The literature on physical healing through prayer and inner healing (also called spiritual healing) emphasizes that unforgiveness is a hindrance in both types of healing. Book after book presents a prayer for the one receiving ministry to forgive those who have wronged them, to release them, and to release their own emotions to God. However, the theology of this forgiveness is shallow, and I believe, hinders what is desired, namely releasing the person from the bondage of emotions of hate, revenge, and bitterness. This hindrance is especially the case if it is thought that the person who has done the evil act is let off the hook and is no longer to face justice. For example, when a person owes money, the one who forgives the debt absorbs the loss and releases the person from obligation. The forgiveness of Yeshua through His sacrifice releases us from the obligation to pay the price for our sins. He paid the price. Is this what we mean by forgiveness in healing contexts, that the person who did wrong is relieved from the obligation and no longer has to fulfill the claims of justice? It is a profoundly important thing in our Biblical theology that we get the relationships right in being true to the Bible’s teaching on love, justice, and forgiveness.
To clarify the problem, let us give an example. Suppose your child was snatched off the street by a pervert who then violated your child. You and your child would experience deep trauma. The pervert somehow escapes and is not located for arrest though the police try hard. Some years later, you find yourself with a terrible back ailment. During this time, the police find the perpetrator. Some ten years have passed but there is no statute of limitations for this crime. When you go for prayer at a healing prayer service in your congregation, the visiting ministry team leader asks if there is any bitterness or unforgiveness in your heart that could hinder the healing. You think of this pervert and your desire that he be brought to justice. There is still anger, bitterness, and revenge in your heart. Imagine what you have been through trying to bring restoration to your child, now a mid-teen. What does forgiveness mean? That you do not testify and seek to put the pervert in jail? That you have forgiven means that he is released from having to pay the price that justice requires. Where is justice in this definition of forgiveness? Does forgiveness mean that we do not pursue justice? What of the many verses in the Bible that command us to pursue justice? If forgiveness means that the criminal is released from your pursuit of justice, then we have a great contradiction in Biblical teaching. In addition, if we do not pursue justice, the pervert can endanger other children. Yes, I can release a monetary debt, but can I responsibly release an evil person from a just sentence?
This is why in my book Due Process, I distinguish between transactional forgiveness and non-transactional forgiveness. In transactional forgiveness, the person interacts with you and asks for your forgiveness. He or she repents of the wrong and offers to give restitution. The thief restores what was stolen! Yeshua speaks of transactional forgiveness when He says that we are to forgive the brother who seeks our forgiveness 70 X 7 (Matt. 18;22). The person can release the other from debt in some situations, for example, a financial debt. It is their choice. Also, they can forgive the bad act but as in the Torah can still require restitution for the good of the person as well. What was stolen is restored and then some. This is all part of transactional forgiveness. We can release from debt for ourselves personally, but not for others and society might still require a penalty for stealing.
When Yeshua interceded on the cross and said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do,” (Luke 23:34) He was voicing forgiveness without a transaction of repentance from those who crucified him. This certainly extends to the soldiers who carried out the crucifixion. Was Yeshua speaking also of the religious leaders who sought his death or to the Roman official Pilot who pronounced his judgment? On the other hand, Yeshua did not voice forgiveness for Jerusalem though He desired to see them blessed. He pronounces judgment because they did not recognize the time of their visitation and should have (Luke 19:44). Yeshua in his ministry does not only voice love and forgiveness but also very strong words of condemnation.
The kind of forgiveness required for healing is not to let the criminal off the hook. One may choose to forgive a financial crime but for the good of the thief may exact the penalty. If one forgives the sexual pervert and lets him off the hook one may be guilty of a civil crime! Rather before God one is replacing a desire for vengeance and a heart of bitterness with the desire for good for the criminal. One replaces hatred with love. This releases the person from the bondage of damaging emotions, another effect of the crime from which the person needs to be delivered. The pervert, one will find, often experienced abuse as a child. There is a case for love. However, love in this case, for the criminal, and for the other potential victims, seeks justice. It seeks to see the criminal put in jail, so others are not abused. The just thing is the most loving thing. However, with this type of forgiveness one pursues justice for all who are involved, both the criminal and the victims. It increases the chance for the criminal to be reformed. However, the transaction where bitterness and the desire for revenge are replaced by love and seeking the good of the other is a supernatural change of heart through the Spirit. It releases the person who was wronged from the continued suffering from anger and vengeance which holds the victim in bondage. When people receiving healing ministry voice forgiveness for the offender, I believe this is what is happening in the Spirit even if the theology is not right. Many teach we are to pray blessing upon the perpetrator of the evil for Yeshua taught us to bless our enemies. Yet, what is the blessing? Surely, we are not to pray that an evil person be prosperous and blessed in doing evil, thus reinforcing their evil behavior. The greatest blessing for such a person would be to find, from the Holy Spirit, a spirit of repentance, to turn from their wicked ways and find God. Unlike Jonah, we want to see repentance and blessing, but in the right way, a way that is just. Jonah with a vengeful heart did not want Nineveh to repent and enter into the blessing that would follow repentance.
Our pursuit of healing ministry will be greatly aided if we can explain to the person seeking help that we do not mean the kind of forgiveness that necessarily lets the violator off the hook. Rather we seek a supernatural transaction in God by voicing forgiveness that pursues justice with love for all the parties involved in the difficult situation. I find it strange is so little understood and is almost never taught.