial forgiveness is God’s right, not ours. Our “forgiveness” of the person has no effect on his judicial standing. Just as there are certain things God does that we shouldn’t–such as redemption–we have no authority or place engaging in judicial forgiveness.
But the Bible does tell us to “forgive” others. What does that mean? I think it pretty clearly means that we are not to carry grudges. In that respect, I think it’s perfectly right–indeed, an obligation–to forgive others before they repent. I’m not going to insist on an apology for every perceived slight before I treat someone kindly and respectfully, or before I help him when he’s in need.
Now, one qualification. In the context of church discipline, we’re told that we should treat an unrepentant sinning brother “as a heathen man and a publican” (Mt 18.17). We’re not to treat him in ways that give him the impression that everything’s OK between him and the church. We treat him like a lost person–kindly, but without Christian fellowship–until he repents and is restored to the church.
So the short answer to your question is, it depends on what you mean by “forgive.”
Dan says
Thank you so much!