Today’s Daily Word Study is an abridged excerpt from Chaim Bentorah’s newest book: Does The Bible Really Say That? 20 (Seeming) Biblical Contradictions Explained. Click here to learn more.

Seeming Contradictions in the Bible: God Will Always Forgive

Matthew 18:21–22: “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? (22) Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.”

CONTRADICTION: If God will always forgive our sins, then we can just keep sinning all we want. We will all be saved in the end because he always forgives.

In the Aramaic, Matthew 18:22 reads: “I do not say to you up to seven times but up to seventy times seventy-seven times.” Those are a whole lot of offenses that someone can do to you. A quick check on my calculator shows 34,300 times. So, is Jesus saying that if someone sins against you 34,301 times, finally passing that limit, then now you do not have to forgive? Well, that thinking is legalistic, precise, technological, scientific Western thought. The simple fact is that no one had calculators in those days, and very few could actually count up to 34,300. Most people, including those to whom Jesus was talking, could only count to one hundred. Obviously, Jesus was expressing an indefinite number of times.

If He is giving us this direction to always forgive, that there is no limit to the number of times we are to forgive, then He must be the prime model of this forgiveness. Hence, technically, we can sin all we want, and He will always forgive us. Why worry? Why even try to avoid sin if God is so forgiving? We can live a self-indulgent life and get to heaven too. That is like the best of both worlds.

Without repentance there is no remission of sins. Acts 3:19 states: “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;” Apparently, there are two conditions to getting this forgiveness according to Acts 3:19. The first condition is that we must repent. This first condition of repentance involves godly sorrow for our sins and the turning away from sins.

I used to work in a halfway house where every resident had or was coming off an addiction. Some sincerely wanted to overcome their addictions but kept falling back into them. Each time they fall, they cry out to God for forgiveness. They are sorry for the sins they commit because of their addiction, and they sincerely try to turn away. God forgives them, but they may spend the rest of their lives falling back into their addiction and repenting, repeating the cycle again and again. God knows their heart and if they are sincerely sorry and honest about wanting to overcome their addictions, they are forgiven.

The second condition in Acts to receive forgiveness is to convert. The word conversion in the Aramaic is pena, which means “to turn toward or to face, to submit or surrender.” I would not use the English word conversion here because it has come to mean changing from one faith to another form of doctrine or dogma. I would prefer to use “surrender to God” or “turn to the face of God.”

If we meet these two criteria, then we will be forgiven. The word forgiven is shevaq in the Aramaic, which means “to let go or leave.” God will let go of the penalty for our sins. If we let go of our sins, that is to repent, then God will let go of the penalty.

What does it mean to let go of the penalty? In Acts we learn that our sins are blotted out. The word in Aramaic for blotting out is eta, which is a word for a stylus or a writing instrument that is swinging. When a scribe blots out an error in a document, he does it with a swinging motion of his writing instrument. In its Semitic origins, it has the idea of cutting and digging. In Greek we find it carries a similar idea with the word exaleniphthenai, from the root word exaleipho, which means “to erase or obliterate.”

Forgiveness is more clearly expressed in the Aramaic with the word racham. Note the following two verses in English from the Gospel of John: John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 21:20: “Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?”

Many of us are familiar with the three Greek words that express the three levels of love: Agape (unconditional love), Phileo (brotherly love, friendship) and Eros (erotic love). Hebrew actually has four words for love, but they are not always translated as love. You have Ahav (love), Dodi (beloved as spousal love), Ra’ah (brotherly love, or friendship) and Racham (tender mercies).

The fourth Hebrew word for love, racham, is often expressed as a “romantic love” or rendered as “tender mercies.” It is rarely used in the Old Testament, but it is frequently found in the Aramaic New Testament where it is spelled the same and sounds the same as it does in Hebrew. It is in fact found in many if not most of the Semitic languages.

In the Greek New Testament, we find that the word used for love in John 3:16 is agape. In the Peshitta, or the Aramaic Bible, it is the word chav, which is similar to the Hebrew word ahav, which means “love.” However, in John 21:20 where we read about the disciple whom Jesus loved, the Greek uses the word agape, but the Peshitta uses the Aramaic word racham.

So, when Jesus said, “God so loved the word…” He used the Aramaic word chav, but when speaking of the disciple whom He loved, we have the word racham. These are two entirely different words, but both mean love. The most logical conclusion is that we are dealing with two levels of love, and thus this would suggest that He either loved the world more than His disciple or He loved this disciple more than the world.

Note: John 21:20 does not say “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” but “the disciple whom Jesus loved following.” In the Greek and Aramaic, it is more properly rendered as “the disciple whom Jesus loved who followed Him.” The world does not follow God, whereas this disciple did follow Jesus. To follow Jesus, however, you must have your sins forgiven.

The key difference between the words chav, which is used in John 3:16 as God loving the world, and racham, as used in John 21:20 of the disciple that Jesus loved is that chav, is a love that is not necessarily returned. Hence, not everyone whom Jesus loves is forgiven of his or her sins. With sin still present in a person, God cannot have a personal relationship with that individual. There is a barrier between him and God. For love to be completed, it must be returned. Racham is a completed love. It is a love in which you can enjoy a relationship with God. Your sins are forgiven and thus do not interfere in an intimacy with God.

You see, God loves the world but the world does not love Him in return. We do not accept His gift of forgiveness. It is when we love Him in return, accept His gift of forgiveness that His love is complete. It is when we accept His forgiveness that He is able to rejoice over us with singing (Zephaniah 3:17). Salvation is not just about getting saved and going to heaven; it is about completing the love and allowing God to forgive our sins, so we can become one with Him. Why do the angels rejoice over one sinner who repents? The same reason you cry at a wedding—you rejoice over seeing the joy of two people (not just one) who have found each other in love and share that love and return that love to each other.

It’s not that God loves one person more than another. He loves everyone equally. It’s just that very few will love Him in return, receive His forgiveness to complete His love, bring Him the joy of His love, awaken Him in that love and cause Him to sing with joy in that love.

But, here is where the real joy of forgiveness lies. Racham means “the womb.” It is said the love a mother has for a child is at its greatest in the womb and at the moment of birth. That love has not yet been challenged, and the child has not yet wounded or broken the mother’s heart. There has been no offense or sin yet committed to break the mother’s heart. So it is with God. When He forgives us, it is like we have gone back into the womb and have been born again—a clean fresh start with no record of any sin, no record of having wounded God’s heart.

This leads us to the real reason we are given infinite forgiveness from God. We love Him. We will not abuse that privilege of perpetual forgiveness because we will not want to ever again break God’s heart. If a man truly loves his wife, he will not cheat on her. Not because he fears she will divorce him and take half of his possessions, not because he is afraid of her wrath, but because he respects her, reverences her, does not want to wound her heart and he does not want to break her heart.

So too with God. We do not sin because we are afraid He will punish us or send us to hell. We do not sin because we fear or respect God and are afraid of breaking His heart.