Category Archives: Questions and Answers

Does unforgiveness negate our justification before God?

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questionmarkredstandingQuestion: Pastor John, in Matthew 6:14, 15, Jesus said, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Is it not the plain reading of the text to interpret these words to mean that our forgiveness from God depends on our forgiving others? If this is the case, is not our ultimate salvation contingent upon our works in some measure? Do these verses teach that a genuine Christian can lose his salvation because of the sin of unforgiveness?

Answer: Thank you for your question. Its a very important one.

We are all prone to read into the text concepts that are not stated by the text. The technical term for this is ‘eisegesis.’ In contrast, what we need to be engaged in is called “exegesis” which is the drawing out of the text what is actually in the text. A failure to do this results in much confusion.

Some have gone as far to say that there are definitely texts that teach what we would call Reformed or Calvinistic theology but that other verses teach Arminian doctrine and therefore the biblical position is somewhere in the middle between the two. The problem with this view is that we are then left with a Bible full of glaring contradictions. Contradiction is not the hallmark of truth but of falsehood. Though there are definite mysteries in the Bible, I do not believe there are any genuine contradictions.

Here’s one example of what I am describing. I believe that the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:30 makes it clear that all truly justified Christians will endure to the end and be saved. The text reads, “those whom he justified he also glorified.” The justified end up glorified (justification being God’s declaration that a person is right with Himself; glorification being the final permanent state of salvation). In contradiction to this is the view that a passage such as the one you quote above means that justified people, if they then refuse to forgive, will be finally and permanently damned.

Which of these concepts is true? Both concepts cannot possibly be true because one is a total contradiction to the other.

Here as elsewhere, rather than choosing one concept over the other, the good student of God’s word seeks to find a harmony between all that God has revealed. Because the Bible is not contradictory, the harmony is there, we just need to seek to find it. This often requires much prayer, thought and study, but the Lord has told us elsewhere to do exactly that. Paul instructed Timothy, “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” (2 Tim 2:7 – see also 2 Tim 2:15).

A vital principle of interpretation is that on any given subject, we should find the passages that are clear and start our thinking there. Then after having ascertained what is clear, we should then move to passages which at first glance are seemingly unclear.

Using the example of Romans 8:30 (above) on the issue of a person declared justified before God, it is clear that he/she will end up glorified (those whom he justified he also glorified). Knowing this, we then take a closer look at the Matthew 6 passage and ask the question, “what does the text actually say?”

Does the text actually say that justified people will lose salvation or be unforgiven by God? No, it does not say that at all. It simply says that the one who does not forgive will be unforgiven.

Here’s what we know. Justification is not by faith plus works. Justification is by faith alone, apart from works (Romans 4:4, 5; Eph 2:8,9). Justification is not by faith and then there is something like a probation period between being declared right before God and then the end of the lifetime, with the hope that no unforgiveness occurs which would forfeit salvation. To teach that would amount to a complete violation of the biblical gospel and would affirm salvation by works, after all. It would place the sinner in the very precarious position of being justified but on probation.

As Christians, we should believe all that Scripture teaches, including Jesus’ words in Matthew 6. Jesus said what He meant and He meant what He said. Those who do not forgive will be unforgiven.

But let us ask this question, “who will forgive?”

When we ask that question, light begins to shine where there was darkness in our understanding. It is the recipients of mercy who will likewise extend mercy to others. Those who are unwilling to forgive, may well not be partakers of mercy themselves. In contrast, those who have received mercy will likewise be merciful.

Scripture is clear that works have no basis in our justification. Works (such as extending forgiveness and mercy to others) are the fruit not the root of our salvation. We are not saved by the fruit of salvation.

Nothing we do contributes to our justification before God. Forgiving our neighbor is one of the fruits of true faith. A refusal to forgive indicates that there is a definite hardening of heart taking place. Is someone in that condition therefore unsaved? Well it could mean that if a person has never first come to faith in Christ. However, if this person is a genuine Christian, it does mean that this sin of unforgiveness needs to be repented of and the attitude changed.

As in this case, when we ask the question, “who will repent of unforgiveness?” the clear answer is that God’s elect will. Just as all the elect will at some point come to faith in Christ (John 6:37; Acts 13:48), all the elect will dispense with unforgiveness. And just as God uses means to achieve His ends with the proclamation of the gospel being the means by which the elect believe, so God will use the strong warning of Matthew 6 in the lives of God’s people as a means to that end.

Who will heed the warning? Who will forgive?

Oh that’s easy. The elect will.

That is not to say that the elect will always walk in love and forgiveness to others all the time. This side of heaven, all the elect are still fallen sinners with a fallen nature. The war between the flesh and the Spirit will rage on until the day we die. However, just as an elect person might hear the Gospel numerous times before he/she responds in faith to the Gospel (irresistibly drawn by the Holy Spirit), so eventually, the same Holy Spirit will so work in the heart of God’s children to cause them to forgive.

Think about this Scripture: “Therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:1)

The peace we have with God is the fruit of our being justified by God. This peace is no mere temporary ceasefire. The true child of God is not put on probation but is accepted in the Beloved, adopted into the family of God and sealed for the day of redemption. What mercy we have received!

Child of God, if you are struggling to forgive someone, think for a moment about how much you have been forgiven. Doing this will allow you to see that what someone else has done to you pales into insignificance compared with what you have done before God. Your sins were like scarlet, yet He has washed them white as snow. Think about that. Ponder that. Think of the great mercy He has shown you. Now hear the word of the Lord:

Eph 4:32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

I will spit you out of My mouth

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Pastor John, I see very plain statements in the Bible that show that Christ does not lose any of His true sheep. However, I am struggling to understand a passage in Revelation 3 where Christ says “because you are lukewarm… I will spit you out of My mouth.” Are you able to help me understand what these words mean?

Thanks for your question. The phrase you quoted, lifted out of its context, has caused many to doubt the biblical doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. To correctly understand the verse in question, one has to see the broader context and know something of the historical background.

Please allow me to illustrate. Suppose someone 300 years from now, comes across a letter written this year (2013) in which a mother writes, “After the Church service today, we all went to McDonalds and each of the kids had a happy meal.”

Then let us imagine (hard as it may be to do so) that sometime between now and 300 years from now, all the McDonalds restaurants go out of business. I realize that might be a far fetched notion, but lets go along with it for a moment for the sake of illustration.

Then, 300 years from now, someone who has never heard of the McDonalds restaurant chain looks at the words “we all went to McDonalds” and assumes that this meant a Scottish family (rather than a restaurant). They then assume that the phrase “each of the kids had a happy meal” meant that the kids were happy when they ate the food. We can almost laugh at such an interpretation knowing that it misses the mark completely. That is because here in the 21st Century, the words “McDonalds” and “happy meal” are almost universally understood to refer to a restaurant and a special sized meal for children (that includes a small toy for them to play with).

The idea of McDonalds being a Scottish family and that the kids enjoyed their meal, is a possible interpretation, but that is not how these words would normally be understood in our early 21st Century context. It is far more likely that the intended meaning of the words are that the family went to a well known restaurant called McDonalds, and each of the kids had child sized meals which included toys for each child.

I say all this because the words in Revelation chapter 3 had a context, that when known, make the passage easy to understand. However, when historical context is either unknown or ignored, we are likely to misinterpret the intended meaning of the text.

The words you quote are taken from a passage in Revelation chapter 3 (v. 14-22) where the Lord Jesus, through His apostle John, is writing to the Church at Laodicea. The city of Laodicea was located in the Lycus River Valley and was an important commercial center in the first century. The local water supply was not adequate for the many residents of the city and so an underground aqueduct was built.

Two cities were in close proximity to Laodicea and both of them had contrasting types of water. Hierapolis was well known for its hot springs, and Colosse was famous for its cold refreshing water that flowed from a mountain stream. There are great uses for hot water and cold water, however, Laodicea, with only its underground aqueduct, had only tepid (or lukewarm) water. Visitors unaccustomed to Laodicea tasting the water would immediately detest it and spit it out.

In Christ’s 33 years on earth, there is no record of Him traveling to the region in and around Laodicea. Touching His humanity, all we can say about His knowledge of the area can only be mere speculation. However, as the Ascended Christ and in His full deity, Christ knows all things and therefore can address the Laodicean Church with full knowledge of the geographical data. Christ used the historical situation known by all Laodiceans to describe the spiritual condition of the local Church there. The Church in Laodicea was neither cold (outwardly hostile to Christ) nor hot (zealous for Christ and His gospel), but were instead lukewarm – professing faith in Christ but were really hypocrites of the highest order, and certainly, not true disciples of Christ.

Theologians have long made the distinction between the visible and invisible Church. The visible Church is the Church man sees. We see with our eyes all who make a profession of faith in Christ. The invisible Church is the Church that is seen only by God – His true sheep. The Lord knows the identity of His elect, even when we (because we do not see things as He does) are fooled. God, of course, is never fooled. “The Lord knows those who are His” (2 Tim. 2:19).

We all know that not everyone who professes Christ, truly possess Christ. Many say they know Him, but Christ will say to many professors “depart from Me, I never knew you.” (Matt 7:21ff). Notice that! He does not say, “I knew you at one time but you blew it.” No, He says that He never knew them. There never was a time when Christ was united to them, savingly.

When Christ says to such people, “I will spit you out of My mouth” He was speaking to a Church full of hypocrites. To use another Biblical expression, they honored Christ with their lips but their hearts were far from Him. Just as the Lord Jesus (in the Gospels) saved His harshest words for the religious hypocrites of His day (the Scribes and Pharisees), so the Lord will vomit such lukewarm members of the Church in Laodicea out of His mouth.

He addresses this same exact group (the Church of Laodicea) just a few verses later when He says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” (Rev 3:20) Christ stood outside the Church and through the means of this letter, was knocking on the door. There was not a single true believer in the Laodicean Church, and yet, as Dr. John MacArthur stated, “If one member would recognize his spiritual bankrupcy and respond in saving faith, He would enter the church.” A full explanation of Revelation 3:20 can be found here.

The verse you quote has nothing to do with a true believer losing salvation. It is in fact a word to a Church that seemed to have everything, naturally speaking, but spiritually was completely destitute – poor, blind and naked. That is why Christ exhorts them, “I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.” (v. 18, 19)

Now you know something of the background, read through the passage again and see if the meaning now becomes clear:

14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.

15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

– Revelation 3:14-22

I hope that helps. God bless, John