Imitating Divine Forgiveness

Just as myths about every other aspect of reality are plentiful and injurious, myths about forgiveness are not in short supply.  Misunderstanding the nature of forgiveness can actually make a person more unwilling to forgive under any circumstances, and thus it is counterproductive when advocates of forgiveness misrepresent it.  To show random forgiveness is an act of mercy, although not all mercy is an act of forgiveness, and the Bible compares forgiveness to the cancellation of overwhelming debt in the parable of the unforgiving servant.

It is vital to note that many acts of forgiveness, since they would be mercy as aforementioned, cannot be deserved or obligatory by default.  Mercy is by definition shown when people are not treated justly--not in the sense of being over-punished or having offenses against them ignored, but in the sense that they are intentionally spared from punitive treatment they themselves deserve.  Consequently, since no one has an obligation to let someone escape true justice, mercy is a supererogatory thing that is only cheapened when offered to all people by default [1].

In the parable of the unmerciful servant (Matthew 18:21-35), a king exempts a servant of his from a massive debt.  Despite the servant owing the ruler an extraordinary sum, he was literally "forgiven" from the duty to pay, and yet he refuses to forgive a much smaller debt owed to him by a fellow servant.  The king is enraged, criticizing the servant for failing to forgive a debt when the debtor sincerely requested it after he himself had been forgiven after asking his king for more time to pay the amount he owed.

The parable suggests that God strongly dislikes asking for forgiveness when one has not been willing to forgive those who have asked for it.  However, the often overlooked aspect of the parable is just that: the king does not forgive anyone who does nothing to seek forgiveness!  General forgiveness is not owed to anyone as a human right, but to deny forgiveness to someone genuinely seeking it after one has already been forgiven by God is hypocritical, hence why the specific type of unforgiveness in the parable is condemned by Jesus.

Divine forgiveness is not applied to all people simply because God wishes for all people to be saved (as indicated by Ezekiel 33:11, 1 Timothy 2:3-4, and 2 Peter 3:9).  To say otherwise is to embrace the heretical universalist conception of salvation, which wholly contradicts the Biblical doctrine of annihilationism [2].  If God himself does not forgive the wicked until they repent, what basis could there be for advocating that humans universally forgive other humans before they repent?  Unless someone seeks forgiveness for a genuine offense from whoever they wronged, there is no Biblical obligation to forgive (Luke 17:3-4).

Just as divine forgiveness is not automatically shown to all wrongdoers, there is no need for any person to show forgiveness outside of very specific circumstances.  If I am to truly forgive as God does, I will withhold forgiveness until someone who has wronged me comes and personally asks for it.  Short of that occurring, I and everyone else are not obligated to forgive.  Forgiveness, being a form of mercy, is otherwise not obligatory.


[1].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2019/09/how-to-cheapen-mercy.html

[2].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2019/05/a-refutation-of-universalism.html