It would have been better if translators had called the Tree of Knowledge the "Tree of Decision", as the word for "knowledge" implies the power to decide or to judge the truth of things. That's the nature of the Fall -- Adam and Eve seized the authority to decide for themselves what was good and evil -- the Tree of Deciding Good and Evil -- and rejected the authority of God to decide such things. Since we chose not to listen to Him, He closed the door on His counsel, which requires us in our fleshly form to come back to Him through redemption.
Humans by default cannot know what is good and evil. They can certainly decide for themselves; that's what the Fall means, but they don't know what God thinks about such things. So, when you are trying to navigate the streets and the traffic is very dense, you may become offended. Did all of those people sin by inconveniencing you? Yes and no. They may well all be in sin, but none of them got on the street with the intent to delay you. They didn't sin against you in that sense.
The answer in this case is to learn how to go on with your life. It's not a question of forgiving, because there was no offense. It's just your irritation, and whether you take it seriously or not. Sure, some drivers are complete asses about it, but in general, that's not the point. There's nothing you can do to hold them accountable, so you might as well get over it.
But for those few who do go out of their way to cut you off and flip you the bird; was that a sin? Who gets to decide? If all you want is punishment on them, then you don't understand what the whole question of good versus evil is. The real issue is to get them to stop that behavior. Cops and fines and jail might convince a rebellious human, but nothing inside that offender changes. We could easily get lost here in what can be accomplished on the human level, but we are compelled by faith to pursue the ultimate meaning of things. Human forgiveness isn't worth much; it's just a convenience. We want to understand the eternal issue of defilement that most humans can't even perceive.
That's the real question here. The Covenant by which we return to the Lord and seek His revelation of what is good and evil also grants us a clear conviction so we'll know. The whole point is that we turn over to Him all questions of good and evil. We recognize that we are incompetent to decide what is good and evil. This is not merely a question of human relations. Every sin defiles. Defilement affects your life on this earth in subtle ways most people don't recognize. While you may have no human authority to affect punishment on those who sin, under the Covenant you do have divine authority to forgive or not. Jesus said so (Matthew 18:15-20): "What you forgive, the Father forgives" in so many words.
You could let that inflate your sense of self-worth, but that would be missing the point. We are striving to walk in the Covenant here. We want to operate under His authority, so we submit to our convictions, which are written by God's own hand on your heart. We submit to His decision what is good and evil. What do we forgive and what should we hold before Him for wrath? Choose carefully. It's not that you are obliged to forgive everything.
How often did the Old Testament saints say, "May the Lord judge between you and I"? That wasn't forgiveness; that was letting it go so that God could handle it at His whim. You forfeited your claim on that person's behavior and the eventual justice. You decide to make no plans either way. Of course, you suspect the Lord is going to take some action sooner or later. But you don't forgive because you sense that doing so will harm the Covenant shalom.
So, there is a sense in which no one outside the Covenant has the authority to forgive. They don't "know" -- they can't rightly decide. Under the Covenant, we have divine authority to forgive, but we need to be careful about it. We should turn it over to the Lord, except when our convictions steer a clear path to God's solution to the problem.
And the whole thing assumes the notion that those who offend you owe you something. That's how the Bible characterizes it. Thus, you think in terms of releasing the debt as "forgiveness". Some things you dismiss immediately, like snarled traffic. It's just part of what we endure in this fallen world. Some things you don't feel competent to judge, so you hand it off to God. You'll know eventually whether He forgives, and thus you forgive, or whether He will punish them and you can rejoice in His glory. Other issues are well defined in your soul and you know right away what you should do about it.
How would you forgive yourself? To whom would the debt be owed? You are both parties. The language of forgiving self is symbolic. You know your better self had no power over the fleshly nature at times, because that power is so very difficult to exercise. Once you get used to the notion of a dual nature, then you fit the symbolic language into that frame of reference. Your soul has to forgive itself in that sense for not reining in the fleshly nature.
I don't think it's safe to imagine a third party within yourself to moderate between good and evil selves. The cutesy image of an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other is a dangerous proposition. You have a fleshly nature and an eternal nature; it's very much like two people together in one body. There is a conscious awareness, but it must identify with one or the other, and isn't a person per se.
Humans by default cannot know what is good and evil. They can certainly decide for themselves; that's what the Fall means, but they don't know what God thinks about such things. So, when you are trying to navigate the streets and the traffic is very dense, you may become offended. Did all of those people sin by inconveniencing you? Yes and no. They may well all be in sin, but none of them got on the street with the intent to delay you. They didn't sin against you in that sense.
The answer in this case is to learn how to go on with your life. It's not a question of forgiving, because there was no offense. It's just your irritation, and whether you take it seriously or not. Sure, some drivers are complete asses about it, but in general, that's not the point. There's nothing you can do to hold them accountable, so you might as well get over it.
But for those few who do go out of their way to cut you off and flip you the bird; was that a sin? Who gets to decide? If all you want is punishment on them, then you don't understand what the whole question of good versus evil is. The real issue is to get them to stop that behavior. Cops and fines and jail might convince a rebellious human, but nothing inside that offender changes. We could easily get lost here in what can be accomplished on the human level, but we are compelled by faith to pursue the ultimate meaning of things. Human forgiveness isn't worth much; it's just a convenience. We want to understand the eternal issue of defilement that most humans can't even perceive.
That's the real question here. The Covenant by which we return to the Lord and seek His revelation of what is good and evil also grants us a clear conviction so we'll know. The whole point is that we turn over to Him all questions of good and evil. We recognize that we are incompetent to decide what is good and evil. This is not merely a question of human relations. Every sin defiles. Defilement affects your life on this earth in subtle ways most people don't recognize. While you may have no human authority to affect punishment on those who sin, under the Covenant you do have divine authority to forgive or not. Jesus said so (Matthew 18:15-20): "What you forgive, the Father forgives" in so many words.
You could let that inflate your sense of self-worth, but that would be missing the point. We are striving to walk in the Covenant here. We want to operate under His authority, so we submit to our convictions, which are written by God's own hand on your heart. We submit to His decision what is good and evil. What do we forgive and what should we hold before Him for wrath? Choose carefully. It's not that you are obliged to forgive everything.
How often did the Old Testament saints say, "May the Lord judge between you and I"? That wasn't forgiveness; that was letting it go so that God could handle it at His whim. You forfeited your claim on that person's behavior and the eventual justice. You decide to make no plans either way. Of course, you suspect the Lord is going to take some action sooner or later. But you don't forgive because you sense that doing so will harm the Covenant shalom.
So, there is a sense in which no one outside the Covenant has the authority to forgive. They don't "know" -- they can't rightly decide. Under the Covenant, we have divine authority to forgive, but we need to be careful about it. We should turn it over to the Lord, except when our convictions steer a clear path to God's solution to the problem.
And the whole thing assumes the notion that those who offend you owe you something. That's how the Bible characterizes it. Thus, you think in terms of releasing the debt as "forgiveness". Some things you dismiss immediately, like snarled traffic. It's just part of what we endure in this fallen world. Some things you don't feel competent to judge, so you hand it off to God. You'll know eventually whether He forgives, and thus you forgive, or whether He will punish them and you can rejoice in His glory. Other issues are well defined in your soul and you know right away what you should do about it.
How would you forgive yourself? To whom would the debt be owed? You are both parties. The language of forgiving self is symbolic. You know your better self had no power over the fleshly nature at times, because that power is so very difficult to exercise. Once you get used to the notion of a dual nature, then you fit the symbolic language into that frame of reference. Your soul has to forgive itself in that sense for not reining in the fleshly nature.
I don't think it's safe to imagine a third party within yourself to moderate between good and evil selves. The cutesy image of an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other is a dangerous proposition. You have a fleshly nature and an eternal nature; it's very much like two people together in one body. There is a conscious awareness, but it must identify with one or the other, and isn't a person per se.
