The key to living well in this fallen world is Christian realism. I could just say, “realism,” because the real world, as it has been revealed by God and believed by Christians is the only world we have. The fact that atheists, Muslims, Buddhists, or secularists do not believe in it does not make it any less real. It’s like gravity. Deny it all you want on whatever grounds you want but when you step off a ten-story building your anti-gravity convictions will not save you from reality.

The reality to which I refer is described in the Bible, beginning (but hardly ending) in Genesis 1:1. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” So, this world was created by God and for God. Everything that exists, exists by Him and for Him. Reality consists of Creator and creation; God and not-God; or what Peter Jones calls, “twoism.”

Just as your eyesight allows you to access the beauty of a sunset so your faith allows you to access the power of the resurrection.

Coupled with this, and extending from it, is what the rest of Scripture teaches about “the things that are unseen” (2 Corinthians 4:18). These are the realities that Paul said kept him from losing heart as he focused on them. What are the unseen realities? They include divine promises like the assurance that God works all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28-30) and that having once begun a good work in His children, He will most certainly bring that work to completion (Philippians 1:6). Add to this, teachings such as God’s meticulous providence that governs our lives (as taught in Matthew 10:29-31 and Ephesians 1:11), the resurrection of the dead (which Jesus’ historically validated resurrection guarantees, 1 Corinthians 15:3-23), and the future new heavens and earth when Christ will return to make all things new (Revelation 21:1-8).

These and many other unseen things are just as real as rain, trees, cancer, death, deceit, sin, and betrayal. Seen realities can be accessed by our senses and experience. Unseen realities can only be accessed by faith. That does not mean that faith creates them. It means that faith accesses them. Just as your eyesight allows you to access the beauty of a sunset or the wickedness of a crime so your faith allows you to access the power of the resurrection, the comfort of the risen Christ’s unending presence with His people, or the assurance of God’s sovereign, meticulous, personal, and loving rule over the details of your life.

Faith does not create those realities. It accesses them. In that way faith is like a radio tuner. The tuner allows you to listen to music through the airwaves. The radio doesn’t create the music. The music is already there. The radio lets you access it. 

In a similar way Christians are believers. We live by faith. That is, by taking God at His Word we are enabled to order our lives according to unseen realities. We are not relegated to having our thoughts, affections, or aspirations governed only by the material world. Yes, we live in the seen world as full participants in it, subject to all the joys and sorrows that go with life east of Eden. But we also know about and have access to the unseen world with all its promises, blessings, and assurances. 

By taking God at His Word we are enabled to order our lives according to unseen realities.

Because of this Christians can let the realities of both the seen and unseen worlds shape our attitudes, choices, hopes, and emotions. This is particularly helpful when dealing the trials, sorrows, and loss that inevitably come in this fallen world. Christians do not have to deny the painful realities of the seen world. We have no need to pretend or to downplay the grief that tribulations bring. We are creatures of like nature with other people (Acts 14:15). We know what it is to lament, to weep, and to suffer. It would be a denial of reality—the things which are seen—not to let oneself respond with normal human emotion when going through trials. But, we need not be cast into hopeless despair, either.

Why? Because there is more to reality than what can be measured by our senses. Unseen realities—those things that have been revealed to us and that can be genuinely accessed by faith—must also be factored into our thinking and emotions. 

Are you suffering sickness, death of a loved one, or some other kind of painful loss? As you face your trial honestly—realistically—do not forget the unseen, eternal realities that are also true. As a child of God, you are eternally loved by Him. Your life is in His hands. He is orchestrating even painful events in ways that will result in what He deems best for you. Though you have not chosen this path of sorrow, you can know for certain, just as assuredly as you know the pain you cannot deny, that your loving Heavenly Father has ordained it for you and has done so for your eternal welfare.

Where this all comes together in sharp focus is the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. The seen realities were obvious. He has betrayed, hated, ridiculed, mocked, beaten, treated unjustly, and executed on a Roman cross. But the unseen realities cannot be denied. In that murderous event, the greatest miscarriage of human justice in history, God was doing His deepest work of redemption. Though not apparent to the senses God was reconciling the world to Himself (2 Corinthians 5:19). He was making a full atonement for the sins of His people (Hebrews 10:10-25). He was securing justification for all who trust Jesus as Lord (Romans 3:20-25).

Though you have not chosen this path of sorrow, you can know for certain, that your loving Heavenly Father has ordained it for you and has done so for your eternal welfare.

There was more going on than met the eye. The same is true in all our trials. That unseen “more,” which we know by faith, is an essential part of reality. 

For Christians who are determined to live in reality, there is only one path forward. We must learn with Paul to be “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10). Sorrowful when we suffer loss and our hopes and plans have been overturned, yet rejoicing because Christ lives. He rules. He loves us and cares for us and is working to make certain that no promise given to us will fail.

This is undoubtedly the hardest emotional path, but it is the best one. It is also the right one. Far easier to calibrate your emotions by only one set of realities to the exclusion of the other. You can deny the pain of what your senses assure you is true and often feel spiritual in the process because you allow only unseen realities be felt. Or you can let what you see and experience overwhelm you to the point of despair as if that there are no unseen realities to be taken into account. In other words, you can respond to trials with either sorrow or rejoicing exclusively. But both of those paths consider only part of reality. To let yourself be both “sorrowful” and “rejoicing” is the path that takes into consideration all reality—both seen and unseen. As such it enables Christians to display genuine faith in our crucified, risen Savior as we continue our walk through this vale of tears.

This article is part 3 in a series by Tom Nettles on Remembering Jesus Christ. You can read part 1, and part 2.

The gospel was no matter of human construction, nor a philosophy to be shaped by critical interaction. It was not Paul’s gospel in the sense that he deduced it from a clever, or even a profound, integration of secular cultural ideals. He did not invent it nor construct it by logical extension from his thorough knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures. His gospel was indeed the culmination of the Holy Scriptures and the perfect and intended fulfillment of their meaning in historical narrative, prophetic utterance, typological events and persons, wisdom literature, and worship material. He told Timothy that the “Holy Scriptures … are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). These Scriptures, which Timothy had been taught from childhood by Lois his grandmother and Eunice his mother were to be seen in their perfect meaning when he viewed them in light of “the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you learned them” (2 Timothy 3:13). Paul referred to his own instruction, for Timothy had “carefully followed my doctrine” (2 Timothy 3:10). What Paul called “my doctrine” here, he had called “my gospel” a few paragraphs earlier.

In Romans 1, Paul begins describing his ministry, indeed his authority, to the Romans, immediately dictating, “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.” He then summarized this gospel in terms virtually synonymous with our text: “which he promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord.” Then he adds the particular idea we are considering, “through whom we have received grace and apostleship,” or perhaps, “this particular grace of apostleship.” He goes on to say, in light of the large Gentile admixture in the church at Rome, “to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake” (Romans 1:1-5). As Paul closed Romans, he told the church that God “is able to establish you according to my gospel, even the preaching of Jesus Christ.” His gospel was the “revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began.”  Though kept hidden as to the kind of person who could fulfill all the requirements of prophecy, who could judge justly and yet forgive sins and remove them as far as the east is from the west, in that revelation it was “made manifest.” Then in a way perfectly consistent with the Scriptures of the prophets, this gospel that he calls “my gospel” was “made known” to the nations.

Similarly, to the Ephesians he wrote that “this grace was given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8). The gospel that he preached carried the authority of his apostleship, his independent understanding of the gospel of Christ revealed to him: ”that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery” (Ephesians 3:3). As he told Timothy, this gospel now constitutes a part of the Holy Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16) and brings all of its parts into perfect harmony. By the gospel certain mysteries that lingered in the prophets were given clarity. Peter referred to this in 1 Peter 1:10-12, asserting that “those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven” gave clarity to both “the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.” Mysteries left buzzing in the heads of the prophets found their resting place in “Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of a seed of David.” Paul goes on to tell the church in Ephesus about his “insight into the mystery of Christ” that was not made known in previous generations but “has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit” (Ephesians 3:4, 5). Of this gospel God’s powerful grace made Paul a minister, a steward of the revealed truth concerning “the unfathomable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:7, 8).

When among the church at Corinth false teachers came who taught that there is no such thing as a resurrection of bodies, Paul began his instruction with a strong assertion of the absolute truthfulness of the gospel that he had preached. By his gospel they would be saved; if his gospel was not true, their faith would be empty. Note how insistent he is on the certainty of his message. To counteract these heretics, Paul reviewed “the gospel which I preached to you” and asserted the certainty of their salvation “if you hold fast the word which I preached to you” (1 Corinthians 15:1, 2). What did he preach? “I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received.” From whom did he receive this message that he preached? As he argues throughout his corpus of letters, he received it by divine revelation so that his gospel was for certain the gospel of God. 

The first necessary theological truth is precisely this: preaching by an apostle. “So we preached and so you believed. Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the Dead?” (11, 12). Preached, therefore believed. If taught otherwise than preached by an apostle, the message is false, even without further investigation. Other doctrinal ideas of major importance are eventually discussed—forgiveness of sins, the conquering of death, the reigning of the man from heaven—but it is striking that the first thing Paul mentioned is the unity of the apostolic witness on this issue. Only a revelation could accomplish such unanimity. 

If unalterably true as Paul claimed, his gospel would bear the scrutiny of critical examination in places where it touched on matters open to investigation.  True belief, however, would arise in the context of the apostolic word, not the scrutiny. The resurrection of Christ and the consequent resurrection of believers were unambiguous facts of this divine revelation. The divine grace that captured him, making him an apostle, also confirmed to him the content of the gospel that he preached. His gospel, as revealed to him by the Holy Spirit, was a message of salvation grounded both in Scripture and in history. “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3). “Christ died” was historical; “for our sins” was theological, a matter of divine revelation and in perfect harmony with the prophetic words, “The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all; … he bore the sins of many” (Isaiah 53:6, 12). “That he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” relates two historical facts—buried, raised—that Paul proceeds to verify by historical evidence—multiple eyewitnesses of the risen Christ—including his own remarkable conversion and call to preach (1 Corinthians 15:5-10). Then with the historical evidence he interweaves truths of consistent biblical witness such as the Lord Messiah would be seated at the right hand of the Lord “till I make your enemies your footstool” (Psalm 110:1). Also, he would come in power as the “Son of man, coming on the clouds of heaven” and would be given “dominion and glory and a kingdom” (Daniel 7:13, 14). Only the resurrection of the crucified Messiah can explain such events. 

In his letter to the churches of Galatia, Paul was shocked and amazed that someone could come among them, preaching a supposed gospel other than what Paul preached, and actually be credited as truthful. Paul had no room for suavity, politeness, or deference on this issue but instead said in no uncertain terms, “If we, or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, accursed be him” (Galatians 1:8). Why is Paul so certain of the correctness of his anathematization? “The gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:11, 12). Paul had no doubts that his gospel was THE gospel; he had no doubt that his gospel was the same as that preached by the other apostles; he had no doubt that he received his gospel by divine revelation.

“Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, out of a seed of David, according to my gospel” (2 Timothy 2:8).

This article is part 3 in a series by Tom Nettles on Remembering Jesus Christ.

Join us at the 2024 National Founders Conference on January 18-20 as we consider what it means to “Remember Jesus Christ” under the teaching of Tom Ascol, Joel Beeke, Paul Washer, Phil Johnson, Conrad Mbewe and Travis Allen.

This article is part 2 in a series by Tom Nettles on Remembering Jesus Christ. You can read part 1 here.

“Remember Jesus Christ, risen out of death, arising from the seed of David, according to my gospel” (2 Timothy 2:8).

In supplying the name of the one that we are to remember, he also supplies the reasons that forgetfulness in this matter is fatal. Paul supplies the name of the person who embodies the full range of truth and saving grace that counters the falsehoods, errors, and aggressive evil of fallen humanity. As he reminded the Corinthians, “As in Adam all die; even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). In the context of this letter to Timothy, Paul uses the combination “Christ Jesus” or “Jesus Christ” fourteen times. Two of these also employ the word “Lord” with the name “Jesus” and the office, “Christ.” Also, there are fifteen other uses of the word “Lord” to refer to Jesus Christ. The book is saturated with Jesus Christ, his lordship, his mercy, his purpose, his truthful word, his conquering of death, his promise of life, his salvation, his status as judge, and his personal presence with the believer. Paul aimed to make it impossible to forget either the person or the work of Jesus Christ. To forget is to deny; to deny is to give surety of an absence of grace.

Particularly Paul does not want us to forget the significance of the name and the title given to him. His name is Jesus. The angel told Joseph, calling him “son of David,” that the child with whom Mary was impregnated by the Holy Spirit was to be called “Jesus” (Matthew 1:20, 21). The significance of this designated name was related to the child’s office as Savior—“for he shall save his people from their sins.” The name means, “Jehovah is salvation.” 

For Joshua (the same name), his name was a testimony to the promise of Jehovah in giving to Israel the land of Abraham. It signified that Jehovah was strong, mighty, faithful, the only God, and would accomplish all his promises, both of blessing and of cursing. He would work through Joshua to fulfill these promises and establish the context where the people would respond to this miraculous deliverance and strikingly clear revelation. Some of the promises were unconditional and unilateral. No alterations among the Israelites could change the ability and determination of God to carry through. Others were conditional and were, in one sense, dependent on the faithfulness of the people (2 Kings 23:26, 27). 

The task of Joshua was typological; the task for Jesus was the substance and absolute. Joshua set the stage for the powerful display of divine purpose; Jesus embodied the mystery of godliness. Joshua testified of the power of God to save and called the people to follow him in serving the Lord (Joshua 24); Jesus did not merely testify to the power of God to save, but he possessed and executed his saving power by own righteous acts and perfect obedience. Not only like Joshua did he testify to the power of God to save, but he constituted the saving purpose of God. Though “Jesus” is his human name, it also is a testimony to his divine nature–”Jehovah is salvation.”

As “Christ,” the God-man Jesus is the anointed one. Every office and type established by anointing, the Christ culminated in himself. Did God give prophets to reveal and speak and write his word to his people? Jesus is the prophet promised through Moses, the “Word made flesh,” the Son through whom God “has spoken” (Deuteronomy 18:15, 18; John 1:14; Hebrews 1:2). Is he not the true Elisha, the God of supplication, anointed by Elijah (1 Kings 19: 16; Luke 1:17; 3:21, 22; Luke 23:34; John 1:29-34). Does the Lord not set forth the prophet as a special representative of his anointing? (1 Chronicles 16:22; Psalm 105:15). “Do not touch my anointed ones, and do my prophets no harm.” Does not Jesus claim that he is the fulfillment of the anointed prophet sent to preach good tidings to the poor, and proclaim liberty to the captives? (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18). 

He is Priest. As the priest was anointed to offer sacrifice (Leviticus 4:4, 5) and sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice. Christ, therefore, offered himself once-for-all putting an end to all of the typological sacrifices. Though not of the tribe of Levi, he received a special commission for this purpose (Hebrews 7:20; 8:6; 9:12, 24-26). So, Jesus Christ, having served as the anointed prophet, then completed his anointed work of priesthood, altar, and sacrifice. Nothing in the sacrificial system was left unfulfilled by him.

David was anointed king by Samuel (1 Samuel 16:13). In consequence of the Christ’s completed prophetic work and the perfection of his priesthood, he was given his seat at the right hand “of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3), fulfilling the promise to David of the forever king established by God. “And I will establish him in my house and in My kingdom forever; and his throne shall be established forever” (1 Chronicles 17:14). Jesus Christ alone, in all three of these offices can say, “I have been anointed with fresh oil” (Psalm 92:10).

Nothing else would matter if the next phrase were not vital to the way we are called upon to “Remember Jesus Christ.” Both the soteriological power and the apologetic coherence of the gospel would fall to the ground, no more to rise, without it. “Risen from the dead” denotes the conquering of the scheme of Satan to oppose the purpose of God in lifting up non-angelic creatures to a position higher than the angels—in fact, to share in some way with the glory of his Son. Jesus did not give aid to angels but was “made like his brethren,” made propitiation “for the sins of the people,” and “having purged our sins,” destroyed him that has the “power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14-17; 1:3). The wages of sin, the penalty of death for disobedience, unpropitiated through the ages, held as a threat by the Devil and verified by divine justice, lost its sting when Jesus “bore our sins in his own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). Jesus Christ, who bore those death-dealing sins, was “raised from the dead by the glory of the Father” (Romans 6:4). This means that all the holy, righteous, and just attributes of God, the entire weightiness of God, were honored completely by Christ’s death and thus called for the granting of life to the successful sin-bearer. Death, therefore, no longer has any hold on Christ or his people and Satan’s tool of intimidation has been removed. The work of Christ and the verdict of the Father are communicated in power to the redeemed by the Spirit. “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” (Romans 8:11). God, therefore, instead of being against us is for us. Why? Because he “spared not His own Son but delivered him up for us all.” Having given us Him, he freely gives us all that Christ has gained. None can now condemn for “it is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God.” On top of that he “makes intercession for us” (Romans 8:32-34).

Under the name of Christ, we already have looked briefly at the significance of the phrase, “out of a seed of David.” The anarthrous use of spermatos has the force of isolating the word to a specific person, Mary. Jesus was born, was conceived in and then came out of Mary, a seed of David. Luke 1:27 has the phrase, “out of the house of David,” a phrase to be applied both to Mary and Joseph. The seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15) was also the seed of David. He descended from David in his human nature and has a right to the throne. “He will be great,” the angel told Mary, “and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.” (Luke 1:32). How low the House had fallen that a teenage virgin was to bear the seed of David to the Messiah and his legal father would be a mere carpenter. Luke 2:4 again emphasizes that Joseph was “of the house and lineage of David” because the enrollment must take place legally according to the male of the household. When the angel addressed Joseph to inform him of the source of Mary’s impregnation, he said “Joseph, son of David” (Matthew  1:20). Jeremiah 30:9 predicts, “They shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king.” In Ezekiel we read, “And my servant David shall be king over them” (34:24; 37:24). Hosea predicts that after a time of devastation, Israel will “seek the Lord their God and David their king” (Hosea 3:5). This descent from David confirms the prophetic material concerning the Messiah, seals the reality of his humanity, and shows that the true “Man after God’s own heart” saves us, rules over us with lovingkindness until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.

Paul has given a thick distillation of biblical doctrine on the person of Christ in his paternal admonition to Timothy. For his preaching, his instruction of elders, and for his personal joy and assurance Paul instructed Timothy, and so instructs us, “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of a seed of David.”

This article is part 2 in a series by Tom Nettles on Remembering Jesus Christ.

Join us at the 2024 National Founders Conference on January 18-20 as we consider what it means to “Remember Jesus Christ” under the teaching of Tom Ascol, Joel Beeke, Paul Washer, Phil Johnson, Conrad Mbewe and Travis Allen.

The theme of the 2024 Founders Conference surrounds Paul’s admonition, “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, out of the seed of David, according to my gospel.” God willing, and according to his enlightenment and strength, I want to discuss this sobering theme in a series of posts focusing on the biblical developments of “remember.” The word points to events that are both pivotal and central. Not only do they give a swift alteration of direction for humanity, but they rise to a culmination and a subsequent response in thought and deed.  The flow of the entire biblical text presses forward to this command, “Remember Jesus Christ.” It summarizes every other call to remember. I intend also to describe historical manifestations of the loss (forgetting) and recovery (remembering) of this culminating event in the history of redemption.

“Remember” calls to mind central admonitions in the history of God’s revelation of redemptive power to his people. The command is not for a mere mental recall of an event or a casual reminder of a person’s name or status. It is a critical summons to put an event or person or commitment so at the center of your concern that the weight of its importance transforms your thinking. When the thief said to Jesus, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom,” (Luke 23:42) he wanted to be taken personally by Jesus into that status of perfect, sinless, beneficent rulership. Jesus responded with an answer commensurate with the purpose of the request, “Truly I say to you, this day with me you will be in paradise” (Luke 23:44). “As surely as my work of atonement will bring me into the glory of heaven in the presence of the Father, so it will do for you.” The request of the crucified thief was for Jesus’ personal investment in the eternal well-being of his mind, body, and soul—”Remember.”

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8), involves more than simple mental recall, but an investment of life in the rhythm of divine labor. As God worked for six days in creation, so should these redeemed people labor for six days at life-sustaining tasks that deserved their energy. As God had finished creation and then rested, so were the people rescued from relentless labor in Egypt to embrace a sabbath as instituted and practiced by God on the seventh day. All the animals, each member of the family, all the nation would so esteem the glory of the Creator/Redeemer/Covenant God that their lives individually and corporately would be defined by it. “Remember Jesus Christ” has that same claim on the lives of his redeemed ones but with an even greater intensity in light of an even more powerful delivery.

In Genesis 9:15, God said to Noah that he would “remember my covenant” made with the whole earth never again to destroy all flesh by flood. At the appearance of the rainbow in the cloud (which God himself makes), “I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature.” God’s promise to remember reflects a decree set in the context of his own integrity, a promise made by the unlying God (Titus 1:2). 

In Leviticus 26:42 and 45 God refers to remembering his covenant with Abraham and Isaac so that he does not destroy the people entirely when they go into captivity: “I will remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt.” When God remembers, he conducts himself in accord with his eternal decree to redeem sinners through a man that would come in the context of a nation and a family, a man whose genealogy is traceable to Abraham and to Adam. The theology of “remember” means that God’s purpose and consequent action of redemption captures the mind and determines the actions.

Deuteronomy 6:12 gives a stern warning “lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of Egypt.” God gave a formula for protection against their fatal forgettings. Generation upon generation should follow this system of instruction? “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:6-9). The whole life should be lived in the conscious awareness of God’s authority, his commands, his sovereign mercy, the fearful wonder of his distinguishing grace. The words of revelation that he has given by which the meaning of his historical acts of grace are disclosed must be an ever-present body of informative truth to his people. We must not forget; it must not pass away from our present consciousness that we are saved by free, unmerited, sovereign mercy.

Deuteronomy 8 verses 2, 11, 14, 18, 19 have an antiphonal chorus that works between the seriousness of the command to remember and the devastation wrought by the tragedy of forgetting. “And you shall remember” (2) refers to the Lord’s provisions and testing in the forty years of wilderness wanderings. This was to focus their lives, their hearts, on the revealed word of God as the source of life (3). Should his temporal blessings make them flatter themselves with a sense of independence, they are warned not to “forget the Lord your God” (11) and ignore his commandments. Again verse 14 warns against allowing success in the Promised Land to push aside the obvious dependence that they have on the Lord presently, even as it was undeniable during the testing of the forty years. If they are tempted to say, “My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth,” they again are commanded, “You shall remember the Lord our God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which he swore to your fathers” (18). “Remember” challenges the mind to grasp the covenantal mercy of God with such conscientious commitment that nothing can drive a wedge of temporal delusion between the moral and spiritual mind of a person and the infinite power and mercy of divine provision.

When Jesus established the symbol of the final, ultimate, perfect redemptive act, he commanded his followers, “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). When Paul recounted the event for the Corinthians, he connected Jesus’ command of remembrance, do this “in remembrance of me,” with the breaking of the bread and the taking of the cup. “This do,” he said, “as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me” (1 Corinthians 11:24, 25). Paul added that such an action was a proclamation of the “Lord’s death till he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26).

The command of Paul to Timothy to “Remember Jesus Christ,” therefore, reaches deep into the biblical text as a prompt to take to heart the covenantal faithfulness of God. “Remember” means to be in active reflection on the saving mercy contained in the eternal covenant and the consequent redemptive action of God in Jesus Christ.

Join us at the 2024 National Founders Conference on January 18-20 as we consider what it means to “Remember Jesus Christ” under the teaching of Tom Ascol, Joel Beeke, Paul Washer, Phil Johnson, Conrad Mbewe and Travis Allen.

What comes to your mind when you think about the word resolution? Is it that there are only a few months left until the end of the year and you’ve yet to keep any of yours? Do you think of physical fitness goals or establishing better eating habits? Maybe you think of financial goals such as getting out of debt. Or how about Bible reading goals like reading the Bible in a year? 

Chances are that all of us have made resolutions at some point or another and all of us have failed to keep our resolutions at some point too. But how should we approach our resolutions and how should we think about our failure to keep them?

There is perhaps no better tutor to instruct us on the topic of resolutions than Jonathan Edwards. Before Jonathan Edwards was the Jonathan Edwards we know him to be, he was a 19 year old kid who wrote 70 Resolutions. For Edwards, this was a private document. It was never intended by him to be instructive to others, but there is much that we can glean by considering Edwards’ approach to his own resolutions and his failure (yes you read that right) in keeping them.

How We Approach Resolutions According to Edwards

Being sensible that I am unable to do anything with- out God’s help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ’s sake. (Jonathan Edwards in his Preamble to his 70 Resolutions)[1]

Edwards wrote a preamble to his 70 Resolutions and maybe that seems a strange thing to include when you think about making resolutions, but this preamble was Edwards’ way of starting off on the right foot. There is much to learn from his inclusion of this preamble, but for our purposes, we will limit our observations to two primary things. 

First, we see Edwards’ confession of his utter dependency upon the Lord. It is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone that is the foundation of our justification, and it is that same grace on which we are spiritually successful at anything (Ephesians 2:4-10).

Young Edwards knew that he would be “unable to do anything without God’s help.” As Christians, when we seek to make a change in our lives, which is a goal of a resolution, we should at the same time acknowledge the grace that we stand on that makes the change possible.

“But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:10 NKJV) 

Second, we see Edwards’ desire that his resolutions be agreeable to the will of God. We must live our lives open-handed before the Lord. We can make our resolutions the same way that we can make plans in our lives, but if our plans or resolutions collide with God’s will, we must humbly submit.

“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” (James 4:13-15 NKJV)

Our resolutions, like the plans we make should always be anchored to “if the Lord wills…”. 

If we summarized the way in which Edwards approached his 70 Resolutions, we could say that he approached them in humility. As you approach your own resolutions, consider the grace and will of God in your life as you write them and seek to keep them.

The Failures of Jonathan Edwards

While we can learn how to approach our resolutions by looking to Edwards, we can at the same time learn from his failures. To do this, consider Edwards’ 41st Resolution: 

41. Resolved, to ask myself at the end of every day, week, month and year, wherein I could possibly in any respect have done better. Jan. 11, 1723. 

First, there is much to commend about this resolution. We tend not to examine ourselves. We don’t sit still long enough to inspect ourselves. In contrast, Edwards sought to set aside times to intentionally and thoughtfully evaluate his character and at this period in his life he used the Resolutions as his rubric (there is no evidence that Edwards maintained a habit of inspecting himself using these 70 Resolutions his whole life). However, there is a danger in using a list of 70 rules to determine your spiritual health and three journal entries from Edwards around the time he penned this particular resolution helps demonstrate this.

Jan. 15, Tuesday, about two or three of clock. I have been all this day decaying…

Jan. 17, Thursday. About three o’clock, overwhelmed with melancholy . . . 

Jan. 20, Sabbath Day . . .I find my heart so deceitful, that I am almost discouraged from making any more resolutions.[2]

It is widely known that Edwards struggled with seasons of anxiety and depression, however these journal entries show a particular level of despair. He seems almost paralyzed. I do not think it is a coincidence that Edwards was despairing at the same time he wrote this resolution, but what went wrong exactly?

What young Edwards experienced was the experience we all have this side of eternity—failure. We still wrestle with sin and temptation. We have not received our glorified bodies yet. Therefore, the spiritual progress we make this side of eternity will always be mingled with our sins and short-comings. Yet there is a critical thing we must remember:

We are justified not by our works, but by the works of Another.

“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…” (Hebrews 1:1-3 NKJV)

Jesus our Creator and Sustainer who is the brightness of the glory of God and the express image of his person did everything sufficient for our salvation. His bodily and eternal resurrection and his exaltation is the evidence of that. He by himself purged our sins. 

This was one of the significant things about the preamble Edwards wrote. Could it be that Edwards forgot this at times? Absolutely, that is why he wrote the preamble in the first place. But how do I know this for certain? I know this because this is a common experience and struggle east of Eden. Those in the early church had the propensity to forget the good news and so do we. Our Lord knew this would be the case, this is one of the reasons he gave the church two ordinances—baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We need these (along with the Word and prayer) to remember that everything we are, is all of grace.

When we forget that it is in Christ that we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28), then we default into works righteousness and this is enslaving and always leads us to despair. 

The reason Edwards wrote his resolutions was to maximize his enjoyment of God by glorifying God. This is evident by his very first resolution:

1. Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God’s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriads of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever[3]

This can be achieved when we remember that we make our resolutions as a people that are positionally right with our Triune God. And as we make our resolutions, we keep in mind that it is the glory of God that makes our resolutions a worthy pursuit. We should make resolutions. But we must remember, our resolutions make lousy saviors. 

[1] Works of Jonathan Edwards 16:754.

[2] Works of Jonathan Edwards 16:764-765.

[3] Works of Jonathan Edwards 16:754.

This article is an expansion of teaching from Joey Tomlinson’s book – Serious Joy: Reflections and Devotions on Jonathan Edwards’ Seventy Resolutions. It is now available for order for $14.98 at press.founders.org

“But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness” (Hebrews 3:13); “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24).

One of the most common misunderstandings among church members is that we hire pastors as the professional Christians who will do all of the work among the members and then preach to us on Sundays. Yet, in the Word of God, the pastors are to equip the saints (believing members) for “their works of ministry” (Ephesians 4:11-12). 

The two verses above from Hebrews are spoken to Christians—not just pastors. In the Hebrews 3 passage we are told that we are to encourage other believers on a daily basis so their hearts will not be hardened. Note that this encouragement is to be on a daily basis (not just on Sundays). 

The Hebrews 10 passage instructs us that we are to consider how we may help others on toward love and good deeds. In order for us to do this, we must know the flock. Again, these words are addressed to believers, not just to pastors. 

There are many other verses which instruct us as believers (and members of a local church) to be about the business of ministry among our fellow believers. We are told that pure religion is to look after orphans and widows (James 1:17), we are instructed to build up others (1 Thessalonians 5:11); to comfort others (1 Thessalonians 4:18); to encourage others (1 Thessalonians 5:11); to counsel others (Romans 15:14); to abound in love for others (1 Thessalonians 3:12); to bear others’ burdens (Galatians 6:2); to teach and admonish each other (Colossians 3:16); to speak to each other in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:1); to submit to one another (Ephesians 5:21) and to pray for each other (James 5:16).

These instructions, addressed to all believers, cannot be carried out on Sunday alone. They must be attended to daily as we serve among the members of our local body. When one uses the term “ministry” we ordinarily think of the work of the pastor. Certainly he has a special obligation to the flock, but the New Testament also calls on each of us to care for our fellow members, looking upon their needs as our responsibilities. 

This caring could be carried out in their homes, on the job, at school, in the hospital, at a nursing home, perhaps even in a jail. It involves getting to know our fellow members and their families, learning what spiritual, physical and financial needs they have.

Often we have a tendency to spend time with those members who are popular and with whom we feel most comfortable, but usually they are the ones with the fewest needs. The most lonely and those who are all alone, are the ones who really need us. Perhaps that is why our Lord labeled pure religion as when one cares for orphans and widows, for usually there are no returns or reciprocity. 

Here are some practical suggestions and considerations to help us to obey the Lord in the area of visitation:

• Don’t expect the pastor to do it; look upon it as your responsibility.

• Consider it a privilege to serve the Lord and His people in this manner.

• Ask God to help you determine just how you can serve in this capacity.

• Set some reasonable goals or expectations; otherwise you may continually put it off.

• Choose a companion to go with you and to encourage your responsibility in this area.

• Make a list of those people in your congregation whom you do not know and plan to get to know them.

• Make a list of those people in your congregation whom you suspect have spiritual, family, physical, or financial needs.

• Determine the needs with which you feel capable of helping.

• Plan to spend time with these individuals or families. Keep in mind it does not have to be a formal visit. It could be just shopping together, picnicking or enjoying a hobby together.

• Organize others to help you with larger needs.

• Keep your pastors, elders and deacons informed of the needs, especially if you are not capable of helping meet those needs. Ask for their help.

• Certain personal needs will require confidentiality. Don’t violate their trust by talking to others.

• Pray with these members. If exhortation is needed, do so firmly, but lovingly.

• Do not promise them help and then drop the matter. People who have previously suffered disappointment need to have those on whom they can depend.

• Do not promise the impossible. There will be serious problems—such as deep financial troubles, which neither you nor the church has sufficient resources to resolve.

• Always exhibit genuine joy and hope. Through Christ there should always be hope and joy.

As you work among the membership of your local church, you are going to come across a large variety of problems and needs in the body. They will range across the entire spectrum and will vary from individual to individual and from family to family. Here are some of the ones you will meet:

• Depression

• Anger

• Loneliness

• Marital disputes, separations, divorces

• Rebellious children

• Drug, alcohol and sexual abuse

• Immorality

• Financial irresponsibility, debts, credit card abuse

• Spiritual laziness

• Physical illnesses

• Houses and family schedules in disarray

• Unforgiving spirit

• Unemployment and despair

• Disinterest in church attendance

• Illegal activities, tax abuse

• Incorrect theology

• Lack of family prayer and worship

• Weak faith

• Lack of joy

• Grief over the loss of a loved one

• Wrong priorities

Obviously there will be many good things you will discover also, but this list highlights just a few of the various needs you will encounter.

Adam’s sin had a tremendous impact upon the human race. He plunged us into sin, ruin and misery, and we are called upon by our Lord to help our fellow members as they struggle in this fallen world. But keep in mind the deep satisfaction you will find when you help others recover, and then get to see them keep the cycle going as they, in turn, help others.

You will not learn of these problems and needs on Sunday mornings. But you will become aware of their existence as you regularly visit among members and really get to know the people of your local church.

This article is an excerpt from Curtis Thomas’ book – Life in the Body of Christ: Privileges and Responsibilities in the Local Church. A new hardcover edition is now available for order for $24.98 at press.founders.org

“Each one should use whatever spiritual gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 4:10–11).

Like most churches, ours has a large team of volunteers. We have members who have volunteered to work in the nursery, to clean our building, to keep the grounds mowed, to operate the sound system, to make our tape recordings, to answer incoming phone calls, to teach our classes, to serve as Deacons, Elders and Trustees, to mention but a few. Without these “volunteers” our church could not carry out her ministry.

Yet, when we look into the Word of God, it never speaks of volunteers. It speaks of those who freely serve and who recognize they have a joyful obligation to serve others in whatever manner they are capable (or gifted). In the New Testament the four basic passages dealing with the believers’ use of their gifts are Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4 and 1 Peter 4. In these passages we learn that Christ has sovereignly distributed His gifts to His church through her various members and that they are responsible to use these gifts (interests, talents, training, resources, opportunities) to faithfully serve others. 

Nowhere in Scripture do we have the slightest hint that God’s people are to volunteer. Rather, the Scriptures indicate that the use of our gifts should be considered a joyful responsibility. It is for that reason that I do not like the term volunteer when thinking of God’s people serving the body of Christ. The term volunteer may give a believer the idea that he has an option whether or not he is willing to serve in a certain capacity and that if he chooses to serve in that capacity, he is going beyond his actual responsibility (he is “volunteering”)—and therefore has done something meritorious. 

Instead, God’s Word tells me clearly that if I have been gifted in a certain area I have no alternative but to use that gift, serving with the strength God gives me, for the good of others. Such service should be performed joyfully, thanking God for giving me the opportunity to serve His body.

Our responsibility is to learn what our gifts are and to use them to the fullest. Our gifts do not have to be perfected in order to serve. That is a mistake made or excuse used by many, which keeps them from serving. Opportunity and need will help determine when our gifts should be exercised. Our abilities to serve in a certain area will surely increase with experience as we exercise our gifts. If we wait until we think were are fully qualified, we may never use that with which God has gifted us. 

There are, obviously, believers who are trying to serve in areas in which they are not gifted, or not sufficiently trained or qualified. This is where we need the honest counsel of the church leadership and membership. If I do not have the gift of teaching, I would be wrong to insist that I serve in that capacity. If my voice and mannerisms are unsuitable for the church receptionist, I should instead look for other areas in which help is needed. Thankfully, God has not gifted us all in the same way. Yet, he has placed on all of us the responsibility to serve in the areas for which we are most capable, not as volunteers, but as His children, joyfully accepting the responsibility to serve our brothers and sisters in Christ.

This article is an excerpt from Curtis Thomas’ book – Life in the Body of Christ: Privileges and Responsibilities in the Local Church. A new hardcover edition is now available for pre-order for $19.98 at press.founders.org

“I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another” (Romans 15:14).

In this passage the NIV uses the word “instruct,” while others translate it “admonish” or “counsel.” In all of these translations, Paul gives the Roman Christians credit that they had (through the Holy Spirit) the knowledge and spiritual ability to look after each other. In other words, they were capable of counseling one another regarding their obligations to the Lord, to each other and to the world around them. The majority of those Roman Christians probably had little formal education and many of them were slaves. Yet, Paul teaches them that they are to instruct, admonish, or counsel each other on how to live the Christian life.

In our culture today we are being told that we are individuals who can live life the way we want to. We do not need others telling us how to live. We are capable of going it alone and doing it our own way. Further, we especially do not need “self-righteous people, church-going hypocrites, religious fanatics, or some book written centuries ago” to tell us how to live. We are quite capable of making our own life decisions without outside interference!

As the church is more and more influenced by the standards of society, rather than the objective Word of God, this individualism and opposition to authority has become rampant even among professing Christians. The thought of other Christians interfering in our lives, especially admonishing us, would raise serious objections among many in our churches today. Despite that, Paul’s words are timeless and are as much in need today as they were in the first century—perhaps even more so as individual personal standards have supplanted our objective standard of authority—the Bible.

Peter writes that God, by “His divine power, has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him” … and through God’s “great and precious promises” … we “may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (1 Peter 1:3–4). Peter is telling us that through our relationship with the living Lord and by His inspired Word, we have what we need to live the Christian life. We do not depend upon the standards of the world, psychiatric formulas and behavior studies. Instead, we need to know what the Word of God says and then to responsibly obey that Word. That same Word (properly interpreted and applied) is the authority for us to use in counseling one another. We are not to press our own opinions and subjective morality on one another, but rather the clear teachings of God’s Word. 

As the church is more and more influenced by the standards of society, rather than the objective Word of God, this individualism and opposition to authority has become rampant even among professing Christians.

Paul tells us that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (1 Timothy 3:15). Paul’s statement is set in the context of the elders who use the Word of God in training church members in righteous living. But the same principles apply to the individual member. His privilege and duty is to take that “God-breathed” (inspired) Word and use it, first in his own life and then in the lives of fellow believers. His duty is to correctly apply the specific commands and implied principles. These must never be wrenched from their context. As proper principles of interpretation are employed, the Spirit uses the Word to change lives dramatically. That is how we are to counsel one another.

Paul, in Galatians 6, gives us directions as to who among us should be counseling others. It is those “who are spiritual” (vs. 1). In the previous chapter, in verses 19–26, it is clear that the spiritual are those who are not living in the “acts of the sinful nature,” (sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, jealousy, dissensions, etc.) but rather those who are living by the “fruit of the spirit” (those who are generally characterized by love, joy, peace, patience, etc.) These are the members who are called upon to restore a brother who has been trapped in some sin (vs. 1). Paul goes on to tell us that we are to be gentle toward one another, to watch ourselves also that we do not ourselves fall, to carry one another’s burdens (vss. 1–2). There is a proper way to approach others who need change in their lives; it is one of gentleness, patience and humility.

However, one is not to be so patient that he allows sin to go unchecked in the body. There will be those times when we say “enough is enough,” and we must courageously call for change. New Testament examples can be found in the cases of Ananias and Sapphira (an extreme example, Acts 5), a man involved in immorality with his father’s wife (1 Corinthians 5), those who were taking the Lord’s supper in an unworthy and unloving manner (1 Corinthians 11) and Euodia and Syntyche, who were feuding (Philippians 4:2). 

Counseling one another involves not only dealing with sin, but also encouraging those who are suffering from depression, discouragement, loss, or grief. Paul demonstrates this aspect of counseling in 1 Thessalonians where he encourages those who have had family members and friends who have died. (See 4:13–5:11; see also 1 Corinthians 15 where he talks about the resurrection and the fact that death no longer has a sting for the believer.) Peter closes his letter with wonderful words of comfort to those who, as a result of their faith, have been scattered, with these wonderful words of comfort: “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast” (1 Peter 5:10).

Paul gives words of comfort about the suffering we must undergo as believers. He tells us that we should rejoice in our suffering, because “suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Romans 5:3–5).

Our roles, therefore, as counselors to one another are not only to deal with sin, but also to offer comfort and cheer. Further, we are to train and instruct others in righteousness (see 1 Timothy 3:16 quoted above). Our counsel has both a corrective purpose and a training process. Admonition by itself can create serious relational problems. It is when we take the time to gently train others in the way of righteousness that we complete the God-ordained cycle. 

Here are some practical suggestions as to how we should counsel one another (though this is not to be construed as a complete list):

• Make sure that our own lives are exemplary. Not perfect! No one is! But our overall lives should be such that the people whom we are counseling have respect for us. Christ is clear (Matthew 7) that we should first clean up our own lives before we correct someone else.

• Always pray before approaching another person and when possible, pray with that person. Remember that God is the one who changes people.

• If there is a sin involved, we need to know clearly what the Bible has to say about it. We must make certain that it is a sin, not something that we must learn to forbear.

• If a fellow member is discouraged we need to find out the basis of that discouragement and talk with that person about the provisions and promises which our Lord has given to us in His Word.

• Often we will deal with people who have lost hope. Those people must be helped to see that through the power of the Spirit of God their lives and their outlook can be changed.

• We must encourage those whom we counsel to be in the Scriptures frequently. Leave with them directions to those specific portions of the Word of God which address their situations.

• We need to encourage those whom we counsel to regularly spend time in fellowship with and in service to a caring, local church.

• Enlist the help of others who will also come alongside them and who will befriend, counsel and encourage them.

• When there are matters to which they need to attend, check up on them to make sure that they are doing their part. If they have sinned against someone, direct them to seek that person out and ask for forgiveness. If they are spiritually lazy, remind them of their obligations as believers. Get involved with them, showing not only by words, but also by example how one serves the Lord. If they are depressed or discouraged, spend time with them; do not allow them to sit alone at home enumerating their problems. Talk to them about their responsibilities, but also help them to see their unnoticed blessings.

• Always be truthful with them and urge them to be the same with you. Unless you know the real problems with which you are dealing, you are stumbling in the darkness as you try to help them.

• Encourage them to take steps toward progress—not perfection. Notice their progress and encourage them that they are making progress. It is sometimes difficult for people with problems to take giant strides. Remember and remind them, that many small steps ultimately measure up to real changes.

There is nothing as joyous as seeing those whom you have counseled becoming once again useful members of Christ’s kingdom. In many cases you will have also created a close relationship with that person, and will rescue a Christian brother or sister—and may have gained a close friend for life.

In all the Christian vocabulary there is scarcely a word more cherished that the word forgiven. It is basic to all our hope. We stand before God accused, guilty, and owing a debt greater than we could ever pay. But resting our case on Jesus Christ who in the place of sinners paid that debt in full we are released from it, judicially pardoned, and accepted as God’s children. 

Jesus’ instruction on forgiveness (Matt. 18:15–20) and parable of the two debtors (Matt. 18:21–35) brims with significance on multiple levels. Here we will highlight only a few. First, we learn something about the nature of forgiveness. This is only implicit in the passage, but it is difficult to miss. The two debtors—one with an insurmountable debt, the other with a perhaps manageable debt—were both forgiven. The king released them from obligation to pay. They were frankly and fully forgiven. What we must not miss is that in so doing, the king absorbed the loss himself. He, in effect, paid the debt for them. Their forgiveness demanded a substitutional payment which, in this case, was paid by the king himself. 

So it is with us. God forgives us absolutely; he releases us from our sin-debt. But he does not forgive by divine fiat merely. He forgives on just grounds: the God against whom we have sinned has himself, in the person of his Son, paid the debt for us. This is the very meaning of the cross and the glad announcement of the gospel. Jesus Christ took the curse of our sin to himself, and we are released from it. The lesson is clear: forgiveness demands substitutional payment.

The leading point of the parable, however, concerns us who have been forgiven. Focus lands on the debtor who was forgiven that insurmountable debt, who afterwards exacted full payment of one who owed him a manageable sum and sold him and his family into servitude to even the score. To him the king says, “You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?” (vv. 32–33). 

The point here painfully obvious: forgiveness demands forgiveness, and this is what our Lord presses. When a brother sins against us and then repents, we are obliged to forgive—and this without limit, even “seventy times seven” (vv. 21–22). We ourselves have been forgiven an insurmountable debt, and thus we are implicitly obliged to forgive others. It’s the gospel way. 

Your brother slanders you, harms your reputation, and then comes in repentance. He may seek to repair the damage as he is able, but damage is done. To forgive him you must absorb the loss. You accept the consequences of his sin against you. We cannot say, “That is the last straw!” or “I’ll never forget this!” Recalling the infinite debt that we have been forgiven we resist the urge to get even or even hold grudge. We forgive because we ourselves have been forgiven a much greater debt. 

“Merciful LORD, pardon all my sins of this day, week, year, all the sins of my life, sins of early, middle, & advanced years, of omission & commission, of morose, peevish & angry tempers, of lip, life & walk, of hard-heartedness, unbelief, presumption, pride, of unfaithfulness to the souls of men, of want of bold decision in the cause of Christ, of deficiency in outspoken zeal for his glory, of bringing dishonour upon thy great name, of deception, injustice, untruthfulness in my dealings with others…”[1]

This is the beginning of a Puritan prayer entitled SINS. As I preached through the Lord’s Prayer, I came to Matthew 6:12, “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” Jesus links God’s forgiving us and our forgiving others. When we forgive others we can know that it does not merit God’s forgiving us, for salvation and forgiveness is by grace alone. The emphasis is on forgiveness we receive, due to the work of Christ. When we grasp God’s forgiveness, then we are able to forgive others. Forgiving others reveals that we understand how gracious and merciful God has been to us. We cannot be like the unmerciful servant (Matt. 18:21-35), though he was forgiven much, he would not forgive the one who owed him so little. This parable is a good commentary of 6:12. I am not implying that forgiving others who wrong you is easy, “the flesh lusts against the spirit”. I believe this is one reason Jesus adds verses 14-15 immediately after the Lord’s Prayer: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” This is the only petition reiterated from the Lord’s Prayer. I believe He reemphasizes forgiveness because He knows we are prone not to forgive. We must remember how often we have sinned against God, and yet He has forgiven us. No one has ever sinned against us as much, so how can we not willingly forgive them? A Christian must forgive, we cannot withhold forgiveness or be bitter in our hearts toward others. Let us demonstrate God’s forgiveness by forgiving others. Christ demonstrated forgiveness as He hung on the Cross. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” This IS Amazing Grace! As often stated: “men of grace should above all be gracious.”

[1] (Puritan Prayer SINS, used with permission of Banner of Truth)