Why should I forgive?

Hear what Peter has to say about it. He had been listening to the Lord, and he was conscious that the Lord was saying things to him that he had not been used to hearing, and his astonishment found voice in his question: If my brother sin against me seven times must I forgive him? “I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven,” was the Lord's quiet answer. And Peter might well have said, “Impossible.” But I can understand the Lord replying: “Peter, I am not asking you to treat your brother in any other way than the way I am treating you.” Ah, that makes it easy. It is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the way He is treating me. He is forgiving me seventy times seven, and if I cannot forgive my brethren the same way, my heart has lost the sense of His grace.

Hear what Peter has to say about it. He had been listening to the Lord, and he was conscious that the Lord was saying things to him that he had not been used to hearing, and his astonishment found voice in his question: If my brother sin against me seven times must I forgive him? "I say not to thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven," was the Lord's quiet answer. And Peter might well have said, "Impossible." But I can understand the Lord replying: "Peter, I am not asking you to treat your brother in any other way than the way I am treating you." Ah, that makes it easy. It is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the way He is treating me. He is forgiving me seventy times seven, and if I cannot forgive my brethren the same way, my heart has lost the sense of His grace.

Yes, we found everything we needed in our Lord Jesus Christ. "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him." Let us continue in that way. If He was sufficient for us at the start, He is sufficient for everything along the road; we need not look outside Him for anything. If we are not looking outside of Him for anything we are holding the Head, and from Him will come the nourishment that we need, so that the spiritual life will be vigorous within. How would that life manifest itself? In exactly the same way that it manifested itself in Him. Oh, how tender we should be one with the other; how graciously we should act towards each other; in short, we should act towards each other as the Lord acted towards His own when He was here. Do you see Him in the midst of His disciples, girding Himself with the towel, and taking the basin and stooping down and washing those feet, and then saying, "Ye call Me Master and Lord, and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you." Yes, if His life is in us in vigour and power — as it will be if we are holding the Head — we shall be acting towards each other as He acted, in accordance with His own words, "I am among you as He that serveth," and again, "The Son of Man came not to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." Is that to be my pathway? Yes, that is the pathway, and that is the life that will be seen if you hold the Head. Impossible for us naturally, for no power in nature can maintain us in a path like that. For instance, Peter listening to the Lord's gracious teaching realizes that it is very different from the things he had heard under the law. He had listened to the scribes and teachers in Israel, rehearsing the law its "eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," and with the sense in his soul that this is very different from the Lord's teaching, he says, "Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?" And the Lord replies. "I say not to thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven." You can understand Peter saying, "Lord, is it possible?" and we say, "Lord, is it possible, seventy times seven to forgive one another?" Why, if we did that the most cantankerous Christian would be overwhelmed by grace. I have said to myself, "Is it possible?" and like a flash the answer came from the Lord, "That is the way I have treated you, that is the way I am treating you; and I only desire that you should treat others as I have treated you." That makes all the difference. I am not righteous in the place He has put me in if I do not treat others in the way He has treated me. When we come under the power of His grace, instead of it being a difficulty, it becomes a pleasure, it becomes the natural welling-up of that love that is within us to forgive others as Christ has forgiven us.

Peter now comes once more to the foreground. He is again the spokesman of the disciples. The mention of the word "church" most likely revived in him the memory of the words the Lord had uttered after Peter's confession of Him as the Christ, the Son of the living God. Peter had, of course, then no knowledge of the full meaning of that which came from the lips of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Until seven times? Jesus says to him, I say not to thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven" (verses 21, 22). The question is in closest connection with what the Lord had said. But He had not said a word about forgiving a brother. The word "forgive" was not used once by our Lord; He had spoken of gaining a brother who had sinned. Did Peter perhaps mean how often he should forgive his brother before the case should be taken up in the order as indicated by our Lord? We think it is now specifically the question of personal grievances we may have against a brother. Peter thinks and speaks of self. The Rabbis had given the following rule: "Pardon a man once, that sins against another; secondly pardon him; thirdly pardon him; fourthly do not pardon him," etc. (Bab. Joma.)

Peter, quite well acquainted with the traditions of the elders, most likely thought of this and he desired to show his appreciation of the gracious words he had heard by declaring his readiness to forgive his brother not three times, but twice three times and a little over. Until seven times? he asks. Surely, he must have thought the Lord will be pleased with such generosity and brotherly love. Ah, how little he knew the Grace of Him whom he had followed. The answer of the Lord must have been a revelation to Peter, "until seventy times seven." This is unlimited forgiveness. This God in Christ has forgiven us and forgives us, and the same Grace, unlimited Grace is to be shown towards the brother who sins against me. It is the same blessed word God the Holy Spirit gives us in the Epistles, "forbearing one another, if any should have a complaint against any; even as the Christ has forgiven you, so also do ye" (Col. 3:13). "And be to one another kind, compassionate, forgiving one another, so as God also in Christ has forgiven you" (Eph. 4:32).

There is one other thing that I must close with. Peter says to our Lord, "How oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?" We had the case of how we were to act in the case of a personal trespass. But Peter raises another question. Supposing my brother sins against me over and over, how often am I to forgive him? The answer is, "I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven." In the kingdom of heaven — not under the law, but under the rule of Christ — forgiveness is unlimited. How wonderful! To think that holiness, the deeper holiness that Christianity reveals, is at the same time that which feels with the deepest possible love, and which goes out with it to others. So we find here. "I say not unto thee, Until seven times," which was Peter's idea of the largest grace, "but, Until seventy times seven." Our Lord insists that there really was no end to forgiveness. It is always to be flowing out. But remember this: it is a sin against you: it is a person that does wrong to you. We are not to forgive a wrong done to the Lord, till the Lord has forgiven it; and the Lord only forgives upon confession of sin. I am now speaking, not of the grace that meets a man in his unconverted state, the case here is that of a brother. When a man is converted, he has to confess his sins day by day. It shows a wretched state of soul if a person breaks down in his daily path without confession to God. But what we learn here is, that if it is some sin done against you personally, and it is a question how often you are to forgive, the answer is, "Till seventy times seven." God will never be outdone in His perfect love: but even a man upon earth is called to forgive after this wonderful and divine pattern.

Peter then asks our Lord, "How oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?" (ver. 21.) We had instruction how we were to act in the case of a personal trespass. But Peter raises another question. Supposing my brother sins against me over and over, how often am I to forgive him? The answer is, "I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven." In the kingdom of heaven — not under the law, but under the rule of the rejected Christ — forgiveness is unlimited. How wonderful — the deeper holiness revealed in Christianity, is at the same time, that which feels with deepest love, and goes out with it to others! So we find here, "I say not unto thee, Until seven times," which was Peter's idea of the largest grace, "but, Until seventy times seven." Our Lord insists that there really was no end to forgiveness. It is always to be in the heart of the Christian.

On the eighteenth I need not dwell, though there is just one point of importance that may claim a moment. "Then came Peter to him" (ver. 21), "and said, How oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Seven times?" He thought a great deal of that, but Jesus enlarges the sphere infinitely. "Jesus said to him, I say not seven times, but seventy times seven." Here you see it was not merely grace with unbelievers who do not see his glory, but with a failing brother — the very thing in which we are apt ourselves to fail, because how often one hears, "Well, if he were not a brother one could understand better." But this is a brother, and a very offending one too. What is the measure? What is the limit of grace? "Till seven times?" Until seventy times seven. It has no limit.

In closing we should remember the words of the Lord Jesus in the latter part of the chapter. Peter asked: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? until seven times?Jesus says to him, I say not to thee until seven times, but until seventy times seven.’ As has been remarked by others, this really shows that there is no limit to the number of times we are to forgive one another. The Lord’s closing words also show the importance of forgiving from the heart (Matt. 18:35). Where this is done the matter ceases to occupy the mind and mutual fellowship can again be enjoyed.

It had evidently forced itself upon Peter that this was the spirit in which the Lord intended that His disciples should act when He said: "Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus says to him, I say not to thee, Until seven times but, Until seventy times seven." Matt. 18:22. There must be no limit to the activities of grace in this circle. We must not be weary in well-doing, but ever keep in mind that word "likewise."

It had evidently forced itself upon Peter that this was the spirit in which the Lord intended that His disciples should act when He said: "Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus says to him, I say not to thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven" (Matt. 18:22). There must be no limit to the activities of grace in this circle. We must not be weary in well-doing, but ever keep in mind that word "likewise".