The Scandal of God’s Forgiveness
Edmond Smith
The Scandal of God’s Forgiveness
Copyright © 2017 Edmond Smith. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.
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All Bible quotations, unless otherwise quoted, are taken from the English Standard Version, Crossway Bibles, 2004.
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To Kerryn, my devoted wife and soulmate, who patiently typed up The ‘Scandal’ of God’s Forgiveness, and who inspires me in love for our precious Lord and Savior.
“Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart:
Such a Joy, as none can move:
Such a Love, as none can part:
Such a Heart, as joyes in love”
—George Herbert, 1593–1633
Introduction
In the 1950s, when it was not unusual for songs of a Christian theme to appear in the Western world’s hit parade charts now and then, a song simply titled He captured considerable attention on the radio. It carried the refrain—
“ . . . Though it makes Him sad to see the way we live,
He’ll always say, ‘I forgive’.”
Many took to recording the song and faithfully sang the refrain as the composer intended but George Beverley Shea, the famed singer for the Billy Graham crusades, took the liberty to rephrase the refrain, so rendering it as
“ . . . Though it makes Him sad to see the way we live,
He’s always ready to forgive.”
In line with Billy Graham’s approach to evangelism, it was clear that George Beverley Shea was anxious in the light of Christ’s death to highlight how divine forgiveness is conditioned by a sinner’s willingness to repent, that a sinner cannot be freed of the consequences of the guilt of sin unless he or she first repents. Doubtless Shea sought in song to correct a common notion that cheapens God’s forgiveness, whereby people are not regretful about sin itself and may only be seeking to avoid the consequences of it all, without desiring in earnest to amend their ways. Does not biblical repentance mean to “change one’s mind” and stands for a conscious turning away from evil with the sincere intent to fall in line with the holy ways of God? There are people who expect God to change his mind without them changing theirs for the better.
It is good to be reminded that repentance is required to secure divine forgiveness, but we can overlook the matter of the divine prerogative when it comes to forgiveness. What of forgiveness from God’s point of view? Is it possible that while “he’s always ready to forgive” despite the acts of the grossest of sins, we overlook that it lies in the prerogative of God as to whether or not he forgives? None deserves divine forgiveness. Forgiveness essentially is an act of divine mercy. Can it be said that repentance earns divine forgiveness? If we regret offending God and seek his pardon, do we then earn forgiveness and, to put it perhaps crudely, force God’s hand to pardon? Or, could it be that no-one in his natural state seeks forgiveness and is under the sentence of death, imprisoned while awaiting the sentence of death, and that essentially and solely he depends on “His Majesty’s Pleasure” as to whether or not he shall be released from condemnation? Could it be that not all who are subject to imprisonment and who are deservedly awaiting the sentence of death are destined to be released?
Legally in the secular sphere a person may be released from the penalty of a crime that he has been convicted of when a pardon is granted by an authority such as a king, a president or a governor. A pardon hangs on the prerogative of the authority granting it. It is out of order to question the right of the authority or chief executive in the secular sphere to release or not release an offender, challenging his right to forgive.
When it comes to salvation in Christ, we are reminded of the Apostle Paul’s inspired word concerning the imprisonment of all men as “prisoners of sin.” Paul says in Galatians that before faith came through the appearance of Christ, we all were “prisoners by the law (of God), locked up until faith should be revealed.” He goes on to say: “So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.” We truly become sons of God by faith, he says. Paul says much about “faith”—that which we ourselves clearly exercise for salvation—but having faith as one who had been “set . . . apart from birth” (Gal 1:15) to be called by God’s grace. Paul speaks of faith but of a faith required not merely to preach Christ among the Gentiles, but to be saved.
Some claim predestination is merely a call to service and not for salvation. Paul was predestined from his mother’s womb to be saved. He could not serve the Gentiles unless he had been saved. This is the apostle who speaks of us as all people who were imprisoned by sin. Clearly, he viewed any release from imprisonment and condemnation in terms of divine prerogative, telling the readers of Galatia a little further into the letter that it is also preferable to say God now knows us rather than stating that we know God (Galatians 4:9).
If it is true that it is out of order for any in the secular world to question the right of an authority to release or not to release at their pleasure any who are convicted of a crime they have committed, then is it not out of order to question the right of God as King of the universe to release or not to release any who are fallen people and are under imprisonment, any who through sin have been justly condemned for the offences they commit against his majesty? None of us “have done our time” to warrant release. Any release lies in the pleasure of God. It certainly used to be commonly stated in former days throughout Europe that a prisoner’s release was not ensured “until His Majesty’s Pleasure be known.” Paul tells also in Galatians that God called Paul by his grace, being “pleased to reveal his Son to me” (Galatians 1:16). God is not obliged to pardon anyone. Not only is it that man in his natural state is imprisoned and bound by sin, but God is free, free to pardon or not. It is a marvel that he pardons anyone. We should expect surprise that any of us are saved. Indeed, Paul marvels at the thought of being saved, and the wonder of it lies in the privilege and the free right that God possesses to grant release and forgiveness according to his pleasure.
While Paul states in Galatians that “Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin” (Galatians 3:22), clearly he does not mean that no one was the subject of God’s saving grace until Christ appeared, for he quotes Scripture which said of Abraham for one: “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” He goes on to say: “So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham of old, the man of faith.” Any acquaintance with the Old
