Forgiveness in the Life of Peter and Paul
Forgiveness in the Life of Peter and Paul.
“… When neither debtor was able to pay the moneylender, and the lender graciously responded by cancelling both debts, which of the two debtors will love him more?’ Simon answered, ‘The one for whom he cancelled the larger debt.’ Jesus said, ‘Yes, you have judged rightly…. Then turning toward the disgraced woman, Jesus said to Simon, ‘Therefore I tell you, she has loved me greatly here because her many, many sins have been forgiven. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.’” (Refer to Luke 7:36-50 for the complete story of the sinful woman who anointed Jesus).
Is it any wonder why the topic of forgiveness was so dominant in the life and writings of Peter and Paul? Like the forgiven prostitute in the above story, Peter and Paul were great sinners who experienced forgiveness for their great sinfulness. Peter deliberately denied Christ three straight times when Jesus needed him most. Paul was like a feral dog on the hunt for Christians, to the extent of putting them in chains and persecuting them. These two early saints couldn’t talk enough about forgiveness once their life turned around. For them, forgiveness was not some beautiful abstract ideal. Forgiveness was deeply personal for them, and they were living into the reality of forgiveness because they experienced it profoundly firsthand. They were well aware of the true meaning of forgiveness. Their spiritual debts to God were cancelled by Him, and so forgiveness was always at the top of their mind.
Forgiveness is… to let an offense go, to no longer hold an offense against someone, without bringing it up again; to decide to put a wrong done to you on the back shelf and move on; to give up the right to justly punish someone in your heart; to send away from your spirit the right to hold a grudge, or keep score, or seek revenge, or stand in ultimate judgment of a person who has offended you; to release God’s grace to go to work in an offender as well as in you the offended one; to freely pardon someone’s offense and thereby create a space in the heart of both parties for the Holy Spirit to do His transforming work; to embrace the divine process whereby forgiveness of others is how we live into God’s forgiveness of us; to work out and put into action God’s forgiveness of us by our forgiveness of others; to generously demonstrate an act of merciful lovingkindness that cancels the penalties of the wrongs done to us.
PETER:
“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven.” (Matthew 18: 21-22). “If your brother sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” (Luke 17:4).
Peter and His Forgiveness Question. You have to hand it to him, Peter asks questions that everybody else is probably afraid to ask. In this case, he asks Jesus how many times he is supposed to forgive someone. A popular rabbinic tradition during that time is that if someone offended you, you should forgive him three times. But if this person offended you a fourth time, the offender did not need to be forgiven. Peter thought he was extremely generous and magnanimous by offering to forgive someone up to seven times. Jesus surprisingly tells Peter he was setting the bar too low. You are supposed to forgive someone 70 times 7, Jesus says! In other words, you forgive and keep on forgiving so much you’ll lose count. Are you able to keep track of 70 times 7? No, so don’t even try to keep score. Just keep on forgiving. There are no limits: Perfect Forgiveness – 70 Times 7. Seven (7): The Biblical number that represents perfection, completeness, wholeness, fulfillment, finished.
“And Peter addressed the people in the Temple portico… ‘Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be completely canceled and wiped away, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets long ago.” (after a dramatic healing in the Temple in Acts 3).
“… This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out what you are yourselves seeing and hearing’… Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers what shall we do?’ And Peter said to them, ‘Repent, change your mind, change your whole life, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ into the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit…” (Peter’s complete sermon at Pentecost is found in Acts 2:14-41).
“… And when the Temple officers brought the apostles before the Sanhedrin, the high priest questioned them, saying, ‘We strictly charged you not to teach in this Name, yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this Man’s blood upon us!’ But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, who you had killed by hanging Him on a tree. God exalted Him at His right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins….” (the full story is in Acts 5).
“Peter opened his mouth in the home of Cornelius and said to all who had gathered, … ‘how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him… And He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that He is the One appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To Him all prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His Name.” (the story of Peter at Cornelius’ home is in Acts 10).
PAUL:
“And Paul stood up, and motioning with hand said… ‘Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen… to us has been sent the message of this salvation… And we bring you the good news that what God had promised to the fathers, this He has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus… Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this Man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by Him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.” (the story of Paul and Barnabas in Antioch, in Acts 13).
“And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared before you for this purpose, to appoint you a a servant and witness, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles- to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” (Paul telling his conversion story before King Agrippa in Acts 26).
“His faith is credited to him as righteousness… Here’s what David says (in Psalm 32): What happy fulfillment is ahead for those whose rebellion has been forgiven and whose sins are covered up and completely buried. What happy progress comes to them when they hear the Lord speak over them, ‘I will never hold your sins against you!” (Romans 4:5-8).
“And then God will bring all of Israel to salvation! The prophecy will be fulfilled that says: ‘Coming from Zion will be the Savior, and He will turn Jacob away from evil. For this is my Covenant promise with them when I forgive their sins.” (Romans 11:26-27).
‘Instead of more punishment, what he needs most is your encouragement through your gracious display of forgiveness. I beg you to reaffirm your deep love for him… If you freely forgive anyone for anything, then I also forgive him. And if I have forgiven anything, I did so for you before the face of Christ, so that we would not be exploited by the adversary Satan, for we know his clever schemes.” (2 Corinthians 2:7-11).
“Lay aside bitter words, temper tantrums, revenge, profanity, and insults. Instead be kind and affectionate toward one another. Has God graciously forgiven you? Then graciously forgive one another in the depths of Christ’s love.” (Ephesians 4:31-32).
“Your hearts can soar with joyful gratitude when you think of how God made you worthy to receive the glorious inheritance freely given to us by living in the light. He has rescued us completely from the tyrannical rule of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom realm of His beloved Son. For in the Son all our sins are forgiven and we have the release of redemption through His very blood.” (Colossians 1:12-14).
“For we’ve been buried with Him into His death. Our baptism into death also means we were raised with Him when we believed in God’s resurrection power, the power that raised Him from death’s realm. This realm of death describes our former state, for we were held in sin’s grasp. But now, we’ve been resurrected out of that realm of death never to return, for we are forever alive and forgiven of all our sins!” (Colossians 2:12-13).
“You are always and dearly loved by God! So robe yourself with virtues of God, since you have been divinely chosen to be holy. Be merciful as you endeavor to understand others, and be compassionate, showing kindness toward all. Be gentle and humble, unoffendable in your patience with others. Tolerate the weaknesses of those in the family of faith, forgiving one another in the same way you have been graciously forgiven by Jesus Christ. If you find fault with someone, release this same gift of forgiveness to them.” (Colossians 3:12-13).