Re-examining Biblical Forgiveness
Most Christians are taught today that we are to unconditionally forgive
others. In other words, we are to forgive others, whether or not they
turn away from their sins. The following passage is typically used as
proof that God commanded unconditional forgiveness:
Matt 6:14-15
14 "For if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly
Father will also forgive you.
15 "But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive
your transgressions.
Seems clear enough,
right?
But what exactly is forgiveness, biblically speaking? Forgiveness in
the Bible is primarily an ECONOMIC concept. A debt is incurred, and
payment is required. Mercy may be shown to the debtor, but the debt
does not automatically disappear. "Forgiveness"
is
NEVER free, since somebody must pay for the debt. If the debt is
NOT paid by the debtor, then the creditor has to pay for that debt in
some way, such as in taking a loss.
Mankind's debt to God due to sin is our physical and spiritual death in
hell forever. God, as our creditor can only forgive if full
payment is
made. God chose to take a major loss against Himself, by
sacrificing His only-begotten Son, Jesus, on the Cross. However,
God, in His mercy, IF we repent
of all our sins, will credit our account with Jesus' payment for our
sins. Thus, God will only forgive us of our sins, IF we repent
of our sins.
Repentance in the Bible includes confession
of our debt due to
our sin, and our true attempt to turn around away from our sinful
behavior. Not only that, God can only forgive such a debt if we
acknowledge
and accept God's method of payment of our debt: Jesus' death on the
cross on our behalf. If we choose to not accept this method of
payment, we will then be expected to pay the full debt on our own.
This type of payment is
simply not possible, because even a lifetime of "good works" cannot pay
for even one sin. Such tarnished human payment amounts to only
being
"filthy garments" (literally, dirty menstrual cloth):
Isa 64:6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all
our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither
like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
To lessen the full meaning of biblical forgiveness is to lessen the
meaning of the Gospel. The heathen world holds to a lessened meaning
of forgiveness, because they simply do not want to acknowledge they owe
infinite
debt to God due to their own sin. We need to show the
world as
witnesses of God a complete picture of the Gospel, which includes
showing exactly what they owe their Creator.
As Christians, we certainly are
to
forgive others for
their sins, otherwise, the Father will not forgive us.
However, we also are commanded to
forgive as the Father forgives:
Matthew 18:21-35
21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.
25 But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to
be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment
to be made.
26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his
fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on
him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.
29 And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
31 So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very
sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.
32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O
thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou
desiredst me:
33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
35 So likewise shall my heavenly
Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one
his brother their trespasses.
One of the key parts of this parable that Christians seem to overlook,
is that we TWICE see CONFESSION and REPENTANCE occur in this parable.
Two different servants admitted they owed a debt (confession),
and showed a willingness to try to make amends for that debt
(repentance). Other Scriptures make
it clear that God the Father requires confession and repentance of sin
in order to receive forgiveness of our sins:
I John 1:9 If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness.
Acts 8:22
22 "Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray
the Lord that if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven
you.
Acts 26:20
20 but {kept} declaring both to those of Damascus first, and {also}
at Jerusalem and {then} throughout all the region of Judea, and {even}
to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God,
performing deeds appropriate to repentance.
The Old Testament teaches the same thing about how God forgives mankind:
Ezekiel 18:31-32
31 "Cast away from you all your transgressions which you
have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!
For why will you die, O house of Israel?
32 "For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,"
declares the Lord GOD. "Therefore, repent and live."
God Himself therefore does not forgive unconditionally, but conditionally! He
requires confession of sin and repentance from it, whether one is a
believer in Him or not. If there is no confession of sin and
repentance, then God does NOT forgive them!
Therefore, to be like God the Father, we do not unconditionally forgive others. Scriptures
teach us that we are to conditionally forgive others also:
Luke 17:3-4
3 "Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke
him; and if he
repents, forgive him.
4 "And if he sins against you seven times a day, and
returns to you
seven times, saying, 'I repent,'
forgive him."
But what do we do about our brothers that refuse to repent of
their
offenses against us? Matthew 18 makes that rather clear:
Matt 18:15-17
15 "And if your brother sins, go and reprove him in private; if he
listens to you, you have won your brother.
16 "But if he does not listen {to you,} take one or two more with
you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be
confirmed.
17 "And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if
he
refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a
Gentile and a tax-gatherer.
1 Corinthians chapter 5 deals with the very
same
thing, and clearly teaches that Christians are to judge other
Christians,
but they are not to judge UNBELIEVERS:
1 Corinthians 5:9-13
9 I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people;
10 I {did} not at all {mean} with the immoral people of this world,
or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters; for then you
would have to go out of the world.
11 But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any
so-called brother if he should be an immoral person, or covetous, or an
idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler-- not even to eat
with such a one.
12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not
judge those who are within {the church}
13 But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man
from among yourselves.
Realize that unbelievers do not have the spiritual capacity to
stop
sinning, because they are spiritually dead. This is why it is
ridiculous for Christians to protest the sins of unbelievers. Not only
is it a waste of time, but it is unbiblical, since we are not supposed
to judge "outsiders." We are to let GOD judge them! Instead, we need
to let them know how to get out of their debt with God through the
Gospel.
Is there a point in the reproving process where we forgive our brother?
Only IF he repents. If he does not repent, we do NOT forgive him! The
Bible
teaches us to conditionally forgive only.
Many Christians today believe that Christian love (agape) requires
unconditional forgiveness. Love by such Christians is equated with
automatic forgiveness of sin, whether or not there is confession and
repentance of sin. However, biblical love requires us to forgive only if there is
repentance of sin, otherwise, the passages I quoted above are wrong.
The Bible certainly teaches us that God loves all of mankind. God's
love was the catalyst for this:
John 3:16-18
16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have
eternal life.
17 "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world,
but that the world should be saved through Him.
18 "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not
believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the
name of the only begotten Son of God.
Belief is the important first step towards salvation, but it must
include confession of sin and repentance. Even so, God does NOT
unconditionally forgive, but requires that they have "believed in the
name
of the only begotten Son of God." "Name" is equivalent to
authority.
This is not mere belief in Jesus, but trust in His authority to pay for
our sins, which of course assumes that we have confessed our sins, and
have in some way repented of them. One may argue that a Christian
can
go to Heaven if they live in continual unrepentant sin after being
saved. However, they are to be rebuked, and must not be associated with
by other
Christians if they do not repent.
Bottom line: God loves all mankind, but He forgives only some of them.
The Bible makes it clear that we are to do the same thing:
Matt 5:44
44 "But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who
persecute you
But how can we love those we do not forgive? Most of us have heard
sermons that teach us that we should unconditionally forgive, because
if we do not, the anger will eat us from inside and cause us to become
bitter. First off, the Bible NEVER commands us to FORGIVE our
enemies! Here is a passage that helps us understand how we can love
our enemies, but not forgive them:
Rom 12:19-21
19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the
wrath {of God,} for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,"
says the Lord.
20 "But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty,
give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals upon his
head."
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
How can one LOVE their enemies, yet want to heap burning coals upon
their heads? Not by forgiving them, but by overcoming their evil by
doing good. Please note that God's WRATH
is
promised for them, He WILL
repay. THIS is how we can love our enemies: TRUSTING GOD to avenge
us! When we TRUST God to punish our enemies, we can REST in that
faith, and then in that faith, have the ability to LOVE the seemingly
unlovable. Our ANGER will subside, at least to a level that we
can
truly love our enemies. This is how we prevent bitterness from entering
our hearts.
Here is an interesting passage where believers in the future
Tribulation have to deal with unrepentant sin done against them in this
very way:
Rev 6:9-10
9 And when He broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the
souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and
because of the testimony which they had maintained;
10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O
Lord, holy and true, wilt Thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the
earth?"
If most of today's Christians were consistent, they would scold these
believers for seeking vengeance for their deaths. They would tell them
to forgive their killers, and thus, let go of their anger, bitterness,
and hardness of heart. However,
God does not say any such thing, but says this in the next verse:
11 And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were
told that they should rest for a little while longer, until {the number
of} their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even
as they had been, should be completed also.
No scolding is done to them by our Lord. Instead, He
simply requests them to rest upon Him and wait a little
longer. God definitely will fulfill their
need and desire for
vengeance, as seen in this promise from God to Tribulation believers:
Rev 13:10
10 If anyone {is destined} for captivity, to captivity he goes; if
anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here
is the perseverance and the faith of the
saints.
and
Rev 14:9-12
9 And another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud
voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark
on his forehead or upon his hand,
10 he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is
mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be
tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels
and in the presence of the Lamb.
11 "And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; and
they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his
image, and whoever receives the mark of his name."
12 Here is the perseverance of the
saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
The Tribulation saints are COMFORTED
and given encouragement to
persevere in their suffering and death by getting them to focus on
GOD'S FUTURE VENGEANCE upon their
enemies! This is not just some abstract
theology that should stay in some text book. These
are
IMPORTANT promises that
Tribulation saints will
need to know in order to persevere through
mankind's darkest moments. These saints, just like us, are expected to
obey God's Word, to love their enemy, and do GOOD to them, even as evil is
done to them! They do NOT have to forgive these evil unrepentant
people! Again, love does not require unconditional forgiveness.
In application, believers who are being
persecuted and killed for their faith NOW in other countries could be
greatly comforted, encouraged, and strengthened by understanding
biblical love and forgiveness, so they can persevere through their
current trials that God
is allowing them to go through!
I have a Masters degree in Counseling Psychology, and worked as a
registered
MFCC intern. Even though I do not agree with
all that I was taught in
psychology, I however do
agree with what I was taught in regards to anger. Anger is a valid
emotional response to various negative circumstances in our lives. In
psychology, we learned that anger must be managed, but not suppressed.
Suppressed anger does not dissipate, but it destructively goes inward,
and turns into one of various possible psychological disorders,
typically depression. I would argue that many
depressed Christians are
individuals who have tried to "forgive" unrepentant sinners, but
instead, have merely suppressed their God-given anger.
The
Christian who trusts God to one day avenge the evil done by others
against him, is given the reason and ability to put aside his anger and
wrath, knowing that God's wrath will eventually make all things right.
This FREES the Christian up to love those who
commit unrepentant sin against him, including his enemies (Col
3:1-17). To unconditionally "forgive"
someone who has not repented of their sin, cheapens not only
forgiveness, but also lessens who GOD is before those around us.
God is Love, but He is also
Righteousness and Justice. None of His attributes conflict, but
unfortunately, it is naive Christians who effectively lower God
down to pagan standards by only focusing on God's "love".
We need to raise our standards and behavior to GOD'S standards, to those
found
in the Bible!
Unconditional forgiveness is how the WORLD "forgives," and we should not
behave in such a
manner. By trying to forgive
unconditionally, WE LEAVE GOD OUT OF THE PROCESS. We have allowed pagan thinking to creep into much of our
own Christian
theology, and forgiveness is one area where
we
have allowed that to
occur. The only way to properly manage our anger is by TRUSTING IN
GOD'S
FUTURE VENGEANCE FOR US! When we trust God to take care of avenging
us, we are free to truly love our enemies, even while they are doing
evil against us. We need to properly
learn to
forgive as the Father forgives, in order to truly lead the world out of
their eternal debt to God by our example!
How about when Jesus on the Cross prays, Father, forgive them for they
know not what they do" (Luke 23:34)? It is important to know that the
word
"forgive" is the Greek word, aphiemi, and that it is translated VERY
differently in many places in the Bible. Here are some examples, with
the word translated from aphiemi is capitalized:
Mt 4:11 - Then the devil LEFT Him; and behold, angels came and began to
minister to Him.
Mt 4:20 - Immediately they LEFT their nets and followed Him.
Mt 8:22 - But Jesus said to him, "Follow Me, and ALLOW the dead to bury
their own dead ."
Mt 27:49 - But the rest of them said, "LET us see whether Elijah will
come to save Him."
Mt 27:50 - And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and YIELDED up
His spirit.
Since God does not unconditionally forgive, then, this verse
must mean
something other than forgiveness. I would argue that the English
translation should be, "Father, ALLOW them, for they know not what they
do." Jesus
wanted to ALLOW His own sufferings to not be interrupted by the Father
stopping it, so that He could pay for the sins of the world. I do
not
think those who killed Jesus were forgiven for what they did
here. However, the
Father, in theory, might have stopped the killers before they completed
their task, if not for His Son's prayer to
hold off punishment.
As
one
can see, the CONTEXT of the passage helps to determine how aphiemi
should be translated. Just as the word "save" in the Greek (sozo) does
not ALWAYS refer to salvation from sin, aphiemi does not always mean
"forgive." The context is what determines its meaning, as we can see.
Some might question my assertion that Jesus did not ask God
to forgive
His killers but merely DELAY their judgment in order that Jesus could
complete the full payment of
sin by His suffering and death. If you do, please consider what is
taught in Psalm 69:21-28. This psalm is
understood by both Jews and Christians as being a Messianic Psalm, one
that speaks of the Messiah's future suffering. In particular, it gives
specific details about what Jesus was actually thinking and praying during His
suffering:
Psalms 69:21-28
21 They also gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me
vinegar to drink.
22 May their table before them become a snare; and when they are in
peace, {may it become} a trap.
23 May their eyes grow dim so that they cannot see, and make their
loins shake continually.
24 Pour out Thine indignation on them, and may Thy burning anger
overtake them.
25 May their camp be desolate; may none dwell
in their tents.
26 For they have persecuted him whom Thou
thyself hast smitten, and they tell of the pain of those whom Thou hast
wounded.
27 Do Thou add iniquity
to their iniquity, and may they not come into Thy righteousness.
28 May they be blotted
out of the book of life, and may they not be recorded with the
righteous.
Does
this
sound like Messiah Jesus asking the Father to forgive His killers?
No, quite the opposite! Jesus therefore did NOT ask the Father to
FORGIVE those who were killing Him!
How about Stephen's prayer, in regards to his own murder, in the book of
Acts?
Acts 7:60 - "And falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice,
"Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" And having said this, he
fell asleep."
The phrase "hold against" comes from the single Greek word, histemi.
Histemi means "to
stand." Keep in mind that this is the same
Greek word used just five
verses earlier, which I will capitalize:
Acts 7:55 - But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into
heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus STANDING at the right hand
of God;
In the Bible, when God stands, it is a sign of JUDGMENT:
Psalms 82:1,8
1 - God takes His STAND in His own congregation; He judges in
the
midst of the rulers.
8 ARISE, O God, judge the earth! For it is Thou who dost possess all
the nations.
Jesus' normal position at the right hand of God is SITTING. I
would
argue that Jesus was at that moment was preparing to JUDGE Stephen's
killers. At least this is what it clearly looked like to Stephen,
biblically speaking. Stephen was asking Jesus to SIT DOWN, and
hold off judgment
of his killers until some future time, probably in hopes that they
would REPENT and turn to the true God.
Also, think about it. Why would God have to be asked to forgive
someone? This implies that God would NOT forgive if no such request to do so occurred.
Unfortunately, we all have had the unblical notion of unconditional forgiveness drilled into
our brains for so long, that the insanity of it seems to make sense to
us. What kind of insanity does this lead to, practically speaking?
Unconditional forgiveness RE-DEFINES what forgiveness actually is:
Most of today's Christians who believe in unconditional
forgiveness, unbiblically
redefine forgiveness in this way:
"Forgiving certainly isn't forgetting."
Is this biblical? Compare this to how God forgives:
Psalms 103:12 - As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed
our transgressions from us.
Isa
54:4 - Fear not, for you will not be put to shame; neither feel
humiliated, for you will not be disgraced; but you will forget the
shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will
remember no more.
Isa 1:18 - "Come now, and let us reason
together," says the LORD, "Though your sins are as scarlet, they will
be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be
like wool.
Psalms 25:7 - Do not remember the sins of my youth or my
transgressions; according to Thy lovingkindness remember Thou me, for
Thy goodness' sake, O LORD.
Isa 43:25 - I, even I, am the one who wipes out your
transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins.
Isa
64:9 - Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD, neither remember
iniquity forever; behold, look now, all of us are Thy people.
Heb 10:17-18 17 "And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember
no more."
18 Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer
{any} offering for sin.
The Bible teaches that God FORGETS the sins of those He FORGIVES!
God does just the opposite for those who do not repent:
Jeremiah
14:10 - Thus says the LORD to this people, "Even so they have loved to
wander; they have not kept their feet in check. Therefore the LORD does
not accept them; now He WILL REMEMBER their iniquity and call their
sins to account."
Hosea 9:9 - They have gone deep in depravity
as in the days of Gibeah; He will remember their iniquity, He will
punish their sins.
Rev 16:19 - And the great city was split into three parts, and
the
cities of the nations fell. And Babylon the great was remembered before
God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath.
Rev 18:5 - for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has
remembered her iniquities.
Somewhere during the development of psychology, the concept of
"boundaries" came into being. A psychologically healthy person
creates and
maintains healthy boundaries between themselves and all other people.
Boundaries typically vary depending upon a number of factors, such as
kind of relationship, and behavior of those in a relationship.
Unfortunately,
many Christians and non-Christians have convinced themselves that they
have forgiven somebody else, when in fact they have not. Two
indicators will tell us that there was no real forgiveness:
1 - There was not a complete reconciliation, a normal and full relationship was not restored
2
- The person who allegedly forgave another, has not removed the
boundary they put up shortly after they learned of the related offense.
In other words, God made reality so that NOBODY can truly forgive another, unless there is true repentance! Forgiveness
is meaninglesss to an unrepentant sinner who thinks that there is
nothing they have to confess and repent about.
Boundaries
are a good thing. We SHOULD put up boundaries between us and people
who are trying to hurt us, or do wrong to us. GOD puts up bondaries
between Himself and those trying to hurt or do wrong to Him.
True forgiveness involves the
ability to FORGET the sins of another, and to be RECONCILED with the sinner. Reconciliation means:
the restoration of friendly relations.
"his reconciliation with your uncle"
(Google's definition of the word, reconciliation).
In other words, you have NOT FORGIVEN someone that you have not been reconciled with.
If
God forgave like many Christians and non-Christians forgive, God would
say something like the following to unrepentant sinners when they first
enter the Kingdom of Heaven:
"I forgive you. BUT, I need to
have boundaries between us. I am going to put you in a far away corner
of my Kingdom, out of my sight, because I still remember what you did
to Me that was bad."
Thankfully, God does not forgive any of us in this way.
I
am certainly no expert on how to fully forgive like God. However, with
God's
wisdom and strength through the Holy Spirit, we can forgive others the
very way God forgives. I believe that many obedient Christians
already forgive properly, but they do not word it the way I do.
The theory of biblical forgiveness is easier to understand, than the
actual PRACTICE of it. We as Christians have to be WILLING to
forgive other believers. We MUST forgive them when TRUE
confession and repentance of their
sins occur. Not only that, we must lovingly NOT
forgive them when true confession and repentance of sin does NOT occur.
Perhaps the hardest thing to do as a believer is to
stand strong against an unrepentant believer, who provides you with
incomplete confession and repentance of their sins. Believers
need to have discernment to tell the difference between this and true
confession and repentance. Jesus provides us with a biblical
picture of
what the heart of the truly repentant looks like:
Luke 18:13
"But the tax-gatherer, standing some distance away, was even unwilling
to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying,
'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!'
Matt 18:26 "The slave
therefore falling down, prostrated himself before him, saying, 'Have
patience
with me, and I will repay you
everything.'
As the predicted falling away (apostasy) of Christians continues until
Christ's return, it is more important than ever to lovingly
require full confession and repentance of sins we KNOW about in our
fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Allowing the bad fruit of
unrepentance in other believers make them no different in behavior and
appearance than the evil APOSTATES that have infiltrated all our
churches:
Matt 7:15-23
15 "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's
clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
16 "You will know them by their
fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn {bushes,} nor figs from
thistles, are they?
17 "Even so, every good tree bears
good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit.
18 "A good tree cannot produce bad
fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.
19 "Every tree that does not bear
good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 "So then, you will know them by
their fruits.
21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will
enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who
is in heaven.
22 "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did
we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in
Your name perform many miracles?'
23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from
Me, you who practice lawlessness.'
True biblical forgiveness, and the reconciliation it provides, is
what makes us ONE in the Body of Christ. God's ULTIMATE goal of
biblical forgiveness is to take away
the barrier between each other as strangers and enemies, and to have
all believers to be built into ONE body and structure, the place where
GOD can literally dwell in:
Ephesians 2:17-22
17 And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace
to those who were near;
18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the
Father.
19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,
but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household,
20 having been built upon the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner {stone}
21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together is growing into a
holy temple in the Lord;
22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God
in the Spirit.