Cheater-Forgiveness-Pushers, Was Paul Wrong? - Divorce Minister
“In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
-Acts 17:30-31, NIV
God does not just forgive us as some cheater apologists might suggest.
The Apostle Paul here makes our response to Christ’s sacrifice necessary in order to avoid condemnation from Jesus. That response is called
REPENTANCE!
Here we see that the Apostle Paul is insisting upon the Greeks ending their worship of other gods–i.e. gods fashioned in gold or other materials. Such is the ignorance of which Paul speaks.
If these Greeks chose not to repent–i.e. cease their worship of other gods and turn to the One True God, then Paul is implying that they would face Jesus’ just judgment (and thereby condemnation).
So is Paul wrong?
Is it really necessary to cease from one’s sin and turn to God in order to be forgiven by Jesus? Or are these Greeks forgiven irrespective to their choice to or not to repent?
I ask this because many faithful spouses are pressured to forgive without the cheater being expected to repent. Christians–pastors included–teach that forgiveness happens apart from repentance.
From this perspective, the cheater does not even have to stop lying and cheating for the pastor or other Christian leader to insist upon the faithful spouse forgiving such an individual.
Such a teaching is saying–in essence–that the Apostle Paul is wrong here!
That is the only conclusion one can draw when people totally disassociate repentance from the act of forgiveness unlike the Apostle Paul here in Acts 17.
Now, I am all for transferring the debt to God for Him to handle in order to move on with one’s life without the anger burdens over real injustices. Forgiveness in that sense IS unilateral and without connection to repentance.
However…
I think we do cheaters–and faithful spouses–as disservice by teaching such sins are forgiven unilaterally. They are not.
Repentance is still required by God to deal with matter even if the faithful spouse has “transferred” the debt to God.
Just as God’s forgiveness for these Greeks in Athens did not come apart from repentance, God’s forgiveness for cheaters–or anyone for that matter–does not come without a forsaking of the sin.
