“That young man. I forgive him.”
Tears streamed down the new widow’s face as she uttered those painful yet freeing words. So intimate, they might as well have been whispered privately in prayer in one’s bedroom, but Erika Kirk’s profession rang aloud in a stadium packed of 90,000 people, with millions more watching online.
Forgiveness has been called “Christianity at its highest level.”¹ Erika epitomized this truth when she forgave the alleged murderer of her husband, Charlie Kirk. Why did she do this?
A cynic might respond that her motive was to solicit the applause of spectators and garner the sympathy of the world (as if more could be garnered?).
The simpler answer is her faith compels her to (Matt. 6:12, Eph. 4:32). This doesn’t make it any easier. Anyone acting under duty knows this. The brute fact of having been drafted into war is of little comfort to the soldier on the battlefield. But duty to God, country, and his fellow brothers in arms compels him forward.
On the other hand, one could argue relishing in hateful and revengeful thoughts is easier and far more natural. But this is not a real option for the Christian.
As the parable of the unforgiving servant emphasizes (Matt. 18:21-35), who are we, whose insurmountable debt was forgiven by God at the high cost of his perfect and blameless Son, to withhold forgiveness?
Every Christian should emulate Erika’s call to forsake the cup of bitterness when we’ve been maligned and sinned against. Moving forward, sermon examples of forgiving the reckless driver who cut you off in traffic will forever seem petty in light of what Erika did on Sunday. God, help us to refuse to drink of the same vengeful poison the world so often swallows to the dregs when wronged.
WHAT ABOUT JUSTICE?
Now that the offender has been forgiven, does Lady Justice take a seat? If Christians are to love our enemies, pray for those who persecute us (Matt. 5:44), and turn the other cheek (Matt. 5:39), where is room for justice?
Just as it does for forgiveness, let us allow Scripture to speak to justice.
“…to deny a man justice in the presence of the Most High, to subvert a man in his lawsuit, the Lord does not approve.” (Lamentations 3:35-36)
“Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed.” (Jeremiah 22:3)
“…learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.” (Isaiah 1:17)
“Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” (Deuteronomy 16:20)
The house-of-cards caricature of God as a loving pushover comes tumbling down under the weight of these justice-seeking passages. Scripture minces no words about it. For although God forgives transgression with one hand, his other “will by no means clear the guilty” (Ex. 34:7).
This balance observed in the Bible is the balance we should order our lives, families, churches, and societies around. And God has given us a framework to do this by ordaining spheres of authority.
The spheres recognized by Scripture are the family, the church, and the state. It’s helpful to visualize them in a three-way Venn Diagram.
They share a center in God (there is no separation between him and any of these institutions). They overlap (families comprise churches and parishioners comprise a polity under a government). They each carry out distinct roles (the family raises children, the church raises disciples, and the state raises proper citizens).
Central to raising disciples is teaching them how to forgive. Christ commands his followers to do this ad infinitum (Matt. 18). And central to raising a healthy citizenry is punishing evil and promoting the good (Rom. 13).
In essence, it is the church’s duty to forgive. It is the state’s duty to uphold justice.
We know this intuitively. A church member who commits a crime can be forgiven, praise Jesus! But no right-minded pastor would omit to report a violation of a good law to proper authorities. Forgiveness by the church doesn’t nullify a payment rightfully required by the state, for the civil magistrate does not bear the sword in vain (Rom. 13:4). The rightness of these spheres is further evinced by the fact that the reverse is also true—a criminal condemned by the state can still be redeemed by Christ’s blood.
The best example of forgiveness and justice being upheld is Calvary’s Hill. As mentioned before, Christians ought to forgive much because we’ve been forgiven much. But our sins were forgiven at the cross not at the expense of justice but due to its fulfillment. Real sins—our sins—were dealt with justly, not wisped magically into thin air, by Jesus who took on the iniquity of us all (Isa. 53:6). Sin’s wages required a real death of the Son of Man (Rom. 6:23).
This is why the cross is referred to as the place where justice and mercy meet.
Erika Kirk forgave her husband’s alleged killer because she serves a forgiving God. But this same God is also just and will not pardon the guilty. If convicted, this young man needs our prayers for the eyes of his heart to be opened to the source of Erika’s forgiveness—so that though he forfeits his life, his soul might be saved.
- The Freedom and Power of Forgiveness, John MacArthur (Crossway, 2009)
About the Author
Loren Skinker serves on staff as the Director of Communications at Cedar Crest BFC. After earning his B.A. in Communications and English at Virginia Tech in 2019, he went on to work for ABWE International, a missions agency in Harrisburg, PA. There, he served as communications specialist and lead magazine editor for two years before the Lord directed him back to his home church. He and his wife Darby live in Slatington, PA with their daughter.