Much has been preached and written on how mankind, especially Christians, should and must practice forgiveness. No doubt it is a command, not a mere option. Jesus said, “But if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses<\/em>” (Matthew 6:13,14). Upon completion of the Parable Of The Unmerciful Servant, Christ said, “So likewise shall My heavenly Father do also unto you, if you from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses<\/em>” (Matthew 18:35). Paul often mentioned the necessity of forgiving (Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13).<\/p>\n Like most things, there is a misuse and abuse of forgiveness. When one repeatedly wrongs another, either by maliciously committing the same sins from one person to another or by simply wrongdoing the same individual continually, the appeal is made to what the Bible says about forgiving someone “seventy times seven.” That is to say, it must always be done no matter how many times someone is wronged by the same person. While Jesus does tell Peter that one must be forgiven “seventy times seven<\/em>” (Matthew 18:22), Luke makes this record of Jesus’ instruction — “Take heed to yourselves; If your brother trespass against you, rebuke him. and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turns again to you saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him<\/em>” (Luke 17:3-4).<\/p>\n This shows that the one committing the wrong needs to have a penitent heart! Every effort should be made not to continue in his sinning. It appears that some tend to “hide behind” this verse of Scripture while continuing wrongdoing. To repent means to “turn away from.” It means to make a 180-degree turn, “an about-face.” Hence, the one seeking forgiveness should be sincere in doing so. God demands genuine repentance. He does not wish for us to “play upon someone’s sympathies” and toy with mercy. Paul said, “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed to repentance: for you were made sorry after a godly manner; that you might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death<\/em>” (II Corinthians 7:9-10). True repentance must carry with it “godly sorrow,” and it must, therefore, be “after a godly manner.” Only then can it be said this individual “sorrowed to repentance,” and thus, truly repented.<\/p>\n Forgiveness is a “two-way street.” Yes, the one who is wronged must forgive. Howbeit, the one who committed the wrongdoing must truly repent! The offender who abuses the “seventy times seven” command by Jesus needs to correct his heart and realize that Jesus said true repentance must be seen. One must cease wrongdoing. Otherwise, how can one expect God to forgive him of his own sins?<\/p>\n This kind of behavior manifests one to be defiant of the Golden Rule, lacking in self-discipline and void of true spirituality.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Phillip North via\u00a0Biblical Insights, Vol. 8, No. 8, Aug. 2008. Much has been preached and written on how mankind, especially Christians, should and must practice forgiveness. No doubt it is a command, not a mere option. Jesus said, “But if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[1571],"class_list":["post-56286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-forgiveness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9139,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-should-we-forgive\/","url_meta":{"origin":56286,"position":0},"title":"Why should we forgive?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why should we forgive? Answer: \"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses\" (Matthew 16:14-15).","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37949,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-you-think-of-christians-who-find-it-hard-to-forgive\/","url_meta":{"origin":56286,"position":1},"title":"What do you think of Christians who find it hard to forgive?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What do you think of Christians who find it hard to forgive and this prevents us from coming together. What can a Christian do to change his or her unforgiving spirit? How should Christians respond to other Christians who display a non-Christian-like behavior toward us? Answer: \"For if you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42753,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-apologized-for-hurting-two-sisters-with-my-words-but-they-dont-trust-me-what-can-i-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":56286,"position":2},"title":"I apologized for hurting two sisters with my words, but they don’t trust me. What can I do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 25, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I've been involved in a campus ministry, and I recently hurt a few of my sisters. I said something inappropriate about them that shouldn't have been said. I asked for forgiveness and one of them forgave me; however, she doesn't feel comfortable around me. The other one, who was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24151,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-girlfriend-kissed-another-man-what-do-i-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":56286,"position":3},"title":"My girlfriend kissed another man. What do I do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 30, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Something happened this week my girlfriend confessed that she kissed another man. She said it started as a game and they were teasing one another and they kissed for about two seconds and she pulled away and walked off. I don't know whether it's out of guilt, or if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21736,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-soon-should-i-forgive-someone\/","url_meta":{"origin":56286,"position":4},"title":"How soon should I forgive someone?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How soon do I forgive someone? People can say things without meaning them. Should I wait until I see that they have really changed? Answer: \"For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You\" (Psalm 86:5). \"And be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38864,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-forget-an-event-which-ive-already-forgiven\/","url_meta":{"origin":56286,"position":5},"title":"How do I forget an event which I’ve already forgiven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 7, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I would like to first say thank you for having a wonderful website. It helped me view matters in a different perspective. My question today regards letting go and moving forward. How do I drop my personal pride and move on? How do I forget an event which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56286\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}