Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need. 29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Ephesians 4:25-32

Have you ever asked for forgiveness? It can be a difficult and humbling experience. But even more difficult than asking for forgiveness is forgiving someone who has truly wronged you. Chapter 4 closes with an encouragement for God's people to be people of forgiveness. Forgiveness was a concept that was foreign to the majority of the Roman Empire. Clemency and mercy were understood as tools of power, but to fully forgive was seen as a weakness. So for Paul to encourage this within the church would have been a challenging departure from what the average gentile would have learned growing up. In a world that valued vengeance, retribution, and justice, elevating forgiveness and true unmerited mercy would have been a revolutionary concept to embrace. This would have also been a valuable lesson for the early church, both at the time and given what the church would endure for the next few hundred years. More than any other group in history, the Christians of the early church would be slandered against, abused, intimidated, arrested, tortured, and murdered by the hundreds. Those who are the most greatly wronged would usually find it the most difficult to forgive, yet this concept of forgiveness by that time would have already become a part of the culture of the early church. It is almost as if God himself was using Paul to temper and prepare the early church for what would soon begin only a few years later with the burning of Rome in A.D. 64. Christians would be wrongly blamed for the fires, and soon much of the Roman empire, including Nero, would turn their vile hatred and accusations against all who dared to call themselves Christians. It may be simple enough to forgive someone for stealing money from your wallet, but what about the very soldiers who murder your children, or the fellow Christian, who out of fear for their own life gives up your hiding spot which leads to the arrest of your family? How much more difficult is forgiveness when the stakes are raised? Yet we are taught to forgive not out of our goodness, or out of another deserving it, but because Christ first forgave. Even while nailed to a cross, Jesus looked down and forgave the very soldiers who mocked him and gave him sour wine from a sponge that was essentially ancient Roman toilet paper. Jesus refused to hold onto hatred, bitterness, and grudges despite the vitriol because he knew that these things would only rot the person who carries them from the inside out. A heart full of hatred cannot also be full of the things of God. A heart full of bitterness cannot also be full of peace and joy. There is no room for both, so we need to make a choice.

This passage of scripture goes through a list of things that Christians should not hold onto; anger, deception, stealing, selfishness, unwholesome talk, bitterness, slander... The list closes with the idea of forgiveness. Have you ever thought that it could be sinful to withhold unforgiveness from someone who genuinely asks for it or to continue to hold a grudge and harbor bitterness towards that person? One way to help us view forgiveness correctly is to always be reminded of how God treats us, especially in the area of forgiveness. Our forgiveness of others is patterned after the forgiveness of God towards us. When we think of the amazing way God forgives us, it is shameful for us to withhold forgiveness from those who have wronged us. Here are some amazing aspects of God's forgiveness: God holds back His wrath for a long time until He forgives. He bears with us for a long time though we sorely provoke Him. God reaches out to bad people to draw them to Himself and attempts reconciliation with even the worst of humanity. God always makes the first move in forgiveness, trying to reconcile even when the guilty party is uninterested in forgiveness. God forgives our sin knowing that we will sin again, often in the same way. God’s forgiveness is so complete and glorious that He grants adoption to those former offenders. God, in His forgiveness, bore the full penalty for the wrong we did against Him even in his innocence. God keeps reaching out to man for reconciliation even when man rejects Him again and again. God requires no probationary or trial period to receive His forgiveness. God fully loves, adopts, honors, and associates with those who once wronged Him. God invites us to work with Him as co-laborers when He forgives us. How incredible is it that God views forgiveness like this? Thank God for His forgiveness, and realize that in the same way God forgives us, we should carry that same attitude towards others.