A forgiving community is made up of forgiven people who have not forgotten that fact. In pharisaical and legalistic communities people have forgotten that it is only by the grace of God they are what they are. Or they find it possible to pretend they are better than they really are by conforming outwardly to biblical standards. Unless they are jogged from time to time by powerful and precise preaching, such communities gradually acquire the notion that they did not need forgiving all that much when they were saved – just minimally! But congregations at their best are composed of grateful people who do remember the pit from which they were rescued (Isaiah 51:1). They act neither shocked by sin in others nor superior to those in whom sin is found.

When examined closely you will find the two approaches significantly different. The world is not a forgiving community; it is a condoning one. The word "acceptance" much more closely describes the world’s attitude than "forgiveness." There is a large difference between the two attitudes.

Though many Christians have confused the matter by using acceptance inaccurately, as virtually synonymous with forgiveness, the two words are actually opposites. Acceptance is a nonjudgmental reception of a person as he is; it amounts to condoning sin. Forgiveness, on the contrary, judges each one, calling sin "sin", refusing to condone sin or ignore it but gladly forgiving it on repentance. There is all the difference there could