Year 4, Day 176: Deuteronomy 25

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Forgiveness

• Forgiveness: Forgiveness is when our sins are absolved by God.  We do not deserve this forgiveness, but God grants it to us anyway.  We cannot earn forgiveness, but God gives it to us anyway.  As we are forgiven by God, He also asks us to forgive others.  In fact, Jesus Himself teaches us to pray for our forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer when He says, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

At the beginning of this chapter we have some words about punishment for crimes.  These verses on punishment may not sound like a proper place to speak about forgiveness, but they really are.  Notice two things about the punishment verses.  First, they are about indicating that punishment is a natural step of the process.  Second, they are about limiting the punishment only to a level that is appropriate for the crime.

Both of these concepts are central to the idea of forgiveness.  Forgiveness is at the very heart of who we are as God’s people.  As God forgives, so should we.

However, we do know that there are consequences to our actions.  Jesus tells us that if we sin against our brother we should leave our gift at the altar, go make things right with him, and then come back.  Consequences and rectification are an important part of the forgiveness process.  Dealing with the results of our sinfulness is a part of life and an important part of what keeps us from doing it again.  In fact, we know that Jesus sent His own Son to the cross as a consequence of our sinfulness.

Yet, we must not forget God is a God of grace.  We all deserve condemnation and Hell; but we do not all receive final judgment into Hell.  We are all guilty of the condition of sin; but we do not all anticipate staying in that condition forever.  God has allowed us to live beyond our sinful nature.  The consequences of our actions are limited so that grace and restitution can occur.  That is the second part of forgiveness in our lives.  That is why in this passage we hear that a person should not be beaten too much, lest they cannot bear the punishment and never see the opportunity for restoration.

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