There Remaineth in Him

Several years ago I wrote a post about his scripture: “Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin” (Doctrine and Covenants 64:9). As this passage is a part of our Come, Follow Me reading this week I have again been thinking about it. I believe that in general we misunderstand what the Lord is saying here in that we believe He is comparing an original sin to the sin of not forgiving that first sin. Using scriptures.byu.edu, I searched all the conference talks which reference this verse, of which there are many. In nearly all of them, the scripture is simply stated as a general support for the idea that we should forgive and the phrase “greater sin” is not commented on. I found three talks, though, from two different general authorities from long ago who did interpret it in the way we normally do. Elder O. Leslie Stone as an assistant to the Twelve in 1973 said that this verse tells us “that it is our duty to forgive one another and that he who does not forgive his brother stands condemned and is the greater sinner.” He also said in 1979 as a seventy, “The Lord tells us that it is our duty to forgive one another, and that he who does not forgive his brother stands condemned and is the greater sinner of the two.” After quoting the verse Elder Theodore M. Burton, a seventy, said in 1983, “I take that to mean that it is a greater sin to refuse to forgive a person than it is to commit the sin for which that person was disfellowshipped or excommunicated.” Despite these well-meaning statements, I simply cannot accept this interpretation. To believe, as this would suggest, that the person who can’t forgive one who committed murder is guilty of a sin worse than murder itself is simply nonsensical. And the challenge with the idea of “the greater sinner” as quoted above is that verse itself doesn’t say that. Though it speaks of a “greater” sin, it does not explicitly say what was greater than what.

               I think a key word to understanding this scripture is remaineth. That implies something that already existed there. When we say that after some person refuses to forgive there remains in him some sin, then that sin that remains must have already existed and is not the new sin of being unforgiving. In other words, a greater portion of our existing sins remain with us—i.e. are not yet forgiven from the Lord—when we choose not to forgive others. This is consistent with the Savior’s teachings about how we obtain forgiveness in the Sermon on the Mount: “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15). As we forgive others, our Heavenly Father forgives us. As we choose not to forgive others, we will not be forgiven so easily. Or, we might say, as we choose not to forgive, a greater portion of our sins remain with us. In this New Testament passage the Savior did not compare the original sinner with the one who couldn’t forgive; He simply suggested that the latter would find it hard to obtain personal forgiveness from God for their general trespasses if he or she chose not to forgive others their trespasses. I believe it is the same in Doctrine and Covenants 64:9. The Lord does not compare the sins of two people; He is suggesting that the person who can’t forgive another is going to remain condemned before the Lord for his or her own (different) sins. When we don’t forgive, we block the process of receiving forgiveness ourselves and a greater number of our own sins remain with us.

               I believe this is much more than semantics. Our common interpretation of this scripture to compare the sins of two people can lead to unnecessary guilt and shame for someone struggling to forgive the serious sins of another. To feel forgiveness is rarely instantaneous, and someone who has not yet been able to forgive another who has abused or committed adultery or even murdered need not feel shame that they themselves are somehow “worse” than an abuser or an adulterer or a murderer. President Faust taught this, “Most of us need time to work through pain and loss…. A sister who had been through a painful divorce received some sound advice from her bishop: ‘Keep a place in your heart for forgiveness, and when it comes, welcome it in.’” Ultimately, forgiveness towards others is a gift from the Savior, and as we open our hearts to it and seek His divine help, we will eventually find it. But if that healing and forgiveness takes time, we need not feel unnecessary guilt in the process that we are somehow terrible people because of it. We can continue to look towards the Son of God who could say on the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). These words of Susan Evans McCloud can be our prayer as we seek to follow Him in loving and forgiving: “Savior, may I love my brother, As I know thou lovest me, Find in thee my strength, my beacon, For thy servant I would be. Savior, may I love my brother—Lord, I would follow thee.”