Grace, the Forbidden Gospel - Online Christian Library

Law Grace
Forgive To Be Forgiven?
At the risk of sounding critical, it remains a sad reality that the Bible Society chose to combine the Old and
New Testaments into one single book. This single decision has caused widespread confusion within the
ranks of believers throughout the world. Many of the writings in the Bible before the cross portray God to be a
harsh, cruel being, set on destroying and punishing people if they dared to disobey the set of moral
standards represented by the 10 Commandments and the other laws.
On the contrary, after the cross we see Paul and the other apostles preach a message of unconditional love,
grace and mercy to all who place their faith in Christ. In fact, the way that God relates to believers under the
New Covenant is so vastly different from the way He treated Israel under the law (remember this was a result
of their own doing), that it can’t be even remotely compared. The rules of the race have changed, and trying
to run according to the old rules while competing in a new race will only cause confusion, condemnation and
fear. We’ll look at one of these changed rules, namely how God has changed the way He forgives people
and what that implies for us.
Without a proper understanding of the context of His words, some of Jesus’ statements (before the cross)
may seem contrary to what Paul the apostle preached (after the cross).
Jesus said the following:
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. (Matt 6:12 NKJV)
And in another place:
“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father
in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in
heaven forgive your trespasses”. (Mark 11:25-26 NKJV)
This implies that God’s willingness and ability to forgive us is directly related to our ability to forgive others,
which means that if we refuse to forgive others, God won’t forgive us either. And of course we know that
nobody can go to heaven without having their sins forgiven... Take a moment and think about this scenario: It
entails that if there is even a single bit of unforgiveness in our hearts, even if it’s unintentional, it can
condemn us to hell.
On the contrary, Paul made the following statements:
And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
(Eph 4:32 NKJV, emphasis added)
…bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another;
even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. (Col 3:13 NKJV, emphasis added)
The apostle John also added his voice to this chorus, saying:
I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake. (1 John 2:12
NKJV)
The Rules Have Changed
Before the cross (even when Jesus walked the earth), the house of Israel lived under a different set of rules
than what we now have. This was called the Old Covenant and it mainly stated that God’s faithfulness and
His blessings were dependent on Israel’s ability to obey all the rules. If they failed (to forgive, to obey, to
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