Forgiveness, Vengeance & Justice

I was in a conversation and we got talking about forgiveness, vengeance and justice. It triggered some thoughts, which I would share with you here. Please follow the conversation…I would appreciate you sharing your thoughts too.

THE POSER “Does forgiving a heinous crime and criminal amount to betrayal of justice and display of weakness? Luke 23:34 as Guide”

Me: “Guy, this your question…as humans we are called to forgive those that offend us. However, when it comes to justice there are repercussions that follow illegal actions…I doubt that that’s what the forgiveness is about. Governments have their justice system. That’s why even when Jesus told the thief that was to be crucified with that his sins had been forgiven it didn’t stop them from killing him.”

“Besides, your Bible reference was about Jesus asking God to forgive those that were about to kill Him. I am a bit lost here. So maybe you’d want to break down your poser a bit so our thought could be better guided.” I continued.

“I share part of this view. When David killed Uriah and took his wife, God forgave him after he repented. But God still punished him. The child must die! What do we learn from here and how does it engage with the poser. I want to understand these forgiveness things, really better.” Guy 2

“I think we need to understand the relationship and differences between, forgiveness, vengeance and Justice, in the context of this food for thought. And I really need to understand how these should apply in our daily encounters, pls.” Guy 2 Cont’d

So I got thinking and came up with the following…

Forgiveness means that when someone hurts or offends me, I don’t seek or wish evil upon that person. It doesn’t mean I will ignore or forget but I will deliberately ensure I don’t entertain bitter thoughts towards the person. I could take precautionary steps to avoid a reoccurrence though.

Vengeance means paying back the person in his or her own coin. That’s God’s area of jurisdiction so we shouldn’t venture there…if you are a Christian.

Justice is seeking to ensure fair treatment in a matter. That’s a call for maturity that’s devoid of emotions. It’s neither forgiveness nor unforgiveness

For example if you borrow money from me and fail to pay back as you promised, I will forgive you for failing to keep your promise. Because you’ve shown yourself as incapable of keeping promise I’d be careful in taking your word for anything. I will not look for ways of taking from you and not pay so you know how it feels. I will pursue every legal means to get my money back. This to me explains forgiveness, vengeance and justice.

Guy 3 “Forgiveness is difficult without the Holy Spirit. Human beings merely avoid each other when hurt and assume they have forgiven. When you forgive, you return to status quo. That means the relationship continues as it was before you were offended without reminding the person of the offence again. This is between human beings, but when God forgives, He sends the Holy Spirit to you and prunes you to His taste.”

If it means returning to status quo, why would God need to send the Holy Spirit to prune you to His taste after He has forgiven you? I wondered.