Mark Twain describes forgiveness this way:

Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heal that has crushed it.

What beautifully apropos imagery.

In a recent post I listed 5 Myths About Forgiveness, taken from an article by Sam Storms.  What I didn’t do in that post is describe what forgiveness is.  So in this post we give consideration to that question, again borrowing from Storms.

Here are 5 Truths About Forgiveness:

1. God in Christ forgave us by absorbing in himself the destructive and painful consequences of our sin against him
2. God forgave us in Christ by canceling the debt we owed him. That is to say, we are no longer held liable for our sins or in any way made to pay for them.
3. Forgiving others as God has forgiven us means we resolve to revoke revenge.
4. Forgiving others as God has forgiven us means that we determine to do good to them rather than evil. (Romans 12.17-21)
5. God forgave us in Christ by reconciling us to himself, by restoring the relationship that our sin had shattered.

While these truths are still not a definition they do work together to give us understanding, perhaps even better than a mere definition might.  Forgiveness is embodied and demonstrated in the person of Jesus Christ.  He is, in Twain’s words, the Violet that was crushed for us.

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This list is an excerpt from a post by Sam Storms that originally appeared on the Enjoying God Ministries blog.  To whole article is available in .pdf thanks to the folks at Acts 29 Network. Click: Forgiveness