This is part 9 of a series on forgiveness. See the index here.
A question is asked over at the “In the Habit of Goring” blog:
Short answer: yes, we should continually ask God for forgiveness.
The idea behind this question is that it seems incoherent to ask God to do something he has already done. Isn’t this theologically confused, and also pastorally dangerous: rather than walking in the freedom of grace, don’t we then bind ourselves to repeatedly “working” for our salvation through repentance over sins that were already dealt with?
In terms of answering the question, let’s consider the Lord’s Prayer. It was given as a model for our regular prayer, and this model includes asking God for forgiveness (Luke 11:4).
In Part 3, we had discussed the Lord’s Prayer. Let’s look at it again:
…and…
So pray in this way: ‘Our Father, who is in heaven, may your name be treated as holy. May your kingdom come. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our debts [G3783], as we also have forgiven our debtors [G3781]. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the Wicked One.
In the Lord’s Prayer we are not asking for God to forgive our sins. For how can we ask God to do what he has already done? Rather, we are really asking God to help us forgive others. After all, if a man has faith, that faith has already made him well.
The Lord’s prayer does not say, merely, “Forgive us” but is instead “Forgive as we forgive others.” The request that God forgive us is explicitly conditional on our forgiveness of others. And so we can rightly understand our prayer to be the same as these:
Father, only forgive us if we have forgiven others.
…or…
Father, do not forgive us if we do not forgive others.
…or more pastorally…
Father, make your forgiveness of our sin conditional on us showing your forgiveness to others, lest we reject your offer of forgiveness by spurning its power. May this acknowledgment of your unconditional forgiveness lead us to offer the same to those who sin against us.
If Jesus had stopped speaking, we could, perhaps, argue that this conclusion is speculative. But Jesus, immediately after giving the people this model prayer, explicitly clarified what he meant:
If Jesus had only taught us how to pray just the one time, we could, perhaps, argue that this conclusion is mistaken. But Jesus taught the same thing on another occasion:
(This is, incidentally, one of the things you must understand if you want to understand the Dismissal in the Eucharist)
Go ahead and ask God to forgive you of your sins—that is, to grant you eternal life in the age to come—but always realize that this request for what has already been accomplished. You are merely asking for “your kingdom to come” not for there to be a kingdom. Your “request” is simply an acknowledgement of faith in the surety of what is to come. It is a recognition of what God has done for you, something intended to firm up your commitment to help Jesus in his mission to find and save the lost.
UPDATE: It’s either a massive coincidence, or Tennant is reading along. Either way, he posted his own thoughts on forgiveness in this article on forgiveness yesterday. I have not read it yet, but in light of the above, I thought I should included it.
UPDATE: I’ve had a chance to read Tennant’s article. It is very good, mostly in agreement with what I’ve written. I highly recommend reading it. I will post a formal response in Part 12 later this week.
@Derek – I’d say it is more simply explained.
We do not *need* to ask God to forgive us, because not-forgiving would be a sin on the part of God.
In a nutshell: We don’t need to ask God Not to sin.
But I am fully confident that God does not hold it against us when we childishly ask such absurdities, nor when we plead repeatedly for his mercy (As If God was not always merciful!)
God is probably a bit disappointed at the way we so often address him and the things we ask-for, or when we assume He must be Propitiated like a bad-tempered absolute despot — But if course He forgives us!
Agreed and well said.
I would add that asking for forgiveness—even though asking is not necessary—is a demonstration of faith: belief that God can actually forgive and that you want him to. Asking is not necessary in order to actually be forgiven, but it is the natural outpouring of true faith. Thus…
…is the same as…
…when offered out of sincere faith.
Although the modern Western man does not think like this anymore, men like Tertullian understood this to be a sacrament in the ancient sense of the word: an oath of allegiance.
Fair point.
It is perhaps like the members of a good family telling each other “I love you”.
That is how I see it, yes.