Brothers and Sisters in Christ. Please walk me through this verse.
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James 2:13
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Last: 2 mo ago by FIDO95
My thoughts on it are based of Jesus' own words:
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
"21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?"
22 Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.[a]
23 "Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold[b] was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26 "At this the servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' 27 The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 "But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.[c] He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.
29 "His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.'
30 "But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 "Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart." -Matt 18:21-35
I have done nothing and can do no works to gain the mercy that Jesus has given me by dying for me. In doing so, He has forgiven an unrepayable debt I owe.
If I am to be Christlike, I am called to forgive others the way Christ has forgiven me. Refusing to forgive someone renders me no different than the unmerciful servant and places me at risk for a similar fate.
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
"21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?"
22 Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.[a]
23 "Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold[b] was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26 "At this the servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' 27 The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 "But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.[c] He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.
29 "His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.'
30 "But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 "Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart." -Matt 18:21-35
I have done nothing and can do no works to gain the mercy that Jesus has given me by dying for me. In doing so, He has forgiven an unrepayable debt I owe.
If I am to be Christlike, I am called to forgive others the way Christ has forgiven me. Refusing to forgive someone renders me no different than the unmerciful servant and places me at risk for a similar fate.
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
Can't add much more than the post above. Simply put: Jesus is merciful to us, and we are to be merciful to others. Questions like this are difficult on a forum like this, there are volumes of writings on God's mercy. Interestingly in the previous chapter James instructs that if any of us lacks wisdom to ask God, who gives generously without finding fault, and it will be given to you. (James 1:5) I am not a prolific reader, so I don't enjoy pouring over writings and commentaries, but I do ask God to enlighten me when I have trouble with learning the lessons of scripture. He will give you this because it is His will to reveal Himself to you through scripture if you are sincere in your belief.
Both the replies above this are very well done.
I would just say that we all are in need of God's mercy.
How foolish is it to show anyone no mercy when we need His mercy. And how loving is the God of all creation, that He would humble himself, come down to live with His created humans in the form of man, be crucified by His created man, the. Defeat death, resurrect, ascend, and all this just to create a pathway for His mercy to be attainable by us.
Remember, He will judge all one day. I wouldn't want to be there in front of you Him having shown no mercy to others during my time on earth!
I would just say that we all are in need of God's mercy.
How foolish is it to show anyone no mercy when we need His mercy. And how loving is the God of all creation, that He would humble himself, come down to live with His created humans in the form of man, be crucified by His created man, the. Defeat death, resurrect, ascend, and all this just to create a pathway for His mercy to be attainable by us.
Remember, He will judge all one day. I wouldn't want to be there in front of you Him having shown no mercy to others during my time on earth!
Agree that we need to show mercy, where appropriate, but a functional society has to have rules, laws, and accountability to a set standard. You can't just forgive everything anyone does.FIDO95 said:
My thoughts on it are based of Jesus' own words:
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
"21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?"
22 Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.[a]
23 "Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold[b] was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26 "At this the servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' 27 The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 "But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.[c] He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.
29 "His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.'
30 "But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 "Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart." -Matt 18:21-35
I have done nothing and can do no works to gain the mercy that Jesus has given me by dying for me. In doing so, He has forgiven an unrepayable debt I owe.
If I am to be Christlike, I am called to forgive others the way Christ has forgiven me. Refusing to forgive someone renders me no different than the unmerciful servant and places me at risk for a similar fate.
Thank you.
This is my struggle. Plus showing mercy to someone who never once in their life showed mercy.
This is my struggle. Plus showing mercy to someone who never once in their life showed mercy.
"20 And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?" 21 They *said to Him, "Caesar's." Then He said to them, "Then pay to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's." 22 And hearing this, they were amazed; and they left Him and went away." -Matt 22:20-22stallion6 said:
Agree that we need to show mercy, where appropriate, but a functional society has to have rules, laws, and accountability to a set standard. You can't just forgive everything anyone does.
Forgiving someone doesn't mean they are no longer to have to provide penance to society. They still owe "Caesar". It means you give that trauma for the glory of God and you no longer allow that event to continue to traumatize you. Below is a clip from a phenomenal interview with Fr Dan Rehill and Matt Fradd. I posted another clip from the interview on another thread. Fr Dan Rehill talks about being abused by a priest when he was around 10yo. It led to him leaving the church for over 20 years. Here he talks about the process of forgiveness.
Hopefully some of that helps you in the OPs journey.
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
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