Exploring the challenge to ‘Forgive (don’t judge) others’
General Introduction
In this series we are building what we will refer to as the ‘One Page New Testament’ - #onepagenewtestament. Our approach is creating a pictorial summary of the main messages for disciples of Jesus in a systematically derived, structured form. We aim to keep the descriptive text to a minimum and share with you the different Themes that are being created. We will consider the scriptures on their own merit, Theme by Theme, without introducing much in the way of theology. Within each Theme, we will let the scriptures speak for themselves - hopefully in a way that demonstrates the validity of the analysis.
Introduction to this Faith Article
This article is the twenty fourth in a series that is unpacking some of the analysis work currently being undertaken to draw out the main teachings from the New Testament from a personal discipleship perspective. The previous articles can be found in the reference at Note [1] and they focus upon the New Testament’s teaching that corresponds to the challenges of what we have so far called ‘Kingdom Fundamental 1 [KF1]’ - ‘Love God’, and ‘Kingdom Fundamental 2 [KF2]’ - ‘Follow Jesus’.
This is the fifth article which looks at what we have called Kingdom Fundamental 3 [KF3] - ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ and some of the sub-components of this. We have outlined that our work has considered there to be three Kingdom Practices at Level 2 as follows:
Make disciples [KP7]
Forgive (don’t judge) others [KP8]
Undertake acts of service / generosity - [KP9].
This article looks at [KP8] defined above and the three Kingdom Actions that we have developed which sit below it:
Forgive people unconditionally - [KP34]
Avoid judging others (outside the formal church discipline process) - [KP35]
Show the grace / mercy / peace we have received from God to other people - [KP36].
These are illustrated in light blue (encouragements) in Figure 1.
If readers take away nothing else from these articles other than the sense, logic, and directive actions in the Figures - for disciples to put into practice in the strength God gives - we will hopefully have achieved our initial objective.
Figure 1 - Investigating the Kingdom Fundamental to ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’
Kingdom Practice 8 [KP8] - ‘Forgive (Don’t Judge) Others’
We have not drawn out any specific verses that reflect this Practice specifically. These are covered in the subsections that follow.
Kingdom Action 34 [KA34] - ‘Forgive other people unconditionally’
There are 4 Greek words, from the references at [2] and [3], that we have drawn out that address this Theme. Some example scriptures are outlined here:
Matthew 5:24 - leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled (Strong’s 1259) to them; then come and offer your gift [4].
Matthew 6:14-15 - For if you forgive (863) other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive (863) you. But if you do not forgive (863) others their sins, your Father will not forgive (863) your sins.
Matthew 18:35 - “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive (863) your brother or sister from your heart.”
Luke 17:3 - So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive (863) them.”
Luke 12:58 - For while you are going with your opponent to appear before the magistrate, on your way there make an effort to settle (525) with him, so that he may not drag you before the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison (LSB).
2 Corinthians 2:10 - But one whom you graciously forgive (5483) anything, I graciously forgive also. For indeed what I have graciously forgive (5483), if I have graciously forgive (5483) anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ (LSB).
Colossians 3:13 - bearing with one another, and graciously forgiving (5483) each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord graciously forgave (5483) you, so also should you (LSB).
We have identified 13 verse references where these Greek words appear that support this Theme.
Kingdom Action 35 [KA35] - ‘Avoid judging others (outside the formal church discipline process)’
There are 6 Greek words and 1 idiom that are applicable to this Theme, and we present some of these below:
Matthew 7:1-2 - “Do not judge (2919), so that you will not be judged (2919). For with what judgment (2917) you judge (2919), you will be judged (2919); and with what measure you measure, it will be measured to you (LSB).”
Matthew 22:16 - They sent their disciples to Him, with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that You are truthful and teach truthfully the way of God. You defer to no one, for You don’t show partiality (Idiom - 991 & 4383) (HCSB).
Romans 2:1 - You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment (2919) on someone else, for at whatever point you judge (2919) another, you are condemning (2632) yourself, because you who pass judgment (2919) do the same things.
Romans 14:1 - Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment (1253) on opinions (LSB).
1 Corinthians 4:5 - Therefore judge (2919) nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.
1 Corinthians 5:12-13 - What business is it of mine to judge (2919) those outside the church? Are you not to judge (2919) those inside? God will judge (2919) those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”
James 2:13 - because judgment (2920) without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment (2920).
James 4:11-12 - Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges (2919) them speaks against the law and judges (2919) it. When you judge (2919) the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment (2923) on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge (2923), the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge (2919) your neighbor?
We have found in the order of 24 verse references where these Greek words and idioms appear.
Kingdom Action 36 [KA36] - ‘Show the grace / mercy / peace we have received from God to other people’
There are 15 Greek words we have identified here which explain this Theme. Example verses where some of these occur are:
Matthew 18:33 - “Should you not also have had mercy (1653) on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy (1653) on you? (LSB)”
Luke 6:36 - Be merciful (3629), just as your Father is merciful (3629).
John 16:33 - “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace (1515). In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Romans 1:7 - To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace (5485) and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 11:30-32 - Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy (1653) as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy (1656) as a result of God’s mercy (1653) to you. For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy (1653) on them all.
Romans 12:18 - If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace (1514) with everyone.
Romans 14:19 - Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace (1515) and to mutual edification.
Colossians 4:6 - Let your conversation be always full of grace (5485), seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
James 3:17 - But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate (1933), submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
Jude 1:22 - Be merciful (1653) to those who doubt (1252).
We have found around 170 verse instances where all of the Greek words that are relevant appear.
Summary
In this twenty forth Faith Article, we have explored some of the Greek words (presented in Louw and Nida’s [2] and Mounce’s [3] reference materials) and particular scriptures that look at what it means to ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ - [KP7]. We have concentrated upon the details that collectively explain how we are to ‘Forgive (Don’t Judge) Others’ - [KP8] and its three supporting Kingdom Actions [KA34] to [KA36].
In the next article we will look at Kingdom Practice 9 (Undertake acts of Service / Generosity [KP9]) and the teaching that sits in the level below this.
Just as with many English words, Greek words can have more than one meaning and consequently when translated into Biblical texts can be used to convey several different sentiments. Which is used is dependent upon the context.
Ultimately, this analysis and these groupings are subjective, as will be the inclusion (or exclusion) of many verses within each Theme and sub-Theme. We should note that some verses have a much stronger relevance to the derived Themes than others.
During this analysis, the aim has been to restrict the number of Themes that can be associated with any specific Greek word to eight or less - as any more implies poor analysis technique and the wrong heading choice / naming process.
Any thoughts on this Article, the process being undertaken, and related constructive feedback are welcome.
Notes:
[1] - All previous Faith Articles focusing on the One Page New Testament can be found at this page: www.teachthemtoobey.co.uk/blog/
[2] - “Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, based upon Semantic Domains” Volumes 1 and 2 - Louw and Nida - Published by and © United Bible Societies - 1988
[3] - “Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words” - © William D Mounce, 2006 - Published by Zondervan
[4] - Unless otherwise stated, all scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.TM used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.TM.
The Bible references presented are illustrative rather than aiming to be ‘proof texts’. They are examples only as there are, generally, many more we could look at. Please note that when looking at any Bible verse references, you should ideally consider more than one translation / respected version to get a more rounded view, and look at the wider context for each verse too. When Greek words are translated, Bible scholars do not always use the same English word every time it appears in the Greek. This is why it is useful to look at more than one Bible version.
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