offense – The Fool Who Would Be Holy

I must handle anger better than the most religious people!

Ian Johnson May 13, 2025 0 Comments

I must live more righteously than the most religious people, the people who make a show of keeping all of the rules in their own strength. Jesus’ first example of this is that I must handle my anger better than the most religious people do, and better than the traditional interpretations of the Law of Moses prescribed. I am responsible not only for letting the Spirit control my anger, but for doing what I can, led by the Spirit, to avoid giving a brother or sister an occasion to develop a grudge against me. If I love my brother or sister, I will try to reconcile with them promptly when I know I have aroused their anger.

choosing not to forgive, God's purpose for us, Harboring anger and grudges, Restoration of our Relationships, To live in unity

anger, Holy Spirit, kingdom, Kingdom of Heaven, Kingdom of the heavens, living by the Holy Spirit, living in the Spirit, murder, offense, reconcile, reconciliation, righteousness, Scribes and Pharisees

Failure to reconcile an offense “quickly” — debtor’s prison awaits!

Ian Johnson April 24, 2025 0 Comments

When I have offended another believer, I must seek reconciliation quickly, before they have had time to form a final judgment against me and form a grudge. I must not procrastinate. Once a grudge forms, I will be imprisoned outside of their lives, unable to give or receive the things God wants to give us through each other, unless and until God intervenes to change their heart toward me.

choosing not to forgive, Divisions in the Church, Forgive as we forgive, Forgiveness and Unforgiveness, Love each other, Restoration of our Relationships, What is sin?

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Commentaries Discussing the Command to Go and Be Reconciled

Ian Johnson March 3, 2025 2 Comments

In Matthew 5:23-24, Jesus gives what appears to be a simple command, though one that is almost never obeyed: before I may offer worship to God before other people, I must see that any offenses which I am aware that others hold against me are being reconciled and have been reconciled at least to some degree. This post quotes and discusses commentaries on this passage and its subject.

Changed treatment of each other, choosing not to forgive, Divisions in the Church, Forgive as we forgive, Forgiveness and Unforgiveness, Love each other, Repentance, Restoration of our Relationships, What is sin?

Albert Barnes, Charles Spurgeon, commentary, enmity, forgiveness, Giving, Grant Osborn, hate, importance of reconciliation, John Wesley, Love, Matthew 5:23-24, Matthew Henry, offended, offender, offense, priority, urgency of reconciliation, Worship

The Command to “Go” and “Be Reconciled” — Part 2, The “Then”

Ian Johnson March 1, 2025 0 Comments

Link: The Command to Go and Be Reconciled–Part 2, the “Then,” read as a YouTube video. As I said in Part 1, Jesus’ command to go and be reconciled is stated in Matthew 5:23-24, which is a single conditional sentence even though it is divided into two verses in modern Bibles: [Reference Link: Matthew 5:23-24 (WEB)], The part of this…
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Forgive as we forgive, Reconciliation, Restoration of God's Image, Restoration of our Relationships

Body of Christ, Church, God as an idol, importance of reconciliation, Jesus, offense, priority of reconciliation, reconcile, reconciled, reconciliation

The Command to “Go” and “Be Reconciled” — Part 1, The “If”

Ian Johnson February 28, 2025 0 Comments

In Matthew 5:23-24, Jesus gives what appears to be a simple command, though one that is almost never obeyed: before I may offer worship to God before other people, I must see that any offenses which I am aware that others hold against me are being reconciled and have been reconciled at least to some degree. This post covers Jesus’ extreme example of this—the need to interrupt even a Temple sacrifice ritual to go and be reconciled.

choosing not to forgive, Confession of Sin, Divisions in the Church, Forgive as we forgive, Forgiveness and Unforgiveness, Restoration of our Relationships, To live in unity, What is sin?

altar, be reconciled, commandments, gift, grudge, hyperbole, offense, offering, parables, reconcile, reconciliation, remembering an offense, sacrifice, Temple wrship, Worship

The Apostle Paul approved of arbitration of disputes between Christians by other believers

Ian Johnson January 15, 2025 0 Comments

The theme of this installment is a question Paul asked the church in Corinth: 1 Corinthians 6:5 (WEB) While the process Jesus described in Matthew 18:15-20 (see previous series of installments) is the ideal procedure, the one most likely to produce reconciliation–which is the goal of all such procedures–the New Testament is not rigidly inflexible in demanding that only this…
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choosing not to forgive, Divisions in the Church, Forgive as we forgive, Forgiveness and Unforgiveness, God was never our enemy, Love each other, Must Trust God to Enter, Quarrels, Reconciliation, Refusing to hear, Restoration of God's Image, Restoration of our Relationships, The Kingdom of the Heavens, Trusting sight over God's words, What is sin?

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Moron Mutual Imprisonment: Binding and Loosing and Church Discipline are Parts of the Same Context, Matthew 18:15-20

Ian Johnson December 24, 2024 3 Comments

Links: This post read as a YouTube video. Full playlist for this series. The point to be made by this post is really quite simple: Jesus’ statement that the things we bind on earth will be bound in heaven and the things we set loose on earth will be loosed in heaven was made in a very specific context, namely,…
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Changed treatment of each other, Discipline or Correction, Divisions in the Church, Forgive as we forgive, Forgiveness and Unforgiveness, God Speaks to Us, Repentance, Repentance in community, Restoration of our Relationships, Through others, Through the church

agreement, binding, Body of Christ, church discipline, equal concern, forgiveness, loosing, offended, offender, offense, Offenses, procedure, reconciliation, repent, repentance, restoration, Unity

My Next Fool’s Errand: Justifying continued prayer for other believers who have told me I must “forget” them because of an offense

Ian Johnson December 23, 2024 0 Comments

Preliminary outline of two series dealing with mutual imprisonment by unforgiveness, God’s goal of reconciliation, and praying for those who don’t want my prayers using constructive, New Testament prayers.

A God who Speaks, Changed treatment of each other, choosing not to forgive, Confession and Repentance, Confession of Sin, Discipline or Correction, Divisions in the Church, Forgive as we forgive, forgiveness and mercy, Forgiveness and Unforgiveness, God is Love, God Speaks to Us, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, His Friends, In prayer, In the Church, Leaving Our First Love, Love each other, Meaning of Unity, patience, Quarrels, Reconciliation, refusal to repent, Repentance, Repentance in community, Restoration of God's Image, Restoration of our Relationships, Salvation, The universal Church and local churches, To be his ambassadors, To bear fruit, To live in unity, What is sin?

being dismissed, being dissed, church disipline, debt of sin, debtor, debtors' prison, forgetting people, forgive, forgiveness of sins, forgiving, forgiving each other, offender, offense, Offenses, parables, prayer, prayer for other believers, prayer when asked to forget, reconciled, reconciliation, spiritual debt, the great void, the unforgiving servant, torturers, victim

Offenses, leprosy–and members cutting each other off

Ian Johnson December 9, 2024 2 Comments

The analogy between classical leprosy (Hansen’s Disease) and the effect of unresolved bitterness between members of the Body of Christ. Both cause members of the body to lose sensation and be vulnerable to infection and death. “Cutting off” members only accelerates this.

choosing not to forgive, Death of Members, Divisions in the Church, Forgive as we forgive, Forgiveness and Unforgiveness, God was never our enemy, Love each other, Quarrels, Reconciliation, refusal to repent, Refusing to hear, Restoration of our Relationships, Salvation, Sin, What is sin?

bitterness, cut off, cutting off, forgiveness, forgve, gangrene, Hansen's Disease, leper, leprosy, losing ability to feel, losing feeling, losing sensation, offense, opportunistic infection, refusal to forgive, spiritual leprosy, strangulation, unresolved offense

A Grudge Imprisons All Parties to It

Ian Johnson July 11, 2024 1 Comment

I’ve heard it preached that, when I hold a grudge, I hurt only myself. The other person is not affected. But this is simply false. As long as either of us is holding a grudge, we are both imprisoned in it, until the one holding the grudge releases it. I must offer unlimited forgiveness, and not give in to bearing a grudge toward those who have hurt me. And I must be aware that my grudge always affects other people.

Divisions in the Church, forgiveness and mercy, Forgiveness and Unforgiveness, God is Love, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, To be in his image, To live in unity

debt, forgiveness, God, God the Father, God's forgiveness, Judgment, Kingdom of the heavens, mercy, offense, parable, the unforgiving servant

Tag Archive: offense

I must handle anger better than the most religious people!

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Failure to reconcile an offense “quickly” — debtor’s prison awaits!

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Commentaries Discussing the Command to Go and Be Reconciled

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The Command to “Go” and “Be Reconciled” — Part 2, The “Then”

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The Command to “Go” and “Be Reconciled” — Part 1, The “If”

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The Apostle Paul approved of arbitration of disputes between Christians by other believers

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Moron Mutual Imprisonment: Binding and Loosing and Church Discipline are Parts of the Same Context, Matthew 18:15-20

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My Next Fool’s Errand: Justifying continued prayer for other believers who have told me I must “forget” them because of an offense

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Offenses, leprosy–and members cutting each other off

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A Grudge Imprisons All Parties to It

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Tag Archive: offense

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