June 21, 2026
Let me ask a question: “If the person you hated most in the world, who you personally knew and could not stand, were the one to welcome you into heaven, would you be able to forgive them enough to go in?”
Again, let me ask, “Who would you be welcoming into heaven under this scenario?” And yet, we are called to forgive.
Must the Christian forgive? To ask this question is to ask, “Are good works necessary?” and every Lutheran who knows their Lutheran Confessions knows the answer to that question (they are, even as we do not say “they are necessary for salvation” (The Formula of Concord, Article IV)). To waver on this question is to allow our old Adam to flirt with antinomianism (against the law) – and yes, I have heard prominent confessional Lutherans waver, publicly, on this very question.
Yes, it is necessary to forgive. It is all tied up with the truly radical nature of the Gospel. There is no radical Gospel without those willing to proclaim it.
If you have a copy of the Large Catechism, I invite you to read Martin Luther’s explanation of forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer. If you do not have a copy, ask me for one, or go online and read it for yourself! (https://bookofconcord.org/large-catechism/lords-prayer/#para85). As you read, note in particular, these words from Luther from his explanation of the Fifth Petition: “if you forgive, you have this consolation and assurance, that you are forgiven in heaven, not on account of your forgiving, for God forgives freely and without condition, out of pure grace, because He has so promised, as the Gospel teaches, but in order that He may set this up for our confirmation and assurance for a sign alongside of the promise which accords with this prayer, Luke 6:37: Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. Therefore Christ also repeats it soon after the Lord’s Prayer, and says, Matt. 6:14: For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, etc.”
The Lord’s Prayer is given in Matthew 6 and Luke 11. Immediately following the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus says, “but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:15).
On the face of it, it would seem that the phrase “unconditional love” can be a bit misleading.
We are told that God hates the wicked (Psalm 5:4-6; 11:5) – and should a protective father not harbour anger – bolstered by just action – against those who would oppress and wage war against His dear children? That said, again, He loves His whole creation. He loves His enemies. He died for the whole world. He was raised for the whole world. He desires all to repent and be saved, for He is love. His mercy triumphs over judgment.
To those who flee to this merciful God, they will be saved indeed – to the uttermost, and it is never too late. The blood of Christ covers it all.
God truly does love His whole creation in a sense that is unconditional; otherwise, passages like Lamentations 3:22-23, Romans 5:8, and 1 John 4:9-10, for example, would not make any sense… If a person rejects God’s unconditional love and forgiveness – not desiring it for this or that reason – how has God’s love somehow become conditional? The Scriptures say that the Christian *has been forgiven already* (and given new life in Christ), and this is given as precisely the reason why they are to forgive. The Apostle Paul writes, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32). In other words, we treat others as God has already treated us. Properly speaking, we do not forgive in order to be forgiven – we forgive because we have been forgiven.
Now, if we refuse to forgive someone for their sins – when God has commanded us to do so – what are we basically saying to God? Whether we realise it or not, we are in fact saying to Him: “I don’t need Your forgiveness for my lack of forgiveness because I am in the right here. My refusal to forgive is reasonable.”
If, in our heart of hearts, we believe that seventy-times-seven forgiveness (Matt. 18:22) should be for us but not for our neighbour – whether explicitly or implicitly or tacitly (if we care to make all these distinctions!) – we are really saying that it is not for us at all. In spite of the fact that we are all one in Adam, we deny that we are our brother’s keeper, and that is great danger!
One more thing: there can be forgiveness of a person – where you release your hands from their throat and sincerely hope that they will make it to heaven, even as that person justly faces earthly consequences – even death – for their actions. God did give earthly governments the death penalty (Rom. 13:1), not to give us revenge, but to protect the weak from evil and injustice. Further, just because we forgive someone on earth, it does not mean that our earthly relationship will always be – or even should always be – the way it was before. If this were the case, Jesus would have never permitted divorce in some circumstances. He does permit divorce in select circumstances, even as He did not permit us to harbour unforgiving hearts.
So we are people who are eager to be merciful, as our Lord is merciful.
But Lord, how many times? “Seventy-times seven,” or, said differently, “without measure.”
There is no doubt about it: this is tough stuff because we still have that old sinful nature inside us, and pride is hard to let go of. Nevertheless, we are to forgive. Let me ask again, “Are there people you need to forgive?”