ARAMAIC WORD STUDY – FORGIVE – SHAVAQ – שבק   Shin Beth Qop

Luke 23:34: “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.”

Psalms 78:38:  “But he, [being] full of compassion, forgave [their] iniquity, and destroyed [them] not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.”

1John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Psalms 51:7:  “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”

When you ask God to forgive you for your sins, what are you asking Him to do?  Are you asking Him to overlook the offense?  To pretend it never happened?  Are you asking Him to forgive your sins so He can continue to bless you or keep you out of hell? Are you asking forgiveness to avoid punishment?  What is forgiveness anyways and why do we need to ask God to forgive us?

The word in Greek for forgiveness is aphes which means to send away, leave alone, depart or release and pardon.  The word in Aramaic is shavaq which is the word used for divorce, the ending of a marriage as well as pardon. In Hebrew, the word for forgiveness is chaphar which means to cover up or cover over and pardon. All these words have the idea of a pardon. In a sense what Jesus was saying when He said: “Father forgive them” was that he was granting them a pardon. 

Does that mean that all those who were torturing Jesus and putting Him to death were saved?  Being forgiven for your sins and being saved from your sins are two different things. If the President of the United States pardons a criminal convicted of a federal crime he is released from prison, from the punishment of their crime.  Yet, he will still have a criminal record.  The President has no power to remove a criminal record. That is a judiciary function. His record will still need to be presented in a court of law and a judge will have to decide whether or not to expunge his record that is purge or purify his record and thus he is free to move about and no one can look up his record and find that criminal charge. 

When Jesus said: “Father forgive them” He was not acting in the role of a judge but as a person who has suffered an offense.  As a person, he was saying: “Look, I personally forgive you, I have no grudge against you.” But you will still face judgment (if you do not accept my cleansing blood).  In Hebrew, the word forgiveness is not often used.  What is used is a plea to cleans, purify or purge the sin. You may be forgiven from your sins but all that means is that you will not suffer the consequences of that sin.  In Psalm 78:38 we find that Ephraim committed an offense for which they faced destruction, but God forgave them so they did not suffer that destruction. 

In I John and Psalm 51:7 we do not find God forgiving sins but cleansing from sin that is madaka in Aramaic meaning to purging it, expunging it from your record so that you are spotless before Him. You see God may forgive your sin, cover it up shavaq it, that is to divorce you from that sin but until he actually expunges that sin from your life, you cannot enjoy a relationship with Him because that sin is there, you still have a criminal record. 

I know, I am cutting hairs.  Is not asking God for forgiveness the same as asking to be cleansed?  If that is what is in your heart then God may hear the word forgive, but He will not only forgive you, give you a pardon, He will also cleanse you expunge that sin so you can again be intimate with Him. 

My point is this, salvation is not just having your sins expunged, but also shavaq, that is He will declare you and your sin are divorced, you will no longer share a relationship with that sin you are shavaqed from or divorced from those sins.  You can ask for forgiveness, shavaq but if you run back to that sin and have a relationship with that sin, you are not shavaq, nor are you madaka -cleansed.