During one of our devotionals for the youth leadership team a while ago, the topic of self-forgiveness came up. One of the leaders was adamant that self-forgiveness is not a Biblical concept. I have heard the term self-forgiveness in many contexts, and I had always thought that it aligned with Biblical truths. My thinking was that the Bible talks about forgiving the person who has sinned against you, so if you sin against yourself, then you should also be able to forgive yourself.
The difficulty that most people have in forgiving themselves is based upon the mistaken idea that the rules aka The Law (of Moses or ethical/moral Law) is more fundamental than God, the Lawgiver. Yet, some careful thought reminds us that God created the Law, and is more fundamental than the Law. As the Lawgiver, God's forgiveness is like God stating that, for example, the speed limit is 55 mph in a certain section of highway. Then, when John or Jane Doe asks forgiveness for speeding at 3:05 pm on Sept 24th, God, in effect, changes the Law to state that the speed limit is 55 mph on that certain section of highway except for John or Jane Doe at 3:05 on Sept 24th. God, through God's complete forgiveness, has changed the Law just for us and just for that event! To NOT forgive ourselves is to maintain that our opinion of what is right and wrong is more important than God's opinion. But clearly, if God has forgiven us, then God holds the opinion that we are not guilty - so why should we be so arrogant to protest this fact? - Rev. Brian Boley, author of "Brian Boley's Quiet Place" brianboley.substack.com
The difficulty that most people have in forgiving themselves is based upon the mistaken idea that the rules aka The Law (of Moses or ethical/moral Law) is more fundamental than God, the Lawgiver. Yet, some careful thought reminds us that God created the Law, and is more fundamental than the Law. As the Lawgiver, God's forgiveness is like God stating that, for example, the speed limit is 55 mph in a certain section of highway. Then, when John or Jane Doe asks forgiveness for speeding at 3:05 pm on Sept 24th, God, in effect, changes the Law to state that the speed limit is 55 mph on that certain section of highway except for John or Jane Doe at 3:05 on Sept 24th. God, through God's complete forgiveness, has changed the Law just for us and just for that event! To NOT forgive ourselves is to maintain that our opinion of what is right and wrong is more important than God's opinion. But clearly, if God has forgiven us, then God holds the opinion that we are not guilty - so why should we be so arrogant to protest this fact? - Rev. Brian Boley, author of "Brian Boley's Quiet Place" brianboley.substack.com