Why
does God Allow Evil? Click here: /Apologeticshtml/Why Does God Allow Evil 0908.htm
Should
God’s existence be proven? /Apologeticshtml/Should the Bible and God Be Proven
Fideism vs WCG.htm
Does the Bible teach blind
faith? Click here: /doctrinalhtml/Gospel of John Theory of Knowledge.htm
Why Did Jesus on the Cross Ask the Father to Forgive Others Instead of Doing It Directly Himself?
While being crucified, Jesus asked the
Father to forgive those who were crucifying Him instead of doing it directly
Himself. He did this partly in order to fulfill prophecy and partly to
serve as a model for Christians' own behavior.
This question concerns Jesus'
statement in Luke 23:34: "Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them, for
they do not know what they are doing," while He was being crucified.
Despite incredible physical suffering and being the victim of a judicial
lynching, the Messiah still had the sublime presence of mind to love His
enemies and to ask the Father to forgive them. So why didn't Jesus just
directly forgive them by saying so out loud since He had the power to forgive
sins? One reason was to fulfill prophecy. What was the Messiah
prophesied to do in Isaiah 53:7? "For he bore the sin of many and
made intercession for the transgressors." If He had directly
forgiven them by His own divine powers, it wouldn't have been an intercessory
act. By definition an intercessor or mediator is between two other
parties as a third party. He needed to pray to the Father in order
to do this.
Another factor behind why Jesus didn't
forgive them directly was that He was serving implicitly as a model for
Christians. Jesus directed us, in the model prayer that should serve as a
basic outline for how to do this, to pray to the Father, not to Him. The
"Lord's prayer" begins with, "Our Father in heaven . . . forgive
us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." (Matthew 6:9,
12). So He told us to pray to the Father, not to Him, as the routine
procedure when praying. As a result, the standard protocol is that
Christians should pray to the Father for forgiveness primarily, not directly to
the Son, who is the One who reconciles us to God (Romans 5:10-11).
(Matthew Henry's commentary, pp. 1907-1908, is helpful in making points
on this issue).
So Jesus asked the Father to forgive
those crucifying Him because He fulfilled prophecy by doing so and also because
was serving as a model for Christian conduct.
Eric
V. Snow
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Why
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May
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Should
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the New Covenant Abolish the OT Law.htm
Do
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and Hereafter.htm
Does
the ministry have authority? Click here: /doctrinalhtml/Is
There an Ordained Ministry vs Edwards.html
Is
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We the Beast vs Collins.htm
Should
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the Argument from Silence Abolish the Old Testament Law of Tithing 0205 Mokarow
rebuttal.htm
Is
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Jesus God.htm
Will
there be a third resurrection? Click here: /doctrinalhtml/Will
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