- Theology and Identity
- Season 2
- Episode 7
- Airdate: 17 May 2025
- Please note this is a script, and not a transcript. There may be slight differences between this text and the actual broadcast.
- All Bible quotations taken from the English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016)
Audio Links:
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Every major religion teaches on the importance of forgiving those who have sinned against us. But no other religion provides the same rationale for forgiveness that we find in the teachings of Jesus. What Jesus taught is unique in history. And as we look closely at what he had to say, we find that its very radical.
- The consequences for not forgiving others are catastrophic
- The reward for forgiving others is something that surpasses imagination.
I’m Dr David Clark, and I lecture in Theology at the university of Roehampton in London. In this second season of my podcast ‘Theology and Identity’, we’ve been working our way through the Lord’s Prayer. We now arrive at the 5th petition of this prayer, ‘forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.’
On the surface, it seems like a pretty basic request. We’re acknowledging that we have sinned. We’re asking God for forgiveness. And as a corollary, we’re making a commitment to God that we will forgive others.
Beneath the surface of this seemingly simple petition, however, lies a very rich and challenging theology that many Christians have never deeply explored.
Today we are going to look at 2 elements of Jesus’ radical teaching on the importance of forgiving others.
The first point is that among the followers of Jesus a person’s eligibility to be forgiven by the father is dependent on his willingness to forgive others. That is to say that a Christian who does not forgive others is not eligible to receive forgiveness from God.
No other teacher, either in the Hebrew tradition of the Old Testament, or any other major world religion, ever taught that our forgiveness from God depends on our choice to forgive others.
The second point is that in biblical and Christian teaching, the choice to forgive others is at the very heart of transformation into the image of God, and the union of heaven and earth that is envisioned in the LP.
So let's explore these points in further detail.
First, why the teaching of Jesus is so radical and unique.
In the Old Testament, the Hebrew people were commanded to forgive.
God presented himself to people of Israel as the God whose very idenity is to be merciful and forgiving
We see this on Mt Sinai, where the Lord descended in a cloud and revealed himself to Moses: in Ex 34:6-7
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.’
Now throughout the Hebrew scriptures, he clearly commands his people to follow his example.
Lev 19: 17-18
“You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
Micah 6;8
He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God
So in the Old Testament, the people of Israel are clearly instructed to forgive others. But nowhere do we find the suggestion that receiving forgiveness from YHWH is somehow contingent upon forgiving others.
The teaching of Jesus stands in discontinuity with the Hebrew bible on this point. In Matthew 6, just after teaching the words of the LP as part of the sermon on the mount, Jesus gives a warning:
In vs 14 and 15 it reads:
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
There is nothing like this in the Hebrew Bible. So to his Jewish followers, Jesus was presenting something completely new and different.
And I’ve noted before, this particular teaching of Jesus remains unparalleled in the doctrines of all the major religions of history.
Lets look at some examples.
Islam teaches that the desire for receiving forgiveness from Allah should lead to a willingness to forgive others.
Qur’an 24:22 – “Let them pardon and overlook. Would you not love for Allah to forgive you? And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.”
Also, the Hadith frequently emphasizes that those who show mercy will be shown mercy by God.
But, in Islamic teaching, forgiving others is not explicitly set fort as a condition for receiving God's forgiveness.
In Buddhism, unforgiveness is seen as a barrier to spiritual development.
Forgiveness is essential for letting go of hatred, which is a root cause of suffering.
Holding onto anger or resentment impedes enlightenment and cultivates negative karma.
But this is an entirely internal process. A person who refuses to forgive harms themselves spiritually, and their own liberation is delayed.
But remember that Buddhism is actually a non-theistic religion. And so there can be no concept of ‘receiving forgiveness’ from God in the first place.
In Hinduism, forgiveness is highly valued, but it is not directly tied to divine forgiveness.
Forgiveness is considered a divine virtue, and those who forgive are seen as aligned with dharma (cosmic order).
The Lack of forgiveness can produce negative karma.
In Hinduism unforgiveness in no way hinders your eligibility for receiving forgiveness from God. Rather, the problem of unforgiveness is that it entangles you further in the cycle of karma and rebirth.
Finally, in Sikhism forgiveness is key to spiritual life and divine grace. God is described as infinitely forgiving, and followers are urged to forgive others as a sign of humility and divine awareness.
But once again, unforgiveness is an internally created barrier between the person and God. It has nothing to do with a decision regarding forgiveness that originates with God. Unforgiveness blocks one's experience of divine grace and love.
And so we see that when compared to the teachings of the worlds great religions, and the even teachings of the Hebrew Scriptures, the teaching of Jesus stands alone.
In the LP, Jesus taught his followers to pray every day: Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
And his commentary on the LP:
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
What Jesus seems to be emphasising in his teaching that forgiveness is not about spiritual formulas, its not about karma, and its not about self-actualisation. Forgiveness is a matter of relationship. The Father will choose not to forgive his children if he sees that they have chosen not to forgive others.
In the Christian understanding, personal relationship with God is the context in which forgiveness is taking place. God offers forgiveness not because he has to, but because he chooses to. And his willingness to forgive the sins of his children is contingent upon what he sees in their own hearts. When he perceives that they are not forgiving others, then he will choose not to forgive them.
if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Let’s move on to the second point, which is this:
In teachings of Jesus, forgiving others is the surest pathway to becoming like God.
We can discern this in the way the petition on forgiveness in placed within the structure of the LP.
In the Lords prayer the first half of the prayer and the second-half of the prayer are connected by a hinge. And that hinge is the phrase on earth as it is in heaven.
The first 3 petitions give us a glimpse of what heaven is like it is the place where God's name is honoured as holy. It is the place with the fullness of his Kingdom is firmly established. And heaven is the place where his will is perfectly carried out.
The first half of the LP is about heaven. Its about God. It opens to eyes of the person praying to contemplate the divine identity.
The second-half of the prayer speaks to the human condition on earth. Earth is the place where we need daily sustenance. Earth is the place where people send against one another. Earth is the place where people are tested and tempted. And earth is the place where the followers of Jesus are vulnerable to the attacks of the evil one.
The phrase on earth as it is in heaven is a hinge. On one wing of the hinge is heaven, on the other wing of the hinge is earth. As the church prays, the hinge is swinging shut. Earth is being drawn toward heaven. As noted in episode 5 from season two: The overarching vision of the Lord's prayer is that earth and heaven will ultimately become one.
Each element in the second half of the LP is understood as being temporary, while everything in the first half of the prayer speak of eternity.
God’s name will forever be holy.
Gods kingdom will reign forever
God’s desires will forever be honored,
But on earth, the followers of Jesus live in a state of transition.
For now, they need bread, but eventually their hunger will forever be satisfied,
For now they live in the midst of sin, but the day will come when the power of sin will be forever broken.
For now they are subject to testing, and the attacks of the evil one. But the day will come when trials and spiritual attacks will be forever ended.
As the followers of Jesus pray each of the earthly petitions, Jesus calls them to contemplate the reality toward which they are being drawn. They are on a pathway towards transformation. Earth is in the process of becoming like heaven. And they, on an individual level, are in the process of becoming like God.
At the heart of early Christian teaching is the idea that one day, the followers of Jesus will see God face to face. And when they see him, they will become like him.
1 Jn 3:2 ‘We know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him like he is.’
Its important to note that in NT teaching this transformation into the into the likeness of God is not something that happens all of the sudden, when Jesus returns. Christians have already been made participants in the divine image, and they are on a path toward seeing the likeness of God made perfect in them.
In 2 Peter 1:4, for example, it says
he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
In Patristic theology, this notion of becoming like God is known as theosis. Christians are partakers in the divine nature of God, and by the power of the Holy Spirit they each and every day being transformed.
Many patristic theologians taught on this idea of theosis.
In the teachings of Athanasius of Alexandria, and Irenaues of Lyon and Gregory Nazianzus, Basil the Great, and Cyril of Alexandria, the key idea is the incarnation. Jesus, who is the full image of God, took on human form. And because the image of God has become human, humans now have the possibility of being transformed into the image of God.
In the words of Maximus the confessor, ‘The Word of God became man, so that human nature may be made like God through union with the word.’
Now I will clarify that in the teachings of these fathers, no where do we find the idea that we as humans become God, or equal to him. But the idea of perfection is very much present. In the beginning, God created Adam and Eve in his image and likeness. They were without sin, and they were perfect. The idea of theosis is that through Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, humans have the opportunity to return to that original state of perfection, that original state of being in his image and likeness.
Now, unlike later theologians, the patristic fathers didn’t focus so much on the possibility of achieving perfection on this lifetime. Gregory of Nyssa, for example, taught on the idea of epektasis, endless progress towards God. A person can never say, ‘I’ve arrived’ But they everyday they can progress on the journey toward experiencing more and more of the divine nature in their lives.
So lets bring this back to the idea of forgiveness.
I have said: In teachings of Jesus, forgiving others is the surest pathway to becoming like God.
When an individual forgives those who have sinned against him, he is acting like God. And everyday, as he prays the Lords Prayer, again and again and again proclaiming his forgiveness towards others, he is becoming more and more like God.
In Biblical teaching, nothing makes a person less like God than unforgiveness.
When the presence of God passed before Moses in Ex 34 the voice proclaimed
“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness”
Mercy and forgiveness are at the very core of God’s character. Nothing can drive a person away from the heart and character of God more than unforgiveness.
But when a person chooses to forgive, the person is choosing to be like God. And the choice to forgive others day after day, in the historical teachings of the Christian church, is essential to this process of theosis, of participating in the divine nature and achieving union with God.
Let me now pause for a moment to reflect on the bigger picture. The title of this podcast is theology and identity. In each episode, I try to explore the multiple ways that the understanding of our own identity is entwined with the way we understand the identity of God. An unhealthy understanding of the divine identity leads to all kinds of problems in the way we see ourselves. And a healthy understanding of the divine identity leads to a better understanding of who we are. And I would argue that a better understanding of the divine identity leads to a transformation of who we are.
No where is this more clear than in Christ’s teaching on forgiveness.
God is, by his very character, merciful and forgiving. Mercy is part of who he is. It is forms part of our identity.
In Christian theology, I am fascinated be the idea that the calling of humans is to become like God. To become loving as he loves. To become holy as he is holy. To become wise as he is wise, And to become forgiving as he is forgiving.
What’s unique in historical Christian theology, is that Christians are not just called to bear a parallel resemblance to God. In column A God is loving, and in column B humans imitate God’s loving character. In column A God is merciful, and in column B humans imitate God’s merciful character.
In classic Christian theology in the theology of the LP and the theology of theosis, the emphasis isn’t just on imitation. Its on union. In the theology of Theosis, Christians don’t just imitate God, they become one with him. In the theology of LP, the earth doesn’t become a parallel paradise to heaven. Heaven are joined together, they become one.
I’d like to close with a personal reflection.
I think its been pretty clear across these podcast that I myself am a Christian. And whereas I often try to maintain an objective, academic approach to my topics, I’m pretty sure that don’t always maintain neutrality. To close this episode, I’m just going to speak as a Christian.
My hearts desire is to be like Jesus. I want the image and likeness of God to be real in my life.
But I have to confess that often times, this is really hard. Its hard to be like God.
To have just a tiny bit of his wisdom.
To love, even in the smallest way, like he loves.
Its really hard.
But you know what I’ve is the easiest way to become like God is? Its to forgive.
Forging others is easy. All you have to do is say it. I forgive.
There are so many ways that its just hard to be like Jesus.
But I believe that forgiving another person is the most godly, Christ-like thing I can ever do.
It is when I choose to forgive that I most perfectly reflect the image of God.
To wrap things up, today we’ve looked at 2 points around Jesus’s teaching on forgiveness
- First, we’ve seen that the consequences for not forgiving others are catastrophic. Jesus clearly taught that forgiving others is a pre-requisite for receiving forgiveness from God. And in this, Jesus stands alone among all the great religious teachers of history. He is the only one who taught that getting forgiveness from God is contingent upon forgiving others.
- Second, we’ve seen that the reward for forgiving others is something that surpasses imagination. The bible teaches that Christians will become like God. 1 Jn ‘ we will be like him for we shall see him as he is.’ Classic theology has emphasised the idea that this transformation into the image of God, and this movement toward union with God has already begun. And it is clear within the idea of theosis that Christians must make the choices that lead toward our sharing in the divine image.
One of the most important choices that Christians can make, and the choice that the LP leads them to make day after day after day – is to forgive.
Give us today the bread we need for today
And forgive us our sins each day as we, each day, forgive those who have sinned against us.