Forgiveness of sins was a hallmark of Jesus’ ministry.
Along with teaching, healing, exorcising the demonic, discipling, and
prophesying, Jesus was also controversially known as one who declared sins
forgiven and encouraged others to forgive. In Matthew 18, following a teaching
on how his disciples should engage and forgive sinning brethren, there is this
exchange which includes the parable of the unmerciful servant:
Then Peter
came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I
forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to
seven times, but up to seventy times seven. “For this reason the kingdom of
heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.
When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was
brought to him. But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord
commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had,
and repayment to be made. So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated
himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you
everything.’ And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and
forgave him the debt. But that slave went out and found one of his fellow
slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke
him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ So his fellow slave fell to the ground and
began to plead with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’
But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back
what was owed. So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were
deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. Then
summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that
debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had mercy on your
fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ And his lord, moved
with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was
owed him. My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does
not forgive his brother from your heart.” (Matthew 18:21-35)
The phrase “seventy times seven” (hebdomekontakis hepta) has often been associated with the story of
Cain and his son Lamech in the Septuagint version of Genesis 4:24 in which the
latter announces that whoever takes vengeance upon him will be punished 490 times
over. The idea behind this connection is that this is Jesus’ inversion of the ancient
“eye-for-an eye” ethic in favor of one of exhaustive forgiveness. While there
may be an indirect reference here to the Genesis 4 story, I believe a more
direct reference is that of Daniel 9:24-25.
Seventy weeks
have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the
transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring
in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the
most holy place. So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a
decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until an anointed one the Prince there
will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again.
Because of their sins against God and their breaking
of their part of the covenant, the Israelites had been punished for their
unfaithfulness by exile in Babylon. The Temple had been destroyed and the glory
of God had left. Exile was the curse that the Israelites’ covenant with God
stipulated for sin (Deut 29). At the time, when Jeremiah predicted this exile,
God had stated that it would last seventy years (Jer 25:11-12 and 29:10). Historically
speaking, Jeremiah’s prediction was astonishingly accurate, and later generations
made much of it (Zech 1:12; 2 Chron 36:20-21; Ezra 1:1). And while the physical
exile came to an end and the Jews returned to their home land, there was still a
sense that the exile had not ended. They were back in the promise land, but it
was ruled by pagan enemies. The temple had been rebuilt, but God had not
returned. It seemed like the covenant renewal promised by Deuteronomy 30, Jeremiah
31, and Ezekiel 36 had yet to be fulfilled. There was a belief that a spiritual
exile was still in effect (Deuteronomy 30; Ezra 9:7; Nehemiah 9:36-37). If the Jews
were still under the curse of the exile, then it must be because God had not
yet fully forgiven the sins that led to that exile. In the vision of Daniel,
the seventy years of Jeremiah has been reinterpreted to mean “seventy weeks of
years” or 490 years. It is after this symbolic duration that sin will be
defeated, atonement will be made, righteousness will come, and forgiveness will
be granted.
This “seventy weeks of years” (or 490) is drawn from
the concepts of the sabbath and jubilee years. The sabbath year (shmita, literally "release")
is the seventh year of the seven-year agricultural cycle mandated by the Torah
(Exod 23:10–11; Levi 25:1–7; Deut 15:1–6). During shmita, the land is left to lie fallow and all agricultural
activity is forbidden. Among other things, this allowed the land to rest. Importantly,
in 2 Chronicles 36:21, the seventy-year physical exile was understood to be an
extended sabbath rest for the land. Jubilee years occurred after seven cycles
of seven sabbath years, 49 years. Leviticus 25:8 says, “you are also to count
off seven sabbaths of years for yourselves, seven times seven years, so that
you have the time of the seven sabbaths of years, namely forty-nine years” (cf.
23:15). This was a year of land rest, return of lent property, debt forgiveness,
and the freeing of slaves (Leviticus 25:10). The jubilee year was announced by
a blast on a shofar, an instrument
made from a ram's horn, during that year's Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement,
when sins were forgiven (v. 9; 16:29-30). The vision of Daniel extended the
seventy-year sabbath rest and made it a 490-year jubilee year. The prophecy is
that after the 490 years, there will be a jubilee in which exile will end, the
land will be renewed, slaves released, and sins forgiven.
Therefore, the Jewish hope of the 1st
century CE is for the end of exile, the renewal of the covenant (Deut 30; Jer
31; Ezek 36), the defeat of Israel’s enemies (Psa 110; Dan 7), the forgiveness
of sins (Isa 40:1-2; 43:14-28; Jer 31:31-40; Ezek 36:24-28), and the return of
God (Ezek 43; Isa 40 and 52; Dan 7; Zech 9; Mal 3-4). These expectations can be
seen in sweeping fashion in Isaiah 40-55, which predicts a new exodus (43:14-28;
51:1-23;), to redeem those enslaved to idolatry (42:5-9; 46:1-13; 51:1-23), and
to bless the entire world which was the purpose of the covenant (41:2, 8-9; 42:5-9,
18-25; 45:1-13; 48:1-22; 49:7-13; 54:1-17; 55:1-13; cf. Genesis 12:3).
Enter Jesus.
Mark begins his gospel (1:2-3) by quoting Isaiah 40:3
and Malachi 3:1 which predict God is coming. Matthew cites that Isaiah 40:3 as
well (cf. Luke 3:4-6). In 1:23, he cites Isaiah 10:14, calling Jesus Immanuel
or “God with us.” In 21:5, Matthew cites the Zechariah 9:9 prophecy about God
returning as Jesus enters Jerusalem. When Jesus then goes into the Temple (Mark
11:15-17), it fulfills the Malachi 3:1 prophecy cited by Mark. The Gospel
writers are stating that Jesus is fulfilling the prophecies of God returning to
his people. Jesus himself tells many parables about what it looks like when God
returns (Matthew 21:33-44; 22:1-14; 25:1-13, 14-30, 31-46; Luke 19:11-27).
In the Gospel of Luke (4:16-30), Jesus inaugurates his
ministry in the Nazarene synagogue by proclaiming a jubilee in the reading of Isaiah
61:1-2.
The Spirit of
the Lord is upon Me,
Because He
anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me
to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery
of sight to the blind,
To set free
those who are oppressed,
To proclaim
the favorable year of the Lord.
He claims this passage has now been fulfilled (v. 21).
Jesus then proceeds to go around declaring people’s sins forgiven (Matt 9:2-6; Mark
2:5-10; Luke 5:20-24; 7:47-49). Indeed, even during his own crucifixion, he
tells the Father to forgive people (Luke 23:34).
Most importantly, the actual crucifixion of Jesus
brought about the ultimate forgiveness of sins (Matt 26:28; Luke 24:46-47; Eph
1:7-8; Col 1:13-14; Rom 6:6, 10-11; 8:3; Heb 10:17). At the Last Supper, Jesus links
his crucifixion with the new covenant (Luke 22:20). Also note that Jesus’ work
on the cross was held during Passover, the remembrance of how God rescued the
Israelites from slavery. This was Jesus linking himself to the original exodus
and the new exodus of Isaiah 40-55.
Indeed, Jesus refers to his sacrifice as a “ransom (
lutron) for many” (Mark 10:45; Matt 20:28;
cf.
1 Tim 2:6). The Greek word lutron means a price for redeeming,
particularly a slave.
While Jesus’ work and ministry effect the ultimate
forgiveness of sins hoped for by the Jewish people, in Matthew 18, Jesus’ teaching
on “seventy times seven” and its illustrative parable not only point out the
fulfillment of Daniel 9 but suggests an incorporation of his disciples within
that process of forgiveness. Note similar sayings of Jesus on this concept:
“For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly
Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your
Father will not forgive your transgressions” (Matt 6:14-15).
“Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against
anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your
transgressions” (Mark 11:25).
“Pardon, and you will be pardoned” (Luke 6:37).
“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matt
6:12).
Also note similar teachings by Paul:
“Forgive each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as
the Lord forgave you, so also should you” (Colossians 3:13).
“Forgive each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you”
(Ephesians 4:32).
These teachings indicate that not only should
Christians forgive as they have been forgiven, but that their own forgiveness
by God is dependent upon on their forgiveness of others. In this sense, there
is a communal aspect to forgiveness. I suggest that, in Jesus’ placement of
this teaching within his fulfillment of the ultimate “seventy times seven” forgiveness
of sins, those incorporated within Christ actively participate in the
fulfillment of Jesus’ work for forgiveness of sins. How is this possible?
The answer comes in understanding the Hebrew conception
of corporate solidarity and Jesus’ self-identification as the Messiah/Christ with
the accompanying messianic figures of the Old Testament.
The
Hebrews thought that psychical functions had a physical basis, and that a human
being is conceived not in terms of a “spirit” and “body” dichotomy, but
synthetically as a psychical whole (nephesh).
What is more, a person’s vital power was thought to reach far beyond the mere
contour of the body. A man’s personality was thought to extend throughout his household
and have both subtle and direct influence upon it. A strong solidarity then
existed through the whole property in which the household could be conceived as
a psychical whole. Therefore, an oscillation existed between individuals and
the whole. This concept of corporate solidarity and oscillation then extends
beyond the individual and household to institutions, nations, and the world
itself. Headship of such collective bodies then becomes a determining factor in
the psychology, culture, and Zeitgeist of the institution.
Some Biblical examples would be the penal solidarity
that existed between Achan and his household (Josh 7:16-26) and the similar
solidarity that existed between King David and his people (2 Sam 24). But such
representation and corporate solidarity is not irrespective of the behavior of
the individual. While God may visit the sins of the parents upon the children (Exod
20:5; 34:7; Num 14:18; and Deut 5:9), the children (or the parents) are never
punished because of another’s sins (Deut 5:9; 24:16, Ezek 18:20). This isn’t a
discrepancy. Rather, it is evidence of the spiritual influence the head of a
household has upon shaping the mentality and behavior of that household, both
for the good and the bad. This is why the Bible stresses the importance of
raising a child in the ways of the Lord.
Indeed, the shaping effect can be profound. Both consciously and unconsciously
we pick up the habits, temperament, and even the sins of our parents. The
influence of leading a household can transfer to general leadership in leading
a church or other institution. This is one reason the pastorals see good
household management as a prerequisite for church leadership (1 Tim 3:4-5;
Titus 1:6). Nevertheless, the influence of the leadership does not absolutely
determine the behavior of the followers. These are generalities that can allow
for particulars. Good parents can have bad children, and bad parents can have
good children. We are all judged based on our own behavior. Nevertheless, the
ancient Hebrews believed that active participation within a corporate body
created an oscillation between the individual and the communal, particularly in
the way the corporate leader spiritually influences the communal body.
We see this concept of communal solidarity with Jesus in
the New Testament and the individual-corporate oscillation that exists between
him and his followers. In Daniel 7, the figure of the “Son of Man” stands for
"the saints of the Most High" (7:18, 21-22) and "the people of
the saints of the Most High" (7:27). Jesus specifically identifies himself
with this corporate “Son of Man” figure (Matthew 24:30; 26:64; Mark 14:62; Luke
21:27; 22:69). The Suffering Servant is also a corporate figure (Isaiah 41:8-9;
44:1; 45:4; 48:20; 49:3). Jesus identifies the figure with himself in Luke
22:37. The same identification can be found in Matthew 8:17, Mark 15:28, John
12:38, Acts 8:32–33, Romans 10:16, 15:21 and 1 Peter 2:22. Furthermore, we have
voluminous references to people being “in Christ” throughout the New Testament (see
Rom 6:11; 8:1, 2, 39; 15:17; 1Co 1:2, 30; 3:1; 4:10, 15, 17; 15:18-19, 22, 31;
2Co 5:17; Gal 2:4, 16, 17; 3:14, 26, 28; Eph 1:1, 3, 10, 12, 20; 2:6-7, 10, 13;
3:6, 11, 21; Phl 3:3, 9, 14; Col 1:28; 1 Th 4:16). Note a few examples:
“redemption which is in Christ (en Christo) Jesus” (Rom 3:24)
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal
life in Christ (en Christo) Jesus our
Lord.” (Rom 6:23)
“So we, who are many, are one body in Christ (en Christo), and individually members one of another.” (Rom 12:5)
These references to being “in Christ” should be
understood as a locative, indicating the position of the individual, the Church,
etc. within Christ’s corporate figure. Indeed, the followers of Jesus - the
Church itself - are frequently called the “body of Christ” (Rom 12:5; 1 Cor 12:12-27;
Eph 3:6; 5:23; Col 1:18, 24). Not only that, Christian believers as a group are
referred to as a Temple (1 Cor 3:16, 17; 6:19; 2 Cor 6:16; Eph 2:21). To put
this altogether: believers are in Christ, they are the body of Christ, they are
a Temple, Jesus is a Temple, and believers are a part of that Temple body. There
is an oscillation between individual Christians within the community of
believers and Christ himself in which they become a whole person under Jesus’
influence, so that what one says about Jesus one can say about the whole of
those within him. Note these two examples:
“[T]o the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, you
did it to me” (Matt. 25:40, 45)
“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4)
Therefore, individuals are “baptized into Christ”
(Romans 6:3; Gal 3:27) and, thus, are crucified and resurrected with him (Romans
6:5-11; Gal 2:20; Col 3:1-7). In 1 Peter, because believers are incorporated
into Christ, they share in his sufferings (4:13-14). This is how the logic
works: if the sufferings of Christ (1:11; 2:7, 21-24; 4:1; 5:1) lead to his
glory (1:11, 21; 3:22; 4:13; 5:1, 4, 10) then their sufferings will also lead
to glory in Christ (1:7-8; 2:5, 9-10; 4:13-14; 5:1, 4, 6, 10). Thus, the
sufferings the recipients of the letter are currently experiencing will lead to
glory in Christ. In 3:18-22, Peter, like Paul in Colossians 2:9-15, connects
the believers’ participation in Christ’s death and resurrection, symbolized in
baptism (v. 21), with the subjugation of the powers that followed that death
and resurrection.
One of the central beliefs of Christianity is that God
enthroned Jesus as King of the world, following his death and resurrection.
Essentially, Jesus currently rules this world, sitting at the right hand of God
(Mark 14:62; Matthew 22:44; 25:33-34; 26:64; Daniel 7:13; Acts 2:33; 7:55-56;
Romans 8:34; Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 8:1; 10:12;
12:2; Revelation 3:21; Psalm 110). Having been made king over the world, all
power and authority has been given to him (Matthew 28:18) and all powers and
authorities are being subjected to him (Ephesians 1:20-22; Philippians 2:8-11;
1 Corinthians 15:24; Colossians 1:13; 2:10, 15; Jude 1:25; Revelation 2:26-27;
12:10; Matthew 9:8; 21:23; Mark 3:15; John 5:27; 17:2; Psalm 110). Because
believers participate in Christ, they participate in subjecting the Powers to
Christ’s authority (1 Corinthians 15, Ephesians, 1 Peter, Psalm 110, Daniel 7,
Matthew 28:18-20). What are these Powers?
Walter Wink
has successfully argued that “’principalities and powers’ are the inner and
outer aspects of any given manifestation of power. As the inner aspect they are
the spirituality of institutions, the ‘within’ of corporate structures and
systems, the inner essence of outer organizations of power. As the outer aspect
they are political systems, appointed officials, the ‘chair’ of an
organization, laws.”
He arrives at this conclusion by surveying and analyzing the whole range of New
Testament usage of the language of Power with corroborating support from the
contemporaneous literature. He concludes that the Biblical writers employed
interchangeable terms of Power which can refer either to the visible or
invisible aspects of any given manifestation of Power, or even both together,
as the context required.
The language employed indicates that, in the Biblical view, the Powers are both
visible
and invisible, both earthly
and heavenly, both spiritual
and institutional.
Wink notes the following:
The
clearest statement of this is Col. 1:16 which should have been made the
standard for all discussions of the Powers: “For in him [the Son] all things
were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones (thronoi) or dominions (kyriotētes) or principalities (archai) or authorities (exousia) – all things were created
through him and for him.” The parallelism of the Greek, ably rendered here by
the RSV, indicates that these Powers are themselves both earthly and heavenly, visible and invisible.
In this view, the
Biblical thought is that there is a spirituality behind (or within) physical
manifestations of power. Behind every ruler, behind every nation, behind every
administrator, institution, church, and pastor, there is a spirituality at
work.
The Powers possess simultaneously both an outer, physical manifestation and an
inner, spiritual essence, or gestalt corporate culture, or collective
personality.
The spiritual Powers, specifically, then are not to be understood as separate
“heavenly entities” but as “the inner aspect of material or tangible
manifestations of power.”
They do not have a separate, spiritual
existence independent of their material counterpart but are inextricably
connected to the physical.
In this sense, there is no matter-spirit dualism but one united, indivisible
reality in which both the physical and the spiritual exist co-dependently.
These Powers must manifest themselves physically, become embodied and
institutionalized, in order to be effective. However, it is the inner,
invisible spirit that provides the Power with legitimacy, regulation, and
compliance.
Every business, corporation, club, organization, school, government,
denomination, and church have this combination of both outer and inner, visible
and invisible, physical and spiritual.
The Powers are both spiritual and
institutional.
Importantly, these Powers are not fundamentally bad
but the good creation of a good God. However, all of them have fallen into
corruption, having turned towards idolatry, becoming more or less evil in
intent.
It is when a Power turns towards idolatry, placing its own will above that of
God’s, however consciously or unconsciously, that the Power becomes demonic.
In John Howard Yoder’s analysis of the fallen Powers,
[W]e
find them seeking to separate us from the love of God (Rom. 8:38); we find them
ruling over the lives of those who live far from the love of God (Eph. 2:2); we
find them holding us in servitude to their rules (Col. 2:2); we find them
holding us under their tutelage (Gal. 4:3). These structures which were
supposed to be our servants have become our masters and our guardians.
“Demons” are the psychic spiritual Powers emanated by
organizations, institutions, individuals or sub-aspects of individuals whose
energies are bent on overpowering others in a radical rejection of and
idolatrous estrangement from God.
And in all its manifestations, the demonic is simultaneously spiritual and
physical, invisible and visible, heavenly and earthly, inner and outer.
These fallen, corrupted Powers, these demonic
institutions and the individuals they mutually influence, all manifested in
idolatrous businesses, corporations, governments, institutions, churches,
leaders, administrators, pastors, laws, and constitutions, down through
history, creating the ethos and Zeitgeist of the age, come together as both an
inner and outer reality in the person of the Satan.
He is the interiority of an idolatrous society at fundamental odds with its
Creator. He is the corporate personality of the world as the sum total of all
humanity’s evil down through history.
He is “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4), “the archetypal representation of
the collective weight of human fallenness, which constrains us towards evil
without even being aware of it”, and “the symbol of the spirit of an entire
society alienated from God.”
These are the idolatrous Powers that have enslaved the
world and from whom people need to be redeemed (Isaiah 42:5-9; 46:1-13;
51:1-23). The means of this slavery is sin (Rom 6:16-22; John 8:34; 2 Pet 2:19;
Galatians 5:1). For the powers to be defeated and for people to be redeemed,
sin must be dealt with. It is the forgiveness of sins which redeems people from
its slavery, creating the exile-ending exodus from the Powers.
“For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to
the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of
sins.” (Col 1:13-14)
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly
walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.”
(Eph 2:1-2)
It was Jesus who defeated these corrupted Powers on
the cross and through his resurrection and is now subjecting them to his
Lordship. It was his work that brought about the ultimate forgiveness of sins
that broke the hold the Powers had over individuals and humanity. Again,
because believers are incorporated into the body of Christ through faith
symbolized in baptism, they participate in Christ’s work as his hands and feet,
subjecting the Powers to obedience.
This is what Jesus was teaching in Matthew 18. In “seventy
times seven”, he was telling his contemporary followers to actively participate
in his exile-ending forgiveness of sins which frees those under the slavery of
the Powers. His warns that their redemption is corporately connected to their activity
in redeeming others through forgiveness of sins.
Jesus’ death and resurrection brought the corporate future
into the individualized present. New creation was brought forward into the
present with Jesus (1 Corinthians 15). Future resurrection of all of God’s
people has been actualized in the present resurrection of Jesus. Jesus has been
justified by God in the present so that Christians can be justified by faith in
anticipation of a future justification.
Jesus has subjected the Powers and Christians are participating in that
subjection. God has forgiven sins in Christ and those in Christ must actively
participate in that forgiveness to bring out those still within the exiled
slavery of the Powers under sin.
When we read Genesis, we see the horrendous collapse
of humanity into exilic sin in chapters 3-11. In chapters 12, 15, and 17, God
calls Abraham in a covenantal plan to redeem the world by creating a family
that will outnumber the stars. In doing so, God predicts both a slavery and
exodus of that family (15:13-16). It is Isaiah 40-55 that picks up on this
theme of sin, exile, covenant, and exodus, noting that God’s plan is not just
to reverse the Exodus-like slavery of the Babylonian exile but the exile from
Eden itself (55:13, cf. Gen 3:17-18).
It is our participation in this “seventy times seven” forgiveness of sins which
redeems others from the slavery of sin and breaks the hold of the idolatrous Powers,
freeing the world and ending the exile of creation (Romans 8).
See the following sources for fuller examinations of
the subject: E. Earle Ellis, Pauline
Theology: Ministry and Society (Grand Rapids: William Eerdmans Publishing
Co., 1989); Aubrey J. Johnson, The One
and the Many in the Israelite Conception of God (Cardiff: University of
Wales Press, 1961); Aubrey J. Johnson, The
Vitality of the Individual in the Thought of Ancient Israel (Cardiff:
University of Wales Press, 1949); H. Wheeler Robinson, Corporate Personality in Ancient Israel (Philadelphia: Fortress
Press, 1964), Sang-Won (Aaron) Son, Corporate
Elements in Pauline Theology (Roma: Editrice Pontificio Instituto Biblico,
2001), and Frank Stagg, Polarities of
Human Existence in Biblical Perspective (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys
Publishing, Inc., 1994).
"Thinking Eternally, Acting Locally." - Neal August
