What Do Jesus' Parables Mean? (Crucial Questions) by R.C. Sproul

Author:R.C. Sproul
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Ligonier Ministries, Inc. - USA
Published: 2017-11-08T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

THE UNFORGIVING

SERVANT (Matt. 18:21–35)

Years ago, I offended a lady in our congregation, and she was very angry. I apologized to her in tears, but she would not forgive me. I went to her a second time and said, “Please forgive me,” but she would not.

So I sought the counsel of a godly, elderly man in our church. He said, “You made two mistakes. First, you offended her, and you shouldn’t have done that. Your second mistake was apologizing twice. When you repented and she refused to forgive you, then the coals of fire were on her head, not on yours.”

When we offend someone, we are called to repent and to apologize. And likewise, if they offend us and they come and apologize, we have to stand ready with the same compassion and forgive not seven times, but seventy times seven.

In the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:21–35, Jesus addresses the difficult concept of forgiveness. It’s important to understand the context of this parable. Matthew 18 is the classic text for instructions on church discipline. Verses 15–20 provide the context for what comes later, culminating in Jesus’ promise: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (v. 20). This is one of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible. When we get together for a Bible study or for a church service, we plead this verse. But that promise is given in the context of church discipline, and one of the most difficult things that ever befalls the church is to confront people in the congregation who refuse to repent of their sin.

The first step of Matthew 18 is to go to your brother who has sinned against you privately. Tell him about it. If he repents, you’ve won your brother. If he refuses to repent, then you go with one or two other witnesses. If he still refuses to repent, then you bring the proceedings to the church. And if he still refuses to repent, then he is to be to you as a heathen. This is the recipe for excommunication. There’s only one sin for which anyone is ever excommunicated in the body of Christ, and that is contumacy, or persistent impenitence—refusing to repent of the sin that brought you under discipline in the first place.

This is the context in which Peter raises the question, “How many times do I have to forgive someone? Seven times?” Jesus essentially says, “As many as it takes.” When God forgives you, He holds that sin against you no more. And if you sin against Him again and He forgives you again, He doesn’t say, “That’s two,” because the first sin has already been wiped away. If we give forgiveness to someone who sins against us and asks our forgiveness and he does it again, we can’t say, “That’s two.” That would reveal that we didn’t forgive him the first time. If we grant forgiveness, we are saying, “I remember this against you no more.

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