Be blessed by the truth in this song:
I had been studying and searching the scriptures on the concept of God's forgiveness and what it looks like when we forgive others, whether innocent or guilty, ourselves and God for the wrong attitudes I had towards Him. I could recall several definitions of forgivness in the past decade. I remember listening to KWAVE 107.9fm in San Clemente on the way to School with my mom and siblings. On the radio was Dr. James Dobson (Focus on the Family) who said, "Forgiveness is giving up your right to get even." 19 years later that definition stuck with me.
It wasn't until the end of 2014 where forgiveness became a reality to me. Up until then, I had knowledge of what it was (even a theological understanding) but it had not become a way of life for me. And my ignorance of forgiveness was the root cause of anger issues, reacting to spilled milk, overloaded dishwashers and a load of other irrational reactions. In all honesty I was preaching and teaching forgivness, but was not living it. My understanding of forgiveness was merely academic. On the other hand, we cannot apply what we do not know and we cannot know what we haven't learned and we can't learn what we don't take the time and effor to study. Thus, there is value in being technical in our approach to study of forgiveness. And then after that, to ask God to empower us to flesh it out in our lives on a daily basis, which we so desperately need to do to be walking in the spirit.
From preceptaustin.org:
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I had been studying and searching the scriptures on the concept of God's forgiveness and what it looks like when we forgive others, whether innocent or guilty, ourselves and God for the wrong attitudes I had towards Him. I could recall several definitions of forgivness in the past decade. I remember listening to KWAVE 107.9fm in San Clemente on the way to School with my mom and siblings. On the radio was Dr. James Dobson (Focus on the Family) who said, "Forgiveness is giving up your right to get even." 19 years later that definition stuck with me.
It wasn't until the end of 2014 where forgiveness became a reality to me. Up until then, I had knowledge of what it was (even a theological understanding) but it had not become a way of life for me. And my ignorance of forgiveness was the root cause of anger issues, reacting to spilled milk, overloaded dishwashers and a load of other irrational reactions. In all honesty I was preaching and teaching forgivness, but was not living it. My understanding of forgiveness was merely academic. On the other hand, we cannot apply what we do not know and we cannot know what we haven't learned and we can't learn what we don't take the time and effor to study. Thus, there is value in being technical in our approach to study of forgiveness. And then after that, to ask God to empower us to flesh it out in our lives on a daily basis, which we so desperately need to do to be walking in the spirit.
From preceptaustin.org:
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Forgiveness (859) (aphesis from aphiemi = action which causes separation and is in
turn derived from apo = from + hiemi = put in motion, send)
literally means to send away or to put apart, a letting go, a leaving behind, a
removal. Aphesis is most often translated remission as when one
remits (pardons, cancels) a debt (see definition of English word below). The act
of releasing someone from an obligation. To release from captivity.
THE
FORGIVENESS OF SINS: tên aphesin tôn hamartiôn:
Col 2:13
Ps
32:1, 2
Ro 4:6, 7,4:8
Ps 130:4,
Mk 1:4
Lk 1:77,4:18,
Lk 5:20
Lk 7:47, 48,49,
50
Acts 5:31
Acts 10:43, 13:38,39,
Acts 26:18,
Heb 9:22
1Jn 1:9, 2:12
The Theological Lexicon of the NT -
(Aphesis) has multiple shades of meaning, some of them quite everyday,
like the sending out of ships (Demosthenes, Corona 18.77–78); but there are also
technical applications, for example in architecture, and in sports, where it
refers to the starting line for the athletes in the diaulos; in astrology, it
refers to the point of departure, the beginning. In Aristotle, it refers to the
emission or expulsion of fish roe (bees release their excrement; 6.22.576a25: a
mare remains standing at the moment of delivery, and in Hippocrates it becomes a
medical term, the emission of gas being a symptom of illness. Aphesis can
also mean “exhaustion, prostration”: “forgetfulness and prostration, loss of
voice…signs of illness” (Epid. 3.6).
Aphesis is followed by
sin (hamartia) 11/17 uses in the NT (Mt 26:28, Mk 1:4, Lk 1:77, 3:3,
24:47, Acts 2:38, 5:31, 10:43, 13:38, 26:18, Col 1:14), where Sin is depicted as a "master" that has bound and enslaved
all mankind (cf "slave of sin" Ro 6:20). Paul writes "thanks be to God that
though you were slaves of sin Sin (see discussion
of Sin personified as a "Slavemaster"),
you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were
committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
(Ro 6:17-18) Aphesis releases (so to speak) a man from the cords of
Sin, the power of Sin. Jesus declared that one of the goals of His ministry
was to "release [aphesis] the captives" (Lk 4:18). Here the word
captives is aichmalotos which refers to prisoners of war, and in context
refers to all men as in a state of captivity to Sin as a result of having inherited Adam's sin nature (Ro
5:12).
The root meaning of
forgiveness is to put away an offense. In secular Greek literature, the
related word aphiemi was used to indicate the sending away of an
object or a person and came to include the release of someone from the
obligation of marriage, or debt, or even a religious vow. In its final form this
word group came to embrace the principle of release from punishment for some
wrongdoing.
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In conclusion, the Grace-oriented Believer in Christ ought to have a life characterized by forgiveness. The letting go and relinquishing of evil attitudes.
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