Luke 17:3-4 "…3 Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to say, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”"
Leaving out the confession and cleansing process leaves the one who sins smug in his sin. We must not enable the offender by forgiving when they are not sorry, that would be to thwart the purpose of God.
We must not leave out the steps of reconciliation. If the brother sins, rebuke him and forgive him IF he repents. If he does not repent, then walk away and leave him to God.
We do no one any favors if we share our forgiveness before someone is sorry. We actually help to harden their hearts, causing them to think they can do anything they like, no matter how evil and they will still be acceptable to God.
When we forgive people who are not sorry, we are sending a wrong message about Christ. Christ will not forgive those who are not broken over their sin and will not confess it.
God even told believer to confess their sin to be cleansed in 1 John 1:9. We are to confess to be forgiven and cleansed.
1 John 1:9
"9 IF we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
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