God’s positive attitude to you doesn’t depend on you—not even on your faith.
So much so that in Our Father, when explaining the request about forgiveness, Martin Luther—the “justified by faith alone” guy—doesn’t even use the word “faith” once!
In life, people are so used to conditional relationship and qualified love, that God’s unconditional, unqualified, love seems paradoxical and ridiculous.
Maybe. But, it’s still true though.
God is good. I am not. That changes me.
This is the entire Christian message:
God is good: this is the Gospel.
I am not: this is the Law.
That changes me: this is the fruit.
Jesus compresses this entire message into the fifth request of the Our Father:
15 The Fifth Request
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive those who are indebted to us.
forgive us — this the Gospel, God freely forgives us
our debts — this is the Law, God shows us we are sinners
as we forgive those who are indebted to us — this is the fruit: God changes us
Luther unpacks this in a simple way in his Small Catechism
16 What is this? — Answer:
In this prayer we ask that the Father in heaven would not count our sins and would not refuse this request because of them.
Because we are not worthy of the things that we ask for, nor do we deserve it.
But he wants to give us everything from grace, because we sin greatly every day and truly deserve nothing but punishment.
Therefore, in turn, we also want to forgive from the heart and gladly do good to those who sin against us.
Luther is simply saying what the Bible says:
God is good
In this prayer we ask that the Father in heaven would not count our sins and would not refuse this request because of them.
blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. (Romans 4:8)
God does not deal with us on the basis of what we deserve.
I am not
Because we are not worthy of the things that we ask for, nor do we deserve it.
So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” (Luke 17:10)
God doesn’t deal with us this way because we are good or deserve anything.
God is even more good
But he wants to give us everything from grace,
Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (Luke 12:32)
God is good to you purely because he wants to be.
God gives, forgives and acts entirely from his goodness.
Despite our sin and problems that God’s Law must tell us about: God is in a good mood with us, purely because of his grace.
The Bible is extremely clear about this. We cannot compromise on it: this is the Gospel.
I am even more obviously not
because we sin greatly every day and truly deserve nothing but punishment.
For the wages of sin is death, (Romans 6:23)
There is no basis in us at all for God’s goodness and forgiveness. We deserve and have earned death.
That changes me
Therefore, in turn, we also want to forgive from the heart and gladly do good to those who sin against us.
We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)
Forgiveness bears fruit in good works: this is simply a fact. It’s not a criteria to use to test your faith. It’s not a criteria God uses to assess the validity of your faith.
This isn’t a command, or a new Law: “Now you must forgive!”
This isn’t a condition for forgiveness: “You must forgive or else!”
This isn’t the Gospel itself: “The good news is God will change you!”
This is the fruit of the Gospel: “Forgiven people will forgive others.”
Let’s clear up some common misunderstandings
Luther NEVER makes God’s goodness conditional
on your faith,
or your praying,
or your forgiving.
The Bible never makes God’s goodness conditional.
Luther NEVER allows me to look inside myself for confidence:
“God’s attitude to me is good because I have faith.”
“God’s attitude to me is good because I forgive others.”
“God’s attitude to me is good because I’m a good person.”
The Bible never tells you to look at yourself for assurance.
Luther NEVER says God hears my prayer or forgives because of me:
“He listens because I’m sincere.”
“He listens because I’m repentant.”
“He listens because I’m crying.”
“He listens because I have faith.”
“He listens because I’m going to do better.”
True biblical “faith” means simply to look at and trust Christ alone.
Faith is not
a quality about you,
or your “response,”
or a power you have.
And that’s why in the request about forgiveness, Martin Luther (the “justified by faith alone” guy) doesn’t even use the word “faith” once!
Luther says God’s goodness is what God already WANTS to do—not something you are persuading him to do.
So what is the relationship between God’s forgiveness and our forgiveness?
Jesus himself explains this very clearly later in Matthew’s Gospel, in the parable of the unforgiving servant. I preached on that passage last year: Should I Forgive When They’re Not Really Sorry?
Jesus uses exactly the same language there as he does here. The language of accountancy, and relieving debt:
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive those who are indebted to us.
God has already let go of all your debts. He has forgiven you, justified you, declared you righteous. He has decided not to count your sins against you, and to judge you on Jesus’ works, not your own works.
This is already true.
But some people walk through life saying:
“No! I want to be judged on my own works!
I don’t want to be judged on Jesus’ works!
I want to be judged on my faith!
I want to be judged on my repentance!
I’m better than all those other people who don’t deserve to be forgiven in the way I do!”
But it’s to people who think like that Jesus says:
if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:15)
Not because he didn’t die on the cross and forgive their sins. But because they’re explicitly rejecting forgiveness as the grounds for the way he deals with them.
This really is the entire Christian message
God has let go of your debts… because he unconditionally loves you.
Jesus abandoned his rights… because he unconditionally loves you.
You are already forgiven:
Jesus tells already forgiven sinners to keep receiving that forgiveness from their Father… because he unconditionally loves you.
This is the Christian faith.
You have nothing to prove. You have no requirement to qualify or condition to meet. You have nothing to make up for or achieve.
Most people hate this when they hear it:
They get angry with it.
They reject it.
They ignore it.
They want to change it and make it conditional.
But God’s actions toward you are entirely because God is good.
Here is how the apostle Paul describes this goodness of God to you and the reasons for it:
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:4-9)
The problem is: people don’t pray like this, because this is not how we think about God. We think he needs persuading—which is actually a symptom of the fact that we are bad.
We need God to give us the assurance that he’s already for us and doesn’t want to treat us as we deserve. We need him to convince us that his attitude to us is only good, simply because he is good.
God gave you the church as the place where he gives that assurance through his Word.
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