It has been said, “To err is human; to forgive is divine.”

 Probably no one would refute that statement.  In no matter is one more godly, one might say, than when he forgives.  That, above all, is what God is about.  God is love (I John 4:8, 16), and in perhaps no greater way is that love personified than in His ability and willingness to forgive.

 And though it hurts Him so to see the way we live,

    He’ll always say, “I forgive.”

 That line from the popular song of the fifties, He, sums it up in royal fashion.  Truly, there is no greater show of love than the ability to forgive—unless it be to lay down one’s life for a friend (John 15:13)—and Jesus laid down His life so we can be forgiven.  Without that forgiveness, salvation would be impossible.

 It is essential to realize that God expects us to have this same quality, if we want Him to forgive us:  We must forgive our brother “up to seventy times seven” (Mt. 18:21-22).  But read the ensuing parable of Jesus in verses 23 to 35 and notice the humble attitude of the servant who sought the patience and forgiveness of his master:

 ²⁶The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ ²⁷Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.

 This begging or pleading for mercy and forgiveness is critical here, because it shows the humble and repentant attitude of the servant, who realized he had done wrong or fallen short of what was expected of him.  Had he not, in effect, tearfully or humbly acknowledged his shortcoming and begged for mercy and forgiveness, he would not have been forgiven by his master:

 ³²Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. ³³Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’

 Indeed, God won’t forgive us our trespasses if we don’t forgive others (verses 33-35).  Notice, too, Matthew 6:14-15: “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions” (NKJB all, unless otherwise indicated).

 Are there any requirements for forgiveness?  We’ve just seen one requirement here.  We have to be willing to forgive others, or God won’t forgive us.

 Are there any other requirements?  Let’s look first at our relationship with God, and then we can see more clearly what our relationship should be with our brothers and sisters here on earth, in this matter of forgiving.

 In addition to our willingness to forgive others, we’ve just seen something else about the attitude of the one God is willing to forgive.  In seeking the master’s patience and understanding, the servant fell down humbly before him and acknowledged his failure to rightly perform what was expected of him.  And this is the kind of attitude that God seeks in His children:

 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.  A broken and a contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise.  (Psalm 51:16-17)

 Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that we are saved by faith and not by any works we can do.  However, there is one thing we must do whenever we sin, for the blood of Jesus to cover our sins—and that is to repent and confess our sins.  In Acts 2:38 we are told to “repent…for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  This would appear to say, then, that the act of repentance is a prerequisite to being forgiven and, consequently to receiving salvation itself.

 Now read Romans 8 in connection with having the Holy Spirit, as we just noted in the book of Acts:

 ⁸So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. ⁹But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. ¹⁰And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

 Acts 2:38 told us we must repent in order to be forgiven and to receive the Holy Spirit, while Romans 8:9 informed us that we do not belong to Christ if we do not have His Spirit.  Therefore, repentance would loom large in the process of one becoming a Christian—one who belongs to Christ and is in receipt of His divine forgiveness through acceptance of His personal sacrifice at Calvary.

 This concept is perpetuated in 2 Corinthians 7:

 ⁸For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. ⁹Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. ¹⁰For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. ¹¹For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

 If godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation (verse 10), would that not indicate that repentance is an important part of the salvation process itself?  We must “repent…for the forgiveness of…sins” (Acts 2:38).  Now let’s look at the words of our Lord in this respect, found in Luke 13: 

¹There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. ²And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? ³I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. ⁴Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? ⁵I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”

 In Mark 1:15 our Lord said, “Repent, and believe in the gospel.”  The gospel is the good news of His life and sacrifice for our sins, making salvation possible.  Before we “believe” on the Lord Jesus Christ, then, we are told to repent—acknowledge and hate our sins.  And repentance plays a very real part in the salvation process and, indeed, in the process of forgiveness, too.

 When Jesus began to preach, His first order of the day was a call for repentance.  We find it in Matthew 4:17:

 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

 In Matthew 11 Jesus again stressed the importance of repentance in the process of salvation:

 ²⁰Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: ²¹“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. ²²But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.

 In Mark 6:7-13 Jesus began to send the twelve disciples out two by two, and in verse 12 we are told that the first thing they, too, did was to emphasize the need for repentance:

 So they went out and preached that people should repent.

 In Acts 3:19 Peter again spoke to the people, in the same manner as he had done in Acts 2:38:

 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.

 Notice the order here.  Conversion—or change—could not take place without first repenting of one’s sins and desiring to live a more righteous life.  And this is the process of forgiveness—“that your sins may be blotted out.”

 In Acts 8 it is again quite apparent that repentance has an active part in forgiveness:  In fact, without repentance, it is doubtful one could be forgiven at all:  And note that repentance comes before the seeking of forgiveness here. 

²¹“You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. ²²Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. ²³For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.”

 In Acts 17 God again commands that all repent, in order to avoid His stern judgment.

 ³⁰Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, ³¹because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.

 Acts 26 gives us a chronology of the process of salvation—of which repentance again plays an active part.  Thus, the song Just As I Am could have some problems here, if it means absolutely nothing is required to “believe and accept Jesus.”

 ¹⁹Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, ²⁰but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.

 In a sense, then, God won’t accept us just as we are.  We have to have a change of heart first.

 The Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon defines “repent” as follows: “To change one’s mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins.”  And in this connection, the idea that all one need do is “believe on the name of Jesus and accept Him” would appear to come up shallow, too.  Accepting His sacrifice means repenting and subsequently obeying Him (Mt. 7:21; Luke 6:46).

 Now that we know how God views the process of forgiveness, we can go on to see how we must act in the process of forgiving others.  Let’s look at Luke’s account of “seven times.”  It is found in Luke 17:

 ¹Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! ²It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. ³Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. ⁴And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”

 Did you notice it?  “If he repents, forgive him.”  It doesn’t say the disciples (and other Christians today) have to forgive him if he doesn’t first repent.  Instead, they are to rebuke a brother who sins against them and forgive only upon that brother’s repentance.

 Isn’t this what Matthew 18, where we earlier noted the “seventy times seven” (verse 22) tells us?  In the earlier verses of the chapter we find some amazing instruction about forgiving others:

 ¹⁵Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. ¹⁶But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ ¹⁷And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.

 Does this appear to be instruction stating that a Christian must forgive a stubborn brother who persists in his sin?  Does treating your brother as a heathen and a tax collector sound like heartfelt forgiveness—where it is quickly forgotten and you again treat that brother as you did before he sinned?  One would hardly think so.  It means you no longer have much to do with him but, rather, have turned him over to his own evil devices, to the world, and to Satan (1 Cor. 5:5).

 One cannot be forgiven without repentance.  Forgiveness and repentance go hand in hand.  One who blatantly continues to sin and won’t change cannot be forgiven until he acknowledges his guilt—confesses (1 John 1:9)--and asks to be forgiven.  This is clear from the scriptures.

 Was not Esau not forgiven (rejected) because he did not find a place for repentance in his heart (Heb. 12:14-17)?  Was it because his was not a godly sorrow, but of the world?  We know that he was, indeed, a gross sinner:

 ¹⁴Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: ¹⁵looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; ¹⁶lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. ¹⁷For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.

Governments have the right to discipline the wrongdoer (Romans 13:1-5), and so do Christians have the right to judge and discipline a wayward Christian (1 Cor. 5:5, 11-12; Gal. 6:1-2; James 5:19-20).  See also the article entitled “Judge Not.”

 If a person is readily and routinely forgiven offenses without exhibiting any godly sorrow leading to salvation (2 Cor. 7:10)—or works befitting such repentance (Acts 26:20)—would he ever see the need to change anything in his life?

 If he is treated more sternly, however—perhaps to the point of being stripped of social contact with his friends (Mt. 18:17; 1 Cor. 5:5; 1 John 1:6, 7), he will know that his sin will not be condoned and that camaraderie or fellowship with him is impossible until he first acknowledges his sin and exhibits works befitting repentance. 

Sin has a price.  That price has been paid by our Lord (Mt. 20:28).  But to be under the mantle of grace and be forgiven, we must repent and confess our sins, and we should then exhibit signs befitting such repentance (Acts 26:20).

 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  (1 John 1:9)

 Forgiveness really is divine.  In seeking it from God or others, however—or granting it—we must strive to adhere to the essential elements thereof.

 In the light of scripture, blanket forgiveness without repentance will not pass the test.