David Koberstein
Active member
Interestingly, forget is almost never used in combination with sin. But often the Bible does say that God will "not remember"
our sins. The idea of "remembering sins" takes the idea of acting accordingly to memory and puts it into a negative framework.
It suggests that God is going to give the person what he or she deserves for the sin. He will punish sin, not just keep it on his mind.
Consider:
They have gone deep into depravity
As in the days of Gilbeath;
He will remember their iniquity,
He will punish their sins. (Hos. 9:9)
The second half of this verse contains a parallelism---meaning that it uses two phrases that are synonymous to emphasize an idea.
To "remember their iniquity" is the same as to "punish their sin." It is automatically negative, implying that God will intervene to
bring justice. So, to not remember sins is to decide not to punish them.
If a wicked man restores a pledge [and] and pays back what he has taken by robbery... he shall surely live; he shall not die.
None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. (Ezek. 33:15-16)
Because Hebrew focuses on the action rather than the thought, it doesn't necessarily imply that God loses the memory of sins
in his infinite mind. It simply means that he has decided to forgo prosecution. Knowing that Hebrew often focuses on actions
rather than mental states, we can now see how God can "forget" people yet not forget. Or how he can choose not to "remember"
sins yet not erase them from his memory. God chooses to put them aside, to ignore them and not bring them up again.
I find this very freeing in terms of understanding God's expectations of us. Often we struggle with a person who has hurt us repeatedly
and wonder whether forgiveness means pretend that the person won't act the same way again. Our we allowed to protect ourselves,
even in hope they will change? The idea that we can decide not to "remember" someone's sins in terms of seeking revenge allows us
to remember in order to make a situation better and make wise decisions in the future.
You know, if God could simply delete things from his data banks, he would have a much easier job than humans, who can't erase their
memories. When we forgive a person, we need to choose to put aside our grievances, and often we need to do that over and over
again as the memory returns to our minds.
When we think about it, it shows more love to be hurt and choose to not remember, time and time again, rather than to simply be able
to forget about an incident. But interestingly, the more we love one another, the easier it becomes to remove the memory of the past
from our minds. In this sense, perhaps God's infinite love really does entirely remove our sins from his infinite mind.
Shalom
our sins. The idea of "remembering sins" takes the idea of acting accordingly to memory and puts it into a negative framework.
It suggests that God is going to give the person what he or she deserves for the sin. He will punish sin, not just keep it on his mind.
Consider:
They have gone deep into depravity
As in the days of Gilbeath;
He will remember their iniquity,
He will punish their sins. (Hos. 9:9)
The second half of this verse contains a parallelism---meaning that it uses two phrases that are synonymous to emphasize an idea.
To "remember their iniquity" is the same as to "punish their sin." It is automatically negative, implying that God will intervene to
bring justice. So, to not remember sins is to decide not to punish them.
If a wicked man restores a pledge [and] and pays back what he has taken by robbery... he shall surely live; he shall not die.
None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. (Ezek. 33:15-16)
Because Hebrew focuses on the action rather than the thought, it doesn't necessarily imply that God loses the memory of sins
in his infinite mind. It simply means that he has decided to forgo prosecution. Knowing that Hebrew often focuses on actions
rather than mental states, we can now see how God can "forget" people yet not forget. Or how he can choose not to "remember"
sins yet not erase them from his memory. God chooses to put them aside, to ignore them and not bring them up again.
I find this very freeing in terms of understanding God's expectations of us. Often we struggle with a person who has hurt us repeatedly
and wonder whether forgiveness means pretend that the person won't act the same way again. Our we allowed to protect ourselves,
even in hope they will change? The idea that we can decide not to "remember" someone's sins in terms of seeking revenge allows us
to remember in order to make a situation better and make wise decisions in the future.
You know, if God could simply delete things from his data banks, he would have a much easier job than humans, who can't erase their
memories. When we forgive a person, we need to choose to put aside our grievances, and often we need to do that over and over
again as the memory returns to our minds.
When we think about it, it shows more love to be hurt and choose to not remember, time and time again, rather than to simply be able
to forget about an incident. But interestingly, the more we love one another, the easier it becomes to remove the memory of the past
from our minds. In this sense, perhaps God's infinite love really does entirely remove our sins from his infinite mind.
Shalom
