The dangerous duty not to forgive

It is our dangerous duty not to forgive deliberately unrepentant non-Christains.

Righteous anger is godly and should be maintained. God himself does not forgive unrepentant sinners, is angry with them for their sin and will be vengeful against them. We too are not to forgive the unrepentant (though we must love them as God does, seek to bring them to repentance and be ready to forgive them if they repent). We should have a righteous anger against all sin and against unrepentant sinners, anger against the repentant being spent at Calvary.

Of course we are not to take revenge but to leave room for God’s justice through the civil authorities etc. or in hell. On the great final day we will rejoice at the just vengeance of God, sharing something of his holy wrath against sinners.

Admittedly it is hard to disentangle righteous and unrighteous anger in sinners, but it is our duty to seek godly anger. To tell people that there is no sense in which they should or may rightly continue to be angry with unrepentant sinners who have committed the most dreadful crimes against them is to further afflict the hurting and to urge them to greater so-called “love” than the wrathful God who is love.