FORGIVENESS AND CIVIC JUSTICE
The following is a 10-minute presentation on a choice Biblical text, and it’s relation to Biblical Counseling. This was an assignment for my Seminary class, “Introduction to Biblical Counseling”:
My purpose in this presentation is to present a Biblical frame for understanding interpersonal forgiveness and its relation to civic justice. This relationship is crucial to correctly counsel those who have been victims of evil crimes. To understand the solution, you must first understand the tension.
Firstly, human beings are commanded by God to forgive one another. The basis of this forgiveness is because God has forgiven us in Christ, (Eph 4:32, LSB) Instead, be kind to one another, tender-hearted, graciously forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has graciously forgiven you.” He promises that only those who forgive others will receive forgiveness from God. Matt 6:14–16 “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.”
The reason you are to do this comes from the reality that the debt you owe God is immeasurably greater than any debt any man can or ever will incur aginst you. Matt 18:21-25 says,
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. “Therefore, the slave fell to the ground and was prostrating himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’ “And feeling compassion, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. “But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him one 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 was pleading 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 hearts.”
Here is a scenario: A husband brutally beats his wife in secret. Now, should she forgive him? Yes. She is commanded by God to forgive him. What does this forgiveness consist of and what is it in respect to? As we heard in class, it consists of a promise of pardon and is in respect to the personal liability of the victim to the perpetrator. The victim promises to never personally hold the sin against the perpetrator in the future. The personal liability of the perpetrator against the victim is released and forgotten. Between the two of them, there is no debt remaining. See in the aforementioned parable the debt and payment nature of forgiveness. Forgiveness states that that, if possible, in future circumstances, a reconciliation of the interpersonal relationship will occur; there is peace between the parties.
Now. Does that mean that there is no vengeance for the husband? NO! μὴ γένοιτο! There is absolutley vengence to pay. Justice demands recompense, or a paying back of wrongdoing! God will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. But what is the basis of this recompense if it is not derived from the victim?
In order to answer this, observe that in God’s sovereign ordering of creation, He has created spheres of sovereignty, wherein certain human beings have been entrusted with offices of authority and responsibility over other human beings. God has entrusted certain human beings with sovereign authority and responsibility for other human beings.
The first to observe is that of a parent to a child. Parents are entrusted by God to bring up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Eph 6:4. Parents are also to discipline their children. “He who holds back his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him diligently.” Children are entrusted to parents by God, and the parents are responsible for these duties.
If a child disobeys their parent, and the child repents, the parents forgive. In respect to the interpersonal relationship of the parent to their child, the sin is forgotten; however, in respect to the function of the office of the parent before God, the parent is required to administer loving discipline to the naughty boy. Another sphere of sovereignty in the NT is that of the church. The church has been given the keys of the kingdom, and her leaders must exercise church discipline to its members in accordance with the Scriptures. Failure to enact church discipline is great sin.
And there is the sphere of the government; the governing authorities have been entrusted with the responsibility of God’s wrath to avenge against the evil doer. This brings us back to our scenario. Consider Romans 12. Christians are positively commanded by God not to take personal vengeance. Vs. 18 says, “if possible, so far as it depends on you, being at peace with all men, never taking your own revenge, beloved—instead leave room for the wrath of God. For it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord.” Now what follows Rom 12 is Rom 13 in which it is said that the governing authorities are “appointed by God”. That they are God’s “Deacons”. They are God’s minister of wrath, for the protection of God’s people!
“for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword in vain, for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.” (Rom 13:4)
Christians are not to avenge their own wrath against others, but the state is to avenge God’s wrath. Rulers are to uphold good and evil.
The question follows: by what standard has the Lord given the governing authorities to enforce? Following these verses, Paul then instructs the believers to respect and render honor to those to whom it is appointed; then he instructs them to love their neighbors to fulfill the Law of God (aka the Law of Moses). Paul goes once again to the law of God for moral instruction for the believer; there is no hint of any other standard in his mind in regard to the state as well, in respect to the good and evil which they are to uphold. Rulers are to uphold the standards of God Himself. Good and evil are revealed by God through His Law, which is true, righteous and holy. It reveals how one is to love their neighbor and It reveals how the civil magistrate is to govern. According to Moo in the NICNT, “The “evil” that the civil authorities punish, therefore, is evil in the absolute sense: those acts that God himself condemns as evil.”[1] Governors are ministers of God’s wrath and that is not to be arbitrarily defined by governors, but they are to rule in accordance with the Law of God, which reveals God’s unchanged, immutable, and just character.
What I am saying is this, the law says: ‘Cursed is he who strikes his neighbor in secret.’ (Deut 27:24). As we return to the victim, she is to entrust her civil vengeance of the wrong done to her to the state, and the state is required by God to administer that vengeance through the righteous penalty of the Law upon the evil-doer.
Whether or not that vengeance will actually take place is a separate issue from her recognizing that it is God’s will for her perpetrator to be punished to the true extent of the civil Law’s justice! Yet, because the nations have yet to come to Christ in full measure, and the great commission is still unfolding throughout the earth, it is unlikely in the current state of our courts that true civic justice will be rendered in most cases. Yet this counsel demonstrates the justice of the will God in the eyes of the victim.
Yet finally, there is also the counsel of the sovereignty and perfect rule of Christ over all creation, and all victims can take full comfort in the knowledge of perfect and final eschatological justice. Every sin will be paid in full, whether on the final day when sinners are cast into Gehenna, or whether the wrath for it was poured out on the precious lamb, in which case, it is finished.
God’s eschatological justice and civic justice are rendered independent of one another. Greg Bahnsen explains this, as well as other aspects of civil justice thusly:
“Not only was punishment according to an equitable standard in the Older Testament, but such punishment (in order to remain just) had to be certain (Prov. 11:21) and without mercy or pity to the criminal no matter who he was (Heb. 10:28; Deut. 19:13, 21; 25:12; cf. James 2:13. Offenders were not to be helped, justified, or praised 2 Chron. 19:2; Prov. 17:5; 28:4; Isa. 5:20; 26:10; Mal. 3:17). The nations need leaders who will not praise wickedness but rebuke it (Prov. 24:24-25). And even the altar (which was to be undefiled: Num. 19:20; Ezek.5:11; 23:38; Zeph. 3:4) could not protect those who had murdered with guile (Ex. 21:14; cf. 1 Kings 2:5, 28-31, 34). All those who committed capital crimes (as defined in God's law) had to be executed or else the magistrate would have been sinfully judging against the victim and in favor of the offender; this is the sign of wicked judgment. Hence the ruler was prohibited from respecting persons or showing mercy to criminals. Luther has properly commented:
For in this case a prince and lord must remember that according to Romans 13 he is God's minister and the servant of his wrath and that the sword has been given him to use against such people. If he does not fulfill the duties of his office by punishing some and protecting others, he commits as great a sin before God as when someone who has not been given the sword commits murder. If he is able to punish and does not do it-even though he would have had to kill someone or shed blood—he becomes guilty of all the murder and evil that these people commit (Against the Robbing and Murdering Hordes of Peasants).
If he (God) will have wrath, what business do you have being merciful?... What a fine mercy to me it would be, to have mercy on the thief and murderer, and let him kill, abuse, and rob me! (Open Letter on the Harsh Book Against the Peasants).”[2]
When a person sins against you, you are to forgive that person’s offense, you are to forgive their debts against you, as God has forgiven yours. In the case of civic crimes, the interpersonal forgiveness does not change the responsibility of the governor to render justice in accordance to the will of God. That one is to avenge God’s civic wrath, leaving also a final eschatological wrath, which is determined by God’s direct relationship to man: i.e. man’s relationship to Christ. Therefore, forgiveness is not the abdication of justice, but rather the establishment of it. For man taking his own revenge, avenging himself, is wicked before the Lord.
Let us conclude with a personal story: I was once attacked in secret. A roommate and a friend whom I loved, and thought was my brother rose up against me and attacked me in our house with great violence. One thing that I learned that night which is particularly frightening about domestic violence, is that when it happens there is no one around to help you. It’s just you and your attacker.
If it wasn’t for the grace of God, sovereignly working through the means of my pistol and my personal lack of diligence when it comes to cautious and inaccessible gun storage, that night could have been game over. But alas, God gave me another day. And thankfully, I didn’t have to fire the pistol.
I forgave him quickly, if he ever reached out to me again, I would welcome him in the name of Christ, and establish an appropriate relationship with appropriate boundaries. But when the police asked me if I wanted to press charges, I thought that my duty before God because of that forgiveness was to show mercy in terms of his civic punishment. “Blessed are the merciful.” So, I pressed no charges. Even though this wasn’t even his first incident of domestic violence.
But because of my confusion of the spheres of sovereignty, the debts of civic justice went unpaid. He’s presumably out there free, right now, possibly living with his next victim. I could have both forgiven him, and loved my neighbor, by judging justly in accordance with God’s Law, thereby enabling the police to do their job.
Finally brothers and sisters, a word from Paul: “But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, knowing this, that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and godless, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for sexually immoral persons, for homosexuals, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, according to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.” (1 Tim 1:8-11)