Have you sometimes read verses where it says God has forgiven you of all your sins and then read other verses where it says if you confess your sin, then He will forgive you of your sin and wondered to yourself, so which one is it? Has He forgiven me already or has He not until I confess? And my answer to both, is yes! I know that sounds confusing but in order to understand how this works, we first need to understand something: the Bible uses two main Greek words for forgiveness. And each is dealing with a different kind of forgiveness! We will take a look at both of these and discuss how this relates to you and me.
The first is Charizonmai forgiveness. This is forgiveness given freely to all, it is unconditional. It is a colorful term of showing favor and goodness. This is like mankind crucifying Jesus, mocking Him, putting Him on a cross and Him still forgiving them despite all they had done, revealing the heart of God. This was before any of them had repent or admitted their wrong. He forgave them. He's not holding their sin against them. Love keeps no record of wrong. He forgives because He forgives, this is who our God is. Like the sun shines on both the good and bad alike, this is what our God is like. He shown light and the darkness fell. His posture towards us we are to cultivate toward others as well.
The second forgiveness is Aphesis. This is to be released from or set free or divorced from something. This is conditional. Since we still suffer the consequences of sin in our lives and in our relationships with others, we need to be released/divorced/and set free from these damaging things. This is admitting to God that we have an issue, giving way to His power, and allowing Him to make us free by His divine influence working in our lives. God is not the puppet master, overruling everybody by pulling the strings and forcing them to behave. This is freedom you allow Him to work in your life and to operate His way.
So when you come across "forgiveness" in the Scriptures it's a good rule of thumb to keep Aphesis and Charizonmai in mind. An interlinear Bible can be helpful for differentiating between where the two are being used. And if you don't have an interlinear Bible, you can usually look at the context. Does it have conditions involved like "if you forgive others" or "if you confess," then you can be confident it is talking about Aphesis. If it is being given to all freely from God without conditions, then you can be sure it's probably talking about Charizonmai.
The next time you find yourself doubting whether God has forgiven you or not, just remember this and that He is not in a state of unforgiveness. If He would forgive when being murdered, mocked, tortured and killed...you can be sure that the God who changes not would have also forgiven when you yelled at the cat this morning. And knowing that God is not making a list and checking it twice will motivate you to approach Him when you find yourself caught in the issues of life. You can boldly approach the throne of grace and receive mercy and grace for the time of need. He is always more then willing. Look at how graciously and patiently He deals with us, as gloriously emulated at the cross, and allow His loving influence to give you release to go hug your cat and give him a treat!
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