Biblical forgiveness is the process of forgiving someone or being forgiven as illustrated in the Bible. Forgiveness itself is defined as letting go of sin. In the Bible, this includes forgiving everyone, every time, of everything, as an act of obedience and gratefulness to God. It acknowledges the sacrifice God made through His Son Jesus who died to restore the relationship between God and man. Forgiveness does not mean excusing, forgetting, permitting repetition of the sinful act against you, or guaranteeing reconciliation with the perpetrator.

Watch Rob Bell “Luggage”

Answer the following question in the quiz.

• Summarise the key points that this video makes about forgiveness.

DISCUSS

QUOTE “Everyone I know has wounds. And some are small, kind of petty, you know. You just need to get over it. But for a lot of people, they’re big and serious and deep wounds.”

• What kind of wounds do you have?

QUOTE “You thought you were over it but now you’re more into it than ever and the wound is reopened, and it hurts more than ever, and then it becomes a day or a week or 10 years later and now it’s become like a part of you.”

• How have your wounds shaped who you are today?

Read Romans 12:19

QUOTE “You can’t shake it and can’t leave it behind, so then eventually what happens is
revenge becomes our only hope.”

• Have you ever really gotten revenge?
• If so, how did it make you feel afterwards?
• If we take revenge when we get hurt, do you think it’s like saying to God, “I think I can handle this better than you”?

Read Proverbs 15:3

QUOTE “The eyes of God are everywhere, so whatever was done to you, whatever wrong was done to any of us, God saw it – it was like God was right there.”

• If God’s right there when people get hurt, why do you think he doesn’t step in to stop it from happening?
• Do you trust that God is ultimately going to take care of everything?

QUOTE “You know what, you don’t understand. What they did to me is so horrible, I will never forgive them, I can’t forgive them for what they did.’ But what if God said that?”

• Why is God’s forgiveness of us so crucial to our forgiveness of others?

Read Luke 6:37

QUOTE “Sometimes forgiving is remembering and some people are going to keep returning to their vomit, and we don’t have to be there when they do.”

• Can we forgive somebody without being able to be around them?
• Do you have people like that in your life?

QUOTE “Maybe forgiveness is ultimately about me and about you – it’s about us. Because when I forgive somebody and I set them free, it’s like I’m really setting myself free.”

• Do you believe forgiveness is really more about the one forgiving than the one being forgiven?
• Does that view on forgiveness make it easier to forgive?

QUOTE “Forgiving is an action, it’s something you do.”

• Are there people you need to forgive?
• If someone you need to forgive died before you made amends, what kinds of regrets would you have?

“So may you forgive as you’ve been forgiven, may you give to others what’s been given to you, may you set someone free and find out that it was you, and may you do it today because you might not have the chance tomorrow.”

Answer the following question in the quiz.

• Outline the main theological issues or ideas about forgiveness from the above discussion?