Is unconditional forgiveness only required for unbelievers?

Answer:

I'm struggling to think of a passage that indicates that unbelievers and believers are treated differently. The fairness of God is that all are treated alike and held to the same rules. "Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not right.' Hear now, O house of Israel! Is My way not right? Is it not your ways that are not right? When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity and dies because of it, for his iniquity which he has committed he will die. Again, when a wicked man turns away from his wickedness which he has committed and practices justice and righteousness, he will save his life. Because he considered and turned away from all his transgressions which he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. But the house of Israel says, 'The way of the Lord is not right.' Are My ways not right, O house of Israel? Is it not your ways that are not right? Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, each according to his conduct," declares the Lord GOD. "Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you. Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies," declares the Lord GOD. "Therefore, repent and live" (Ezekiel 18:25-33). The wicked and the righteous are held to the same requirement of repenting of sins to receive forgiveness.

When Jonah announced to wicked Nineveh that they would soon be destroyed, God relented because the city repented from the king to the commoner (Jonah 3). Jonah was scolded in Jonah 4 for not pitying them and retaining his anger.

"Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the LORD, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon" (Isaiah 55:7).

I am not aware of any passage that teaches unconditional forgiveness. Christians must always be willing to forgive others, and as a result, they work to encourage a change in the person so that they can forgive. "Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' forgive him" (Luke 17:3-4). "Brother" is mentioned in this verse because the wicked are not likely to listen to rebukes. The problem with the wicked is more fundamental and requires building faith in the Lord. But even when the wicked do convert, repentance is a part of the change (Acts 2:38). See "Forgiveness" and "Unconditional Love."

Unconditional forgiveness implies acceptance of a person while he remains in sin. The acceptance of sin is a sin (Romans 1:32; Leviticus 19:17). The problem the Corinthians had was their acceptance of a man who was in sin. They erred by allowing the man to worship with them while remaining in his sins. "You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst" (I Corinthians 5:2).

"Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret" (Ephesians 5:11-12).

The reality of the situation is that those who blindly offer forgiveness to a sinner while the sinner remains in his sins are showing hatred for the person. They are allowing him to head down a destructive path without the mildest scolding and are allowing him to remain on that path while being told he is forgiven. That isn't love.