Does God always mean what he says? When Jesus said: “. . .but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:15 ESV), did Jesus really mean it? [1] A plain reading of the text would lead us to the conclusion that we will not gain admittance into heaven if we fail to forgive others their trespasses against us. It would also mean God requires certain actions of us and not just a belief in Jesus and his death for our sins in order to be saved.
In the past presidential primary, one candidate stated that since God gives us unconditional love, he would also give unconditional love to everyone involved in alternative sexual orientations. [2] Like parents, God loves his children unconditionally but also like parents, God has standards to which he wants us to adhere. The good news of Christianity is that “God so loved the world” (John 3:16) but a part of the Christianity that we tend to ignore or minimize is that we must become like God if we want to spend eternity with him. As we have mentioned in this blog many times, there are over 70 verses in the New Testament which require us to do something other than just believe in Jesus and his death for our sins in order to be saved. Does God mean what he says in all these passages?
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[1] Andrée Seu Peterson, “Forgive those debtors”, World Magazine, October 15, 2016, p. 63.
[2] Janie B. Cheaney, “Aimless affection”, World Magazine, September 19, 2015, p. 20.
