— Edited

In "The Meaning of Marriage", Timothy Keller writes based on Mark 11:25 that "The Bible says we are supposed to forgive people and then go and confront them". How does this reconcile with Luke 17:3-4 where we read "Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, 4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” The Greek word translated "forgive" is the same in both passages.

  1. Andrew, were you ever able to reconcile these passages?

  2. The commentaries I referenced regarding Mark 11:25 did not provide any specifically helpful insights to this question. When I turned to commentaries on Luke 17:3-4, I was amazed that very few note the conditional "if" in Luke. One commentary that did states "When this condition is fulfilled, forgiveness is to be granted" (Marshall, I. H. (1978). The Gospel of Luke: a commentary on the Greek text (p. 643). Paternoster Press.). Still open to a good solution to this question :)