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Two different kinds of forgiveness are found
in the Scriptures, and if we are going to be
careful students of the Word, we must learn to
distinguish them. We will call them judicial and
parental forgiveness (though these names are not
used in the Bible).
To put it very simply, judicial forgiveness
is the forgiveness of a judge and parental
forgiveness is the forgiveness of a father. The
first term is taken from the courtroom and the
second from the home.
First let us go to the courtroom. God is the
Judge and sinful man is the person on trial. Man
is guilty of sinning, and the penalty is eternal
death. But the Lord Jesus appears and announces,
"I will pay the penalty which man's sins
deserved; I will die as a Substitute for him!"
This is what the Savior did on the Cross of
Calvary. Now the Judge announces to sinful man,
"If you will surrender to my Son as your Lord
and Savior, I will forgive you." As soon as the
man puts his faith in the Savior, he receives
judicial forgiveness of all his sins. He will
never have to pay the punishment for them in
hell, because Christ has paid it all. The
forgiven sinner now enters into a new
relationship: God is no longer his Judge; now He
is his Father.
So now we move into the home for an
illustration of parental forgiveness. God is the
Father and the believer is the child. In an
unguarded moment, the child commits an act of
sin. Then what happens? Does God sentence the
child to die for the sin? Of course not, because
God is no longer the Judge, but the Father! What
does happen? Well, fellowship in the family is
broken. The happy family spirit is gone. The
child has not lost his salvation, but he has
lost the joy of his salvation. Soon he may
experience the discipline of his Father,
designed to bring him back into fellowship. As
soon as the child confesses his sin, he receives
parental forgiveness.
Judicial forgiveness takes place once-for-all
at the time of conversion; parental forgiveness
takes place every time a believer confesses and
forsakes his sin. This is what Jesus taught in
John 13:8-10: we need the bath of regeneration
only once to deliver us from the penalty of
sins, but we need many cleansings throughout our
Christian lives to give us parental
forgiveness.
The difference between the two types of
forgiveness may be summarized graphically as
follows:
| |
Judicial Forgiveness |
Parental Forgiveness |
| The Person's Status |
Sinner (Romans 3:23) |
Child (1 John 3:2) |
| Relationship of God |
Judge (Psalms 96:13) |
Father (Galatians 4:6) |
| Result of sin |
Eternal Death (Romans 6:23) |
Broken fellowship (1 John 1:6) |
| Role of Christ |
Savior (1 Timothy 1:15) |
High Priest and Advocate (Heb. 4:14-16; 1
John 2:1) |
| The Person's Need |
Salvation (Acts 16:30) |
Joy of salvation (Psalms 51:12) |
| Means of Forgiveness |
Faith (Acts 16:31) |
Confession (1 John 1:9) |
| Kind of Forgiveness |
Judicial (Romans 8:1) |
Parental (Luke 15:21, 22) |
| Consequence Averted |
Hell (John 5:24) |
Chastening ((1 Cor. 11:31, 32)
Loss of
reward at the Judgment Seat of Christ (1 Cor.
3:15) |
| Positive Result |
New Relationship (John 1:12) |
Renewed Fellowship (Psalms 32:5) |
| Frequency |
Once - one bath of regeneration (John
13:10) |
Many times - many cleansings (John
13:8) |
From now on,
when we come to verses that speak about the
once-for-all forgiveness that is granted to us
as sinners through the work of Christ, we will
know that the subject is judicial forgiveness.
The following illustrate this: In whom we have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of his grace.
(Eph. 1:7).
And be kind to one another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave
you (Eph. 4:32 RSV).
And you, being dead in your sins and the
uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him, having forgiven you all your
trespasses Col. 2:13).
However, there are other passages of
Scripture that deal with parental
forgiveness:
For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your
heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if ye
forgive not men their trespasses, neither will
your Father forgive your trespasses (Matt. 6:14,
15).
Judge not, and ye shall not be judged;
condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned;
forgive, and ye shall be forgiven (Luke 6:37).
And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have
ought against any, that your Father also which
is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses
(Mark 11:25).
Notice that in two of these verses God is
specificaly mentioned as Father; it is the
Father's forgiveness that is involved. Notice
also that our being forgiven depends on our
willigness to forgive others. That is not true
of judicial forgiveness; willingness to forgive
others is not a condition of salvation. But it
is true of parental forgiveness; our Father will
not forgive us if we don't forgive one
another.
In Matthew 18:23-25 Jesus told the story of a
slave who had been forgiven 10,000 talents by
the king. But that same slave wouldn't forgive
one of his fellow-slaves 100 pence. The king was
therefore angry with him and delivered him to
the jailers till he paid all his debt. Jesus
concluded the parable by saying "So likewise
shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye
from your hearts forgive not every one his
brother their trespasses." Here again it is a
matter of the Father's forgiveness. It is sin to
have an unforgiving spirit, and God cannot
forgive us parentally until we confess that sin
and forsake it. One of the thrills of Bible
study is to see these basic distinctions and to
be able to apply them in our daily reading. From
now on when you come to the subject of
forgiveness in the Word you should be able to
say, "Oh, yes, that refers to judicial
forgiveness, or else "that must refer to the
Father's forgiveness of His child."
God's
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