Day 174: Luke 17:1–4

If he sins against you seven times a day, and comes back to you seven times, saying, “I repent,” you must forgive him (v. 4).

After dealing with the subject matter of the first two verses of Luke 17—things that cause people to sin—Christ suddenly switched to a subject that seems to have no relationship to this. I’d like to suggest, however, a powerful connection between the two. Few things cause people to sin like unforgiveness. Difficult-to-forgive circumstances can set a trap. And Satan is very adept at using unforgiveness as bait to entrap us in sin (2 Cor. 2:10–11).

Please note that Christ’s specific prescriptive in Luke 17:3–4 is to fellow believers when we sin against one another. Someone might ask, “Does this mean I have to forgive only other Christians?” No, indeed. Luke 11:4 clearly tells us we are to forgive “everyone” who sins against us. The difference may not be in the forgiveness but in the rebuke. I believe Christ suggests a different method of dealing with a brother’s or sister’s sin. He issued a directive to “rebuke” a fellow believer (v. 3). When dealing with the unsaved, we are still called to forgive—but not necessarily to rebuke.

We were called to be different in the body of Christ. If we are functioning as a healthy body, ideally we should be able to bring issues that affect us to the table with one another to dialogue and, when appropriate, even to rebuke or receive a rebuke. This type of approach demands the maturity expressed by Ephesians 4:14–15. Paul told us we are no longer to be infants but are to “speak the truth in love” to one another.

Needless to say, a tremendous burden of responsibility falls on the one giving the rebuke. An appropriate rebuke is speaking the truth in love “with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Tim. 4:2). We may not be off base in concluding that a rebuke which invites anger and bitterness might fall under the category of entrapment to sin. Obviously, a huge responsibility also falls on the recipient to rightly accept the rebuke. I am learning that an important part of maturing as a believer is knowing how to receive a rebuke.

If we would learn the art of giving and receiving an appropriate rebuke in the early stages of wrongdoing, we would guard ourselves more effectively against offenses of “millstone” magnitude (Luke 17:2). I don’t know about you, but I’ll be chewing on this lesson long into the night.