Merciful (2436) (hileos - related in stem and meaning to hilaros = glad, merry, cheerful) means propitious (Webster 1828 = "Be Disposed to gracious or merciful; ready to forgive sins and bestow blessings; favorable"), benevolent, forgiving or favorably disposed to another. It pertains to the demonstration of mercy or compassion. "Appeased, merciful, as of gods; cheerful, propitious, favorable, merciful, as of men." (Zodhiates) Hileos is the root of hilaskomai in 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 (be favorable) to me, the sinner!’ MacArthur: He had no hope but the mercy of God. This is the point to which the law aims to bring every sinner (cf. Ro 3:19, 20; 7:13; Gal 3:22–24). The only other NT use of hileos is... Mt 16:22 And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it (Young's Literal = "Be kind to"), Lord! This shall never happen to You.” Comment: Its expanded sense in this state­ment would be, "God save you from those things" NET Note: "Merciful to you." A highly elliptical expression: "May God be merciful to you in sparing you from having to undergo [some experience]". A contemporary English equivalent is "God forbid!" BDAG: The idea is "may God be gracious to you, Lord, i.e. may God in mercy spare you this, God forbid!" BDAG says hileos pertains to... being favorably disposed, with implication of overcoming obstacles that are unfavorable to a relationship, gracious, merciful, in the wider lit. mostly—in our lit. and in LXX always—of God. TDNT A predicate of persons, hileos means “happy,” “friendly,” “gracious.” It is used especially of rulers and deities. In the LXX it is a predicate of God alone, e.g., in phrases for “to forgive,” “to have pity.” W E Vine Hileōs means propitious; not that God is ever to be conciliated, but that in grace and on a basis of righteousness, consistent with His attitude toward sin and with His essential holiness, and through the expiatory sacrifice of His Son, He delivers the sinner from his deserved doom and, in free, sovereign grace, justifies him. NIDNTT in classic Greek hileos is chiefly used of rulers or gods; in connection with gods the phrase hileo poiein, to make gracious, is found (Plato, Laws 10, 910a). Hileos - 25x in the Septuagint (often with the sense " ("far be it from you, Lord" as in 1Kings 21:3; 1Chr 11:19) - Ge 43:23 (LXE = And he said to them, God deal mercifully with you); Ex 32:12 (LXE = be merciful to the sin of thy people); Num 14:19-20; Deut 21:8 (LXE = Be merciful to thy people Israel); 2Sa 20:20; 7" class="scriptRef">23:17 (LXE Lord, forbid that I should do this); 1Kgs 8:30 (LXE = "and be gracious"), 1Ki 8:34, 36, 39" class="scriptRef">39, 50 (LXE be merciful to their unrighteousness); 1Chr 11:19; 2Chr 6:21, 25, 27, 39; 7:14; Isa 54:10; Jer 5:1, 7; 31:34; 36:3; 50:20; Amos 7:2 Jeremiah 31:34 "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive (Hebrew = salach = forgive, pardon; Lxx = Hileos = be propitious toward) their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." Spurgeon writes that... The covenant is the sure foundation of mercy, and when the whole fabric of outward grace manifested in the saints lies in ruins this is the fundamental basis of love which is never moved, and upon it the Lord proceeds to build again a new structure of grace. Covenant mercy is sure as the throne of God. I will be merciful to their iniquities...I will remember their sins no more - These promises by God in essence are teaching that the New Covenant brings complete forgiveness of our sins, something the Old Covenant could never do as the writer explained in Hebrews 10... For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never by the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? 3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats (the only provision available in the Old Covenant) to take away sins (procure the forgiveness of sins). (See notes Hebrews 10:1; 10:2; 10:3; 10:4) Comment: The new and better covenant would not have been needed if the first covenant had been faultless! Iniquities (93) (adikia from a = without + dike = right, expected behavior according to an external standard, in this case God's) is literally "unrightness" or the condition of not being right according to the standard of God's holy demands. Albert Barnes... Will I remember no more. This is evidently spoken after the manner of men, and in accordance with human apprehension. It cannot mean literally that God forgets that men are sinners, but it means that he treats them as if this were forgotten. Their sins are not charged upon them, and they are no more punished than if they had passed entirely out of the recollection. God treats them with just as much kindness, and regards them with as sincere affection, as if their sins ceased wholly to be remembered, or which is the same thing, as if they had never sinned. Wiersbe adds that... There is no forgiveness under the Law because the Law was not given for that purpose. “Therefore by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight; for by the Law is knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20). The Law could not promise forgiveness to Israel, let alone to all mankind. It is only through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that forgiveness is possible to all who will call on Him. The Old Testament sacrifices brought a remembrance of sins, not a remission of sins (Heb. 10:1–3, 18).... What does it mean that God remembers our sins and iniquities no more? (Heb. 8:12) This important statement is quoted again in Hebrews 10:16–17. Does it mean that our all-knowing God can actually forget what we have done? If God forgot anything, He would cease to be God! The phrase “remember no more” means “hold against us no more.” God recalls what we have done, but He does not hold it against us. He deals with us on the basis of grace and mercy, not law and merit. Once sin has been forgiven, it is never brought before us again. The matter is settled eternally. As a pastor in counseling ministry I have often heard people say, “Well, I can forgive—but I cannot forget!” “Of course you can’t forget,” I usually reply. “The more you try to put this thing out of your mind, the more you will remember it. But that isn’t what it means to forget.” Then I go on to explain that “to forget” means “not to hold it against the person who has wronged us.” We may remember what others have done, but we treat them as though they never did it. How is this possible? It is possible because of the cross, for there God treated His Son as though He had done it! Our experience of forgiveness from God makes it possible for us to forgive others. (Wiersbe, W: Bible Exposition Commentary - New Testament. 1989. Victor) Remember (3415) (mnaomai from mimnesko = to recall to mind, to remind) means to be mindful of. God will not recall their sins to mind! Note that "remember...no more" does not mean the omniscient God does not have a memory of our past sins. Omniscient means that God knows all things actual and possible and knows them in one simple and eternal act. God's attribute of eternal means that He has no beginning, end or succession of moments in His being and that He sees all time equally vividly, and yet also sees events in time and acts in time (Modified from Grudem's Systematic Theology). If you are believer, then you can be confident and at peace over the fact that God has forgiven (sent away, remitted the debt) all your sin, past, present and future (placing them on our Sin Bearer, the Lamb, Christ Jesus - Isa 53:6, 1Pe 2:24, 2Cor 5:21, Jn 1:29). Some individuals say that they cannot forgive themselves. The question is this - is this genre of forgiveness mentioned in Scripture? You can search the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and you will never find a Scripture that says we are to forgive ourselves. This is simply not a Biblical teaching. Yes, the Bible speaks of VERTICAL (DIVINE) FORGIVENESS and HORIZONTAL (HUMAN) FORGIVENESS but there is not one word about a person forgiving themselves. It is simply not taught in Scripture! DIVINE and HUMAN FORGIVENESS DIVINE FORGIVENESS is predicated or made possible by the execution of the penalty of death and the shedding of blood (Heb 9:22, Lev 17:11, cp Ro 6:23). In the OT the penalty was death of a sacrificial animal. All of the OT ceremonies and sacrifices pointed to Christ but could not actually take away the sin (Heb 10:4). The sins which believers committed in the OT were "passed over" (Ro 3:25, cp Heb 9:15) but ultimately were paid for in full by Christ's death on the Cross ("It is finished" = "Paid in full!" = Jn 19:30). Jesus' death and shed blood inaugurated the "New Covenant in His blood" which made divine forgiveness possible (Mt 26:28). Human forgiveness means the remission of a penalty deserved. As believers we are called to confess our sins and receive God's forgiveness of our sins (1Jn 1:9). When someone sins against us (Let's say they gossip or speak falsely about us and we find out about it), we are called to forgive them (Col 3:13, Eph 4:32). But even then we recognize that their sin is primarily against God (Ps 51:4-note, cp Ge 39:9, 2Sa 12:13-note) and only He can forgive their sin against Himself. We are never expected to forgive the sins of others toward God because we have no power to do so (Read Mark 2:5-12, cp Lk 5:22-26, Mt 9:1-8), but we are expected to forgive others for the sins done to us. Jesus instructed us to pray for this forgiveness asking God to "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" (Mt 6:12-note, Mt 6:14-15-note). When we forgive someone who has wronged us (by surrendering to the enabling power of the Spirit), we are giving up our right to any feeling of animosity we may have had against them and we re-establish a heart attitude of friendliness and affection (as far as that is possible on our part). We do not hold the wrong done to us against the person anymore. Why are we charged to forgive? We forgive others because we have been forgiven far greater offenses by God. Read- Eph 4:32 (note the phrase "just as God in Christ has forgiven you"- See note) and Col 3:13 (note the phrase "just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you."- See note) So yes we are to forgive others but we are not ever told to forgive ourselves. When someone says “I just can’t forgive myself”, the problem is often that they do not have a true understanding of the completeness of God's forgiveness of their sin. What they are saying in essence is they cannot forgive themselves because they really doubt that God has truly forgiven them! If you struggle with guilt over a past sin and wonder if God still holds you guilty or condemns you, then ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten your heart and enable you to meditate on Ro 8:1-2-note. Then take some time to meditate on the pictures of the completeness of divine forgiveness in the following passages... Ps 103:12-note As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. Comment: Ask yourself "How far is east from west?" Had the verse stated "as far as north is from the south" we would have been able to "measure" God's forgiveness by some "finite measurement." However, there is no east or west pole, so God is clearly teaching us that His forgiveness has no limits. It is "perfect" and complete forgiveness, whether we believe it or whether we feel like it. In both cases, it is absolutely, eternally true! Isa 43:25-((Spurgeon's sermon - A Sense of Pardoned Guilt)) “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins. Isa 38:17-(Spurgeon's sermon - God's Non-Remembrance of Sin) “Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; It is Thou who hast kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, For Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back. Mic 7:18-19 (Spurgeon's sermon - Sin Subdued) Who is a God like Thee, who pardons iniquity And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in unchanging love. 19 He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, Thou wilt cast all their sins Into the depths of the sea. Nouthetic counselor Jay Adams says that the... concepts (self esteem and self forgiveness), as Packer has seen, stand or fall together; they are of a piece. The problem supposedly is that men look down on themselves. But Jesus told us to love our neighbors as ourselves, implying that we already do pretty well in that regard and need instead to start working on loving our neighbor with some of the same devotion and concern that we already show ourselves (Lev 19:18, Mt 19:19, 22:39, Mk 12:31, Lk 10:27, Ro 13:9, Gal 5:14, James 2:8). There is never, in all of the Word of God, a statement to the effect that men have a low self-image, that they must learn to love themselves, or that they must learn to forgive themselves. On the contrary, it is assumed that we do this without the slightest difficulty. So the Bible aims all its commands at turning our concern from self to God and others. It is not simply a matter of the Bible not using the jargon of the self-image teachers, as Packer thinks, but rather, a matter of the entire Bible knowing nothing of self-love, self-forgiveness concepts, and a doctrine of man that depicts him thinking so lowly of himself. It is not enough to assert that the Scriptures teach that man has a low self-image problem and, therefore, command him to think more highly of himself and learn to forgive himself. If we are told that not to do so is sin, biblical warrant for that fact must be clearly demonstrated. Otherwise, we have theologians, psychologists, and other writers placing new burdens on men’s backs that they need not bear. “But what is the problem then? Surely there are people who will tell you that they are having a hard time forgiving themselves. Haven’t you ever had counselees who have said as much?” Certainly, but their speech was filled with the lingo of the psychologists and others who propagate such things. I tell them, “You will never solve your problem by misunderstanding it as a problem of self-forgiveness.” “What do you tell them to do, then?” Well, something like this. Suppose someone, through carelessness, runs over a child in his automobile and comes in saying, “Ill never be able to forgive myself for what I did.” Or suppose a woman confesses the abortions she has had were murder and says much the same. I make it clear to them that the problem is not self-forgiveness. Their expressed agony stems from the very fact that, in the worst way, they want to forgive themselves. They want to put it behind them, they want to bury it once and for all. They want the burden of guilt lifted from their shoulders. If they had such low self-esteem as some think, they would instead be saying such things as, “Well, you’d expect someone like the to do that, wouldn’t you?” Or, “I guess this is just true to form for a lout like me.” But they don’t. They say, “I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive myself for what I’ve done,” indicating they are certainly anxious to do so. Lack of ability to forgive self is not the problem. The problem is that people who talk this way recognize something more needs to be done. Forgiveness is just the beginning; it clears away the guilt. They also recognize that they are still the same persons who did the wrong—that though they are forgiven, they have not changed. Without being able to articulate it, and using instead the jargon they have heard all around them, they are crying out for the change that will assure them they will never do anything like it again. When, as a counselor, I help them to deal with the problems in their lives that led to the wrong, in such a way that they have adopted a more biblical lifestyle, I then ask, “Are you still having trouble forgiving yourself?” Invariably, they say no. (Jay Adam's - From Forgiven to Forgiving Learning to Forgive One Another God's Way - 1994) D L Moody spoke of self forgiveness I want to ask you this question: If sin needs forgiveness--and all sin is against God--how can you work out your own forgiveness? If I stole $100 from a friend, I could not forgive myself, could I? No act of mine would bring about forgiveness, unless my friend forgave me. And so, if I want forgiveness of sin, it must be the work of God. 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