Release Forgiveness

I started reading a book by Brian Jones called “Getting Rid of The Gorilla: Confessions on the Struggle to Forgive.” Brian is lead pastor at Christ’s Church of the Valley in Collegeville, PA.

I became of fan Jones’ blog recently and appreciate his insight into the Scriptures, our culture and the church.

In his book, Jones writes that the Greek word for the word Jesus used for forgiveness is aphiemi. He describes the way in which the word is used in the New Testament as the act of forgiveness… a sense of releasing something closely held or trapped. He writes “notice how the verses below take on new meaning when aphiemi is translated as “release” instead of “forgive.”

Release our debts, as we also have released our debtors (Matthew 6:12).

The servant’s master took pity on him, released the debt and let him go (Matthew 18:27).

This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you release your brother from your heart (Matthew 18:35).

He also lists Matthew 6:14-15, and Mark 11:25:26.

Jones concludes that if we don’t find a way to release the people who hurt us, our anger becomes rage. When these issues begin to grow and accumulate, they take on a new life: a gorilla. Should be an interesting read.