4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
-Luke 13:4-5, NIV
Repentance is clearly assumed as necessary before forgiveness and salvation according to Jesus’ own words here in Luke 13.
The Jewish people were assuming the deaths of the individuals were caused by their sins. They got what they deserved is their line of thinking.
Jesus corrects this thinking. He agrees that they deserved what they got. However, every single one of his listeners deserved the same fate!
He does not comfort them with easy forgiveness or cheap salvation here.
Jesus teaches plainly the need for repentance in order to avoid destruction. It is non-negotiable.
Repentance is a necessary condition to be met before they are to expect salvation.
This is how Jesus forgives.
We are to follow God in how He forgives (Eph. 4:32).
It isn’t easy forgiveness or cheap salvation. Jesus makes repentance an important prerequisite to avoiding destruction.
If Jesus does this here, I believe we need to follow His teaching as it comes to cheaters as well.
Something remains incomplete and unhealthy to teach forgiveness apart from repentance. It does no good for either party, in my opinion, as it distorts this biblical principle of keeping repentance first.
If forgiveness is like cancelling debt made by the sinner, how do you do that if he refuses to stop running up charges?! It is simply impossible.
The most we can do with unrepentant cheaters is hand them over to God for Him to handle. Make the debt God’s problem. Then move on with our lives as best we can.
———
*A version of this post ran previously.
