"What is forgiveness?" When asked, a blind person answered, "forgiveness is the fragrance imparted by petals of a flower when trampled down." Through forgiveness, the essence of the forgiver comes out, just as floral scent comes out of the flower.

God’s forgiveness came to us through the suffering of his Son, Jesus Christ, who was crushed on the rugged Cross, bearing all our sins and iniquities on his Holy Self. At the height of his suffering, he cried out, "Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing"(Luke 23:34).1 Forgiveness came through grace from God, who gave us his only Son, Jesus, as the Present to be ever present with us, because God is, essentially, gracious. By his grace alone, we sinners are forgiven.

Karl Barth wrote:

[G]race is the very essence of the being of God. Grace is itself properly and essentially divine. This is, of course, the secret of the forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness cannot be an object of uncertainty. It cannot be accepted and treated lightly. It meets us, not in spite of, but in and with all the holiness, righteousness and wisdom of God. It claims us, cleansing, judging and redeeming us. It is also our true and final consolation. For God Himself is in it. For in this action He interposes no less and no other than Himself for us. In this action He is manifested in the whole majesty of His being. As we sin against God Himself, God Himself takes action to reconcile us by being gracious to us. If we find and recognise and receive His grace, we find and recognise and receive no less and no other than Himself. . . .

By grace sin is attacked and wiped out at its root. Therefore there is no more fear and no more self will where grace is found and recognised and received. Where grace is revealed and operative, God Himself is always revealed and operative. God’s promise and also His command, God’s truth and also His power, God’s judgment and also His restoration cannot fail where God is gracious.2

The term sin is used in the Bible in the sense of turning away from God.3 In the quotation above, Barth makes the critical point: In God’s forgiveness, we encounter God himself at the foot of the Cross, where his mercy and justice meet.

The experience of being forgiven makes us realize that we sinners are, nevertheless, accepted and loved. Forgiveness evokes a real sense of repentance in our minds.4 We admit our sins, feel sad and guilty, and wish to leave the sins. We would like to make a U-turn. "And we turn from our sin only when we return to the grace of God."5 It is only his grace that makes our U-turn possible. By his acceptance, our broken spirit is healed and restored. By his grace alone we are made justified.

In interpreting Martin Luther’s phrase, "justification by grace alone," Dietrich Bonhoeffer recognized two kinds of grace, "cheap and costly grace." "By ’cheap grace’ Bonhoeffer meant a merely theoretical acceptance of Christianity, fluent no doubt in its verbal expression, but having no real awareness of personal commitment, obedience and discipline involved."6 In Bonhoeffer’s words, "The justification of the sinner in the world degenerated into the justification of sin and the world. Costly grace was turned into the cheap grace without discipleship."7 As number 328 in the Adventist Hymnal reads: "Must Jesus bear the Cross alone, and all the world go free? No, there’s a cross for everyone, and there’s a cross for me."

Costly grace rightly acknowledges the indispensable cost of the life of Jesus, the only Son of God. The impact and beauty of Christ’s sacrificial death for us evokes our dedication. If we were to respond to such a valuable gift of his life, we would have nothing else to offer except our humble lives.

The graciousness of God made visible in Christ’s life and death presents and confronts us with, and attracts us to totally new values completely free from self-interest. It inspires sinners to make a 180-degree turn, from self-seeking ways to Christ’s self-denying way of life. Paul declared, "I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my lord, for whose sake I have lost all things" (Phil. 3:8–9). God’s grace captivates and motivates us to respond to his voice, "follow me." It is costly grace because it cost the life of Jesus in the first place, and it calls us to discipleship, to leave behind all our self-centered ways.

If one tries to follow Christ seriously, the closer one comes, the clearer one sees his or her own sinfulness. "It is as we behold Him, as the light from our Saviour falls upon us, that we see the sinfulness of our own hearts."8 Because we realize, however religious or generous we may be, our interest is deeply rooted in self-seeking. "In the depth of his misery, Luther had grasped by faith the free and unconditional forgiveness of all his sins."9

Bonhoeffer continues, "If grace is God’s answer, the gift of Christian life, then we cannot for a moment dispense with following Christ." Therefore, Bonhoeffer’s statement, "The only man who has the right to say that he is justified by grace alone is the man who has left all to follow Christ."10

The experience of being forgiven gives us a new dimension in our human relationship. It gives us a capacity to forgive others, as God forgave us. Again, we cannot do this in our own strength: Only by grace can we step forward in this direction. It is not easy. For me, forgiveness for someone who had annoyed me was possible only after the thought came across that Jesus had died for her, too. Contemplating Jesus on the Cross and what he has done for us certainly helps us learn to forgive others.

God’s love is invisible. God’s Law (Ten Commandments) is his love made visible because it is the essence of love, given as principles for us to follow in our everyday interactions. The Bible has elaborate guidelines for our daily lives and precepts for restoring his image in us.

"But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you"(Matt. 5:44). Long ago, I began to pray for every colleague of mine—including those who had treated me roughly—every morning before I started work. What happened was a marvelously happy experience, not because they changed, but because I changed. Prayers for those who have not treated me nicely have taken away virtually all of my bitterness, and, consequently, I am filled with the happiness, peace, and joy Christ promised to give us. In time, I became happy and was willing to help them, and their petty cruelty did not disturb my mind any longer. This experience was a genuine blessing and a gift of the Holy Spirit. It attests to Christ’s word: "my yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matt. 10:26–30).

From the perspective of self-interest, forgiveness may not produce what many would see as a favorable end. From the perspective of self-giving, though, forgiveness partakes, however small in scale, in Christ’s joy and God’s graciousness. In terms of self-centered values, however costly forgiveness may be, we know—again from faith in God’s grace alone—"that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28 AV).

Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
No hand but yours,
No feet but yours;
Yours are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion looks out on the world,
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good,
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless us now.
—Teresa of Avila

Notes and References

1. Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations are taken from the New International Version.
2. Karl Barth, "The Doctrine of God," in Church Dogmatics, vol. 2, eds. G. W. Bromiley and T. F. Torrance (Edinburgh: Clark, 1957), 356.
3. Yoshio Murakami, "Where Are You? Introduction to the Bible," Signs of the Times, Japanese version, Apr. 1991.
4. "Forgiveness is not dependent on repentance." Gudmundur Olafsson, "Forgiveness in the Hebrew Bible," Spectrum online, Apr. 5–11, 2003.
5. Barth, "The Grace and Holiness of God," in Church Dogmatics, 4:357.
6. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "Cheap and Costly Grace," in Modern Theology, ed. E. J. Tinsley (London: Epworth, 1979), 300.
7. Ibid., 304.
8. Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ (Washington, D.C. Review and Herald, 1908), 28.
9. Bonhoeffer, "Cheap and Costly Grace," 303.
10. Ibid., 305.

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