The fourth kind of forgiveness is the forgiveness in the kingdom, which concerns God’s punishment of the believers in the millennium and will be exercised in the coming age.
1. Through the punishment in the coming age (Matt. 18:34, see also vv. 21-35).
The words spoken by the Lord, “It will not be forgiven him, neither in this age nor in the one to come” (12:32), prove that some sins are forgiven in this age and some in the age to come, that is, in the millennium. In Matthew 18 the Lord spoke of a believer who did not forgive from the heart his brother who had offended him. When the Lord comes to judge the believers, that is, “to settle accounts with his slaves” (v. 23), He will deliver such a one “to the torturers,” that is, He will cause him to be punished in the millennium until he forgives his brother from his heart (vv. 34-35). This shows that some believers’ sins will be forgiven only after punishment in the millennium. If a believer sins after being saved, he can be forgiven and chastised by God for some sins in this age, that is, today. But some sins can be forgiven only after the believer is punished in the millennium. (Details of the millennium punishment are covered in chapter 48.)
The fifth kind of forgiveness is the forgiveness exercised by the church. This forgiveness, which concerns the fellowship of God’s children, is exercised when the church receives newly saved believers or sinful but repenting believers, according to the speaking of the Lord in Matthew 16:19 and 18:15-18. In these two portions of the Word, the Lord clearly shows that the church may loose people on the earth, that is, forgive them. This does not mean that the church may loose and forgive those whom God has not loosed and forgiven, which is a heretical teaching of Catholicism. The church’s loosing and forgiving on the earth are based on God’s loosing and forgiving in heaven. The church can only loose and forgive those on the earth whom God has loosed and forgiven in heaven. The church’s loosing and forgiving on the earth are simply a declaration of God’s loosing and forgiving in heaven. Furthermore, the Lord’s words show that the authority of the church to loose and forgive on the earth was given not just to Peter, as advocated by the Catholic teaching that says only the pope has the authority to forgive on the earth because he is the successor to Peter. Rather, this authority was given also to the church. Just as Peter had this authority (ch. 16), the church has this authority (ch. 18).
1. By the power of the Holy Spirit (John 20:22-23).
In the evening of the day of His resurrection, the Lord Jesus breathed into the disciples in order for them to receive the Holy Spirit, and then said, “Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven them” (v. 23). This shows that the church forgives people’s sins; that is, the church decides whether a person’s sin has been forgiven by God by the power of the Holy Spirit who indwells the believers (the church). The church may not forgive a person’s sins according to its own opinion. It must follow the inner leading of the Holy Spirit; otherwise, the one whom the church has forgiven on the earth will not be one whom God has forgiven in heaven.
2. “Confirm your love” (2 Cor. 2:5-11; see also 1 Cor. 5:1-2, 11-13).
Regarding the matter of forgiving a person, the church should be strict but should also exercise adequate love. The church must deal with, condemn, and even remove a sinful brother who is unwilling to repent (v. 13). But once he repents, the church should confirm its love toward him, and forgive and receive him. Otherwise, Satan will utilize this opportunity to damage a repenting brother, who has been removed by the church, thus damaging the church.