Our blog will share 30 different Bible Contrasts that show distinctions that matter when studying God’s Word. It is important to understand this perspective or we may get confused.
We see a number of dissimilar wordings within God’s Word. Some have seen them as contradictions in the Bible. We prefer the term “contrasts.” The main reason for these differences is that God is setting forth two separate programs (intimated even in Genesis 1:1). The first deals with the earth and Israel. The other concerns the heavens and Christ’s Body Church. It was given to the Apostle Paul to lay out these differences. He is God’s “apostle of the Gentiles” (Rom. 11:13).
So then we must recognize such Bible divisions if we’d truly understand God’s Word and be approved by Him (II Tim. 2:15). Then we must follow the last directives given by God through Paul as “the commandments of the Lord” for this present time (I Cor. 14:37).
Today is Part #21:
FORGIVE FIRST was the requirement for forgiveness in the Gospels. After the Lord’s Prayer, Christ explained, “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not…neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matt. 6:12-15). When Peter asked how often to forgive, the Lord told of someone who did not, and incurred wrath and torment. Christ said this would likewise happen to all who did not forgive from the heart (Matt. 18:21-35). God’s people were to forgive others in order to be forgiven by God.
FORGIVE AFTER being forgiven is the rule given by the Apostle Paul. Believers are commanded to be “forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Eph. 4:32). God already has “forgiven you all trespasses” (Col. 2:13). Therefore Christians are to be “forgiving one another…even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye” (Col. 3:13). Believers today are to forgive others just as God has already forgiven them.
For more information and understanding, we recommend doing the PMA “Understanding your Bible” our 8 part lesson series available for free download at Free Bible Correspondence – Prison Mission Association
(These points come from Pastor David Adams, booklet, Bible Contrasts used by permission)