To Forgive Is Not To Forget

Author: Pastor Mike Gutzler

Last week we talked about Paul’s understanding of common affliction and common consolation. This week Paul moved from pain and comfort to authentic forgiveness.

There is a general perception about forgiveness that suggests when one is wronged to forgive also means to forget what happened and move on. This type of forgiveness is not what Paul describes in his letter to the Corinthians. Paul is the one who was hurt and pained and he does not simply forget it happened.

For Paul, forgiveness requires a bringing to light of what happened. In order for true forgiveness to take place, there needs to be an element of confession of what has happened so all parties can move forward together.

Additionally for Paul, he needs them to see how much pain their actions have caused him and they need to acknowledge they were at fault – “not to bring them more pain” but to realize that in their acknowledgment before God and others produces real healing and changes lives.

The way Paul relates to his community becomes the example for faith communities today. At the start of our worship service we perform a confession and forgiveness ritual. This provides us the opportunity to own up to the mistakes we made to God and others, and then hear the promise of forgiveness provided by God.