Ardel Caneday, New Testament professor at Northwestern College and one who has devoted special attention to the Gospel of Mark, has been gracious to interact with me and others in the comments section of my recent post on reconciliation.

One of the things he pointed out is that we need to be careful to distinguish between being forgiving and actually forgiving sins—a distinction that I didn't clearly make.

If we tell others, "I forgive your sin" even though they refuse to acknowledge their sin, we remove the very incentive the gospel places upon them to confess their sins and to seek forgiveness. If we take preemptive action by granting forgiveness of sin to those who do not repent, on what basis could the church ever follow the procedures of Matthew 18:15-17?

There is a proper biblical or gospel order. We are to imitate God. God forgives the sins of those who repent (cf. 1 John 1:9). Likewise, we must always grant forgiveness to those who repent (cf. Luke 17:3).

In Mark 11:25 Jesus calls us to be forgiving. Scripture requires us to distinguish between being forgiving, which is the virtue of always being ready and eager to forgive, and the act of forgiving, which is the actual remission of the sin done against us. Thus, as God is always forgiving, which means that he is eager and desirous to forgive, and as God forgives those who repent, so godliness/Christlikeness is to be and to do the same.

[Update: for more on Dr. Caneday's position, you can read his essay "A Biblical Primer and Grammar on Forgiveness of Sin."]