It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’
-Luke 24:47, NLT
Often faithful spouses are pushed to forgive with no reference to the cheater’s repentance.
As these words attributed to Jesus by Luke attest, this is not biblical. Jesus offers forgiveness to those who repent.
In some sense, I think this means someone is not truly forgiven if they never repent of their sins. Something is missing for the spiritual loop to be closed so to speak.
And if Jesus does not forgive without repentance, I wonder at the advice pushing forgiveness without repentance in evidence.
I don’t think it is wise to hold onto the role of righteous punisher. However, I think it is foolish to think the account is truly cleared in the eyes of God without the cheater’s repentance.
After all, we do not get Jesus’ forgiveness unless we repent.
Cheaters need to hear this.
They do get a free pass to cheat and then get forgiveness with no signs of stopping. God will not be fooled. Repentance is required of them.
Forgiveness and repentance go hand and hand for those interested in adhering to a biblical view on these matters.
So, don’t ask the faithful spouse if they have forgiven the cheater without first asking if the cheater has repented!
You have so many great points and I enjoy your blog. Can you help me understand what you mean by repentance? Just saying you are sorry or actually doing things? I gave my husband a list and some things were done and some still have not been-I do judge him on his repentances because I feel it’s actions and then he goes into a spill about how he has changed and he does things. I do not see it!!! Can you please help me here?