Forgiveness

 

“It’s a strange word, forgiveness,” he said. “I never really understood it until I studied Greek at the seminary. The Greek word in the Bible—aphiemi—means ‘to set free.’ When I heard that, I suddenly grasped what it was all about: forgiving is about freedom. It’s not just about pardoning the wrongdoer—it’s about releasing yourself from the power of what they did to you. Forgiving someone sets you free.”

That's a quote from "A Feather on the Water" by Lindsay Jayne Ashford. I finished the book this week, but this isn't a review of the book.

Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. (Luke 23:34 KJV)

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. (John 8:36 KJV)

And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. (Luke 11:4 KJV)

How do you forgive Dachau? Belsen Bergen? Ravensbrook? 

After we moved to Oklahoma in 1951, I ran across a black and white, glossy paper book, about 5"x7" that was nothing but photographs from concentration camps. The photo that first comes to mind is taken from a wall of an unnamed concentration camp overlooking a wide open flagstone area that women and children are running across. They were all running toward another building, all unclothed, women trying to cover themselves with their hands. 

They thought tthey were running toward showers. That was the reason given them to make them take off their clothes, but it was a lie. Every woman, every child, in that photograph taken by a German guard, would die in a room filled with zyklon B, the gas used at Dachau.

How does an individual forgive such atrocities? Corrie ten Boom told us in her book "The Hiding Place," and she showed us when she met a guard from Belsen Bergen. We forgive as we are forgiven. That frees us in such a way that we can actually pray for the soul of the person who did such terrible wrongs that are laid out in God's word, our Bible, and told to us by God's Word, His Son.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. (John 1:1-2 KJV)

Strong's G863 is ἀφίημι which is used 147 times in 133 verses in the New Testament (KJV) but not always as "forgive":

ἀφίημι aphíēmi, af-ee'-ay-mee; from G575 and ἵημι híēmi (to send; an intensive form of εἶμι eîmi, to go); to send forth, in various applications (as follow):—cry, forgive, forsake, lay aside, leave, let (alone, be, go, have), omit, put (send) away, remit, suffer, yield up.

When we forgive, we must send the hatred and fear away, forsake it, lay it aside, leave it alone, yield it up - mustn't we? Or we carry it with us. Absolutely appropriate actions when we forgive.

Isn't that what God gives us when we ask for His forgiveness? He accepts us as His children, joint heirs with His son:

For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: (Romans 8:15-16 KJV)

That is true, even if we find being His child causes differences at the least, suffering at the most:

And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:17 KJV)

Never forget these verses were written by a former Pharisee, a Jew who believed his God, but neglected Him until he was searched out and questioned. The answer to that question changed Saul into Paul - how much can it change each one of us when we answer it:

And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? (Acts 9:4 KJV)

Again, from "A Feather on the Water":

“You would forgive them?” 

"I would.” 

"How? Why?” 

“Because if I didn’t, I would be the worst kind of hypocrite. I believe in a God who, twice a day, washes all the sands on all the shores of all the world. He makes every mark disappear—from the gaping hole dug by a spade to the footprints left by a gull.”