Did not Jesus pray for the soldiers who were dividing His garments, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34)? Does this not indicate that God forgives people without them asking for it?
It does, but only to a certain degree. It indicates that God shows mercy to the ignorant, a measure of forgiveness. Because God is perfectly just, He holds people accountable only when they know they are sinning.
Jesus’ prayer for the soldiers didn’t guarantee their place in heaven—it only insured that they would not be held accountable for dividing the garments of God’s Son, and only because of their ignorance of who He was. They considered Him to be just one more criminal to execute. So God extended mercy for a deed that would have deserved certain judgment had they known what they were actually doing.
But did Jesus pray that God would forgive everyone else who was responsible in some way for His sufferings? No, He did not. Regarding Judas, for example, Jesus said it would have been better if he had never been born (see Matt. 26:24). Jesus certainly didn’t pray that His Father would forgive Judas. Quite the opposite—if we consider Psalms 69 and 109 to be prophetic prayers of Jesus, as Peter apparently did (see Acts 1:15-20). Jesus prayed that judgment would fall on Judas, a man who was not an ignorant transgressor.
As those who are striving to imitate Christ, we should show mercy to those who are ignorant of what they’ve done to us, such as in the case of unbelievers like the ignorant soldiers who divided Jesus’ garments. Jesus expects us to show unbelievers extraordinary mercy, loving our enemies, doing good to those who hate us, blessing those who curse us and praying for those who mistreat us (see Luke 6:27-28). We should attempt to melt their hatred with our love, overcoming evil with good. This concept was prescribed even under the Mosaic Law:
If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey wandering away, you shall surely return it to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying helpless under its load, you shall refrain from leaving it to him, you shall surely release it with him (Ex. 23:4-5)
If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you (Prov. 25:21-22).
It is interesting that, although Jesus commanded us to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, bless those who curse us, and pray for those who mistreat us (see Luke 6:27-28), He never told us to forgive any of them. We can actually love people without forgiving them—just as God loves people without forgiving them. Not only can we love them, but we should love them, as we are commanded by God to do so. And our love for them should be manifested by our actions.
Just because Jesus prayed for His Father to forgive the soldiers who were dividing His garments does not prove that God expects us to ignore everything else we have studied from Scripture on this subject and forgive everyone who sins against us. It only teaches us that we should automatically forgive those who are ignorant of their sin against us and show extraordinary mercy towards unbelievers.
