Thankfully, we today are not under Israel’s “Law” and what Jesus told Israel was the requirement in order for them to receive forgiveness. Jesus told His Israelite audience that they had to forgive FIRST in order to be forgiven.

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, [then] your heavenly Father will also forgive you:” (Matthew 6:14 (KJV)

Forgiveness Under Paul's “Gospel of the Grace of God”

The dispensation “of Law,” given to Israel through Moses, continued even while Jesus of Nazareth was in His earthy ministry (Matt 5:18). Jesus told His disciples, in order to be forgiven you must FIRST forgive.

“Forgive, and (then) ye shall be forgiven” (Luke 6:37)

Forgiving & Forgetting?

By Arthur J Licursi

“And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (Heb. 10:17).

We know that God forgives the sins of His people, but does He forget them? It would seem so. Our text suggests that He “will not remember” the sins committed against Him by His children (Isa. 43:25). Believers have always found a great deal of comfort in this blessed thought.

The Apostle Paul wrote: "We… are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake" (2 Cor. 4:11). There is much that we all do for our own sake, for the sake of our children, our loved ones or others, but the real test of the believer's love for the Lord is what he does "for Jesus' sake."

Under the dispensation "of Law." which continued even during Jesus' earthy ministry to Israel (Matt 5:18), our Lord told His disciples that to be forgiven they must FIRST forgive: