It's the question the Pharisees ask in response to Jesus pronouncing the paralytic forgiven in Mark 2 (paralleled in Mt. 9:2-8 & Lk. 5:18-26). They ask, Who can forgive sins but God alone? It's a rhetorical question that expects the answer 'no-one'.
Indeed. Who can forgive sins but God? Yet the Pharisees knew that YHWH had delegated his power of forgiveness and attached it to the cultic system, presided over by the High Priest. It runs throughout the OT - sacrifices are offered and atonement is made and people are pronounced 'forgiven' (see Lev. 4:20,26,31,35 etc - the references are copious).
Was their question really a short-hand way of asking, 'Who can forgive sins but God alone (which we all know he does via the delegated authority of the Torah)?' The forgiveness is still his to give but he chooses to give it in that context.
Were the Pharisees, then, questioning Jesus' positioning of himself not so much as equal to God but as one who takes the place of the Torah?
An interesting development of this whole scenario appears in Matthew's account. There, the people praise God for giving such authority to people (anthropois). They recognise in Jesus not a usurping of God's authority but a delegation of it, to human beings (not just to this human being) and outside of the cultus. Of course, it might be argued that they knew very little and were hardly sophisticated in the finer details of Torah (no doubt the Pharisees would choose to argue along those lines). But Matthew (writing post-Resurrection) in no way writes negatively of the people's assessment, not even hinting that they were askew in their conclusion.
But does God - has God - given such authority to people? Jesus apparently believes that he has; in fact, he himself extends that authority on God's behalf to his people - "If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven" (John 20:23); "whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 18:18).
But doesn't that then open up the whole matter of forgiveness to all sorts of possible abuses? Is God bound to forgive anyone whom I choose to forgive? What if that person isn't truly repentant? And will God withhold his forgiveness from someone genuinely repentant because I've decided they aren't really sincere in seeking it? Not to mention the potential for pride and an unbiblical priestliness?
Yes, that was my first reaction, too. People don't need to ask me for forgiveness; they go to God through Jesus. He alone can forgive sins. Except he tells me to forgive others, not just in the passages just referred to but in a whole host of others. I am to act in a priestly capacity as authorised by God, in light of Jesus' once-for-all sacrifice for sin, the true fulfilment of the whole sacrificial system of the OT.
So what about those pitfalls - people getting forgiven when they oughtn't to be and vice versa? Well, no one ever said God's hands were tied on this matter, any more than they are tied by the 'ask anything in my name and it will be done' strand of Jesus' teaching. God is big enough to handle our fallibility.
But he has commissioned us to proclaim forgiveness in Jesus' name, somehow or other, to enact it in our relationships. And not just in terms of gospel preaching (the way some would exegete and apply the John 20 text). Jesus makes it far more personal. He enacts it in the presence of the Pharisees and God is glorified for it by the people. Torah was passing; atonement was being located in Jesus' death and forgiveness on the basis of his atoning sacrifice was to be actualised through his people, as indwelt by his Spirit (John 20:22).
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