Looking at Vine’s on the issue, it seems perfectly plausible to me to talk about “forgiving yourself.” It may easily be misused or be premature, but I don’t see how it can be denied that Christians who do wrong not only can, but ought to forgive themselves–that is, to set themselves free, release themselves, from the guilt that they feel for what they did. (I’m not talking about letting go of false guilt here; I’m talking about simply ceasing to care or concern oneself with the real guilt of an evil deed that you have done.)

REASON #1: The Big Objection Fails–“We haven’t sinned against ourselves and thus we can’t forgive ourselves”

It is certainly true that people can talk about “forgiving themselves” in order to evade the fact that they have sinned against God and against other people. This rhetoric can be a sign that a person is so full of himself he understands neither sin nor forgiveness.

Nevertheless, the objection overlooks two issues. First of all, we are made in the image of God to reflect his glory. When we sin we are damaging ourselves as well as other. Secondly, while I may be verging into the root word fallacY, as far as I can tell forgiveness means “release” or “sending away” or “looking with favor.” These can all be done in the case of considering someone who is convicted of their own guilt.

REASON #2: Grudges are not to be held

Suppose you had two friends, Brian and Nathan. One day Brian gravely sins against Nathan. Soon, however, Brian regrets what he did, owns up to it, and does all that is possible to make restitution. Nathan says he forgives Brian but you notice a real change in his behavior. When Brian is around Nathan will suddenly become sullen and withdrawn. Other times he will get angry. In both cases he is obviously reliving the incident. “How could you do that?” he will yell. “What were you thinking?”

As a Christian, I think you would know that you should try to help Nathan truly forgive Brian and cease bringing his past sins up before them.

So what if Brian and Nathan are the same person? If each person is to love his neighbor as himself, then how can it be right for someone to refuse to let go of his own past misdeeds and keep accusing himself when we all know it would be a total sin to keep bringing up the past misdeeds of someone else and keep accusing him?

REASON #3: God forgives us to restore us to service.

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised (Second Corinthians 5.14, 15). Jesus is the one who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works (Titus 2.14). God does not forgive us so that we can be paralyzed with guilt for the rest of our lives.

If a husband sins against his wife in some serious way, he should repent and seek forgiveness. What he should not do, having robbed this woman of a godly husband for some time, is continue to rob her to the husband he promised to be for her by burying himself in guilt. God wants us to serve him wholeheartedly. Constant self-accusations, when God has already forgiven us, are ways we effectively make ourselves A.W.O.L from his call to us. It defeats the whole point.

REASON #4: No one has the right to condemn those whom God justifies, including those whom God justifies.

Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us (Romans 8.33,34). The answer to the rhetorical question, “Who is to condemn?” is no one.

What if you were a first-century Christian and someone who had lost a son or daughter to the persecutions of a zealot named Saul of Tarsus? Wouldn’t you have to tell that person that he must forgive the Apostle Paul? Then isn’t it just as appropriate to tell a Christian condemning himself over some sin to do the same?

TO BE CONTINUED