Yesterday I wrote of the necessity of vertical reconciliation to God. Today, we deal with reconciliation on the human level or plain, what theologians call: horizontal reconciliation. The horizontal is built upon, and possible because of, the vertical. For the Christian, reconciliation on the horizontal level is best expressed through forgiveness. And forgiving is a lifelong dual process of 1) confessing our sins against others and 2) forgiving the sins of those who sin against us—and if we do, God is faithful and just and will forgive our sins (
My intent today is to give a heavy dose of practical Biblical Theology concerning horizontal reconciliation (or “forgiveness theology”). Before I do, I thought it would be good to illustrate it with an incredible example of former slave turned freeman, turned Pastor and abolitionist,
This past summer, The Weekly Standard’s Claudia Anderson wrote a moving story account of the life of Douglass. Frederick Douglass was converted to Christ at the age of 13, Anderson writes of that experience and the trajectory it would send his life in:
“The young Frederick was just as deeply influenced by the Bible, which he said fueled his hunger for knowledge. Converted at 13, he found a spiritual mentor in an old black man named Lawson, who told the young man that God had great plans for him and would put his talents to use. They prayed and read scripture together, and Frederick "saw the world in a new light." He wrote that he "loved all mankind--slaveholders not excepted; though I abhorred slavery more than ever." He does not say when he owned his first Bible, but a hymnal was among the few possessions he carried with him on his train ride north.”
At the conclusion of her article, Anderson writes . . .
Frederick Douglass marked the tenth anniversary of his escape in a special way. He published in the North Star an open letter to his former owner, Thomas Auld, one of the slaveholders whose religious profession he deemed a travesty. It is a most unusual and highly charged communication, and this is how it ends:
I will now bring this letter to a close; you shall hear from me again unless you let me hear from you. I intend to make use of you as a weapon with which to assail the system of slavery--as a means of
concentrating public attention on the system, and deepening the horror of trafficking in the souls and bodies of men. I shall make use of you as a means of exposing the character of the American church and clergy--and as a means of bringing this guilty nation, with yourself, to repentance. In doing this, I entertain no malice toward you personally. There is no roof under which you would be more safe than mine, and there is nothing in my house which you might need for your comfort, which I would not readily grant. Indeed, I should esteem it a privilege to set you an example as to how mankind ought to treat each other.
I am your fellow-man, but not your slave.
There is a postscript that cannot be omitted. Twenty-nine years after writing this, Douglass was invited to return to Talbot County, Maryland, for the first time since he had been a slave there. Thomas Auld, over 80 and dying, heard of his presence in the neighborhood and sent for him. Douglass records that he was ushered straight into the bedroom, and the two old men were overcome with emotion. Neither showed malice. Each acknowledged ways he had wronged the other. They "conversed freely about the past" and parted reconciled.
(You can read the entire article
Because of his reconciled relationship with God, Frederick Douglass was able to help lead a movement towards the freeing of his people, and he was also able to return to his former master, and extend full reconciliation, through forgiveness, to him.
How does one find the courage and strength to do this?
Consider the following (this outline comes from a study of the word “reconciliation” in the Bible by Pastor Richard Jordan—I have linked the full article below):
What Does the Bible Teach About Horizontal Forgiveness?
In our English Bibles, there are approximately 130 references to some form of the word “forgive.” The vast majority of occurrences reference God forgiving his people or an individual. Only about 12 passages deal with horizontal forgiveness (
Here is my attempt to set forth the principles I see in the NT regarding forgiveness of one another:
1 - Flying as a banner over all interaction with those who have offended us is Jesus’s command, “Love your enemies.”
“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (
2 - Negatively phrased, we are to be free from hatred, bitterness, and vengeance at all times.
“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice” (
3 -We are to forgive others as God in Christ has forgiven us.
Forgive one another, “as God in Christ forgave you” (
4 - Conversely, we ask God to forgive us as we have forgiven others.
“[Father] forgive us our debts, as we also have been forgiven our debtors” (
5 - If we forgive others, we will be forgiven; if we do not forgive others, we will not be forgiven.
“If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses” (
6 - Horizontal forgiveness is not explicitly defined, though it is connected with vertical forgiveness (see above) and is connected with other commands.
We are to “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other” (
I encourage you can read, or download a PDF of the entire Jordan study; it is an excellent development of a biblical theology of reconciliation. You can find it here >>
Blessings
3 John 8
Bill H
3 John 8
Bill H
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