The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses

The book’s final two chapters are shorter, simpler, and less densely argued than the previous seven. The brevity and simple style of “On Forgiveness” reflect its origin as a piece for a parish magazine, in contrast to the academic origin of the other essays. Lewis argues that a person practicing forgiveness in the true sense takes sin seriously—recognizing it for what it is—and erases it, reconciling with the sinner and starting over with a clean slate. Recognizing the reality of sin is necessary for forgiveness to be what it claims to be. Lewis thus sharply distinguishes forgiving a sin from finding excuses for it.

However, Lewis does give excuses their due, acknowledging that there are gray areas where sin and extenuating circumstances are mixed together. In such cases, Christian humility demands that people be more lenient with others than with themselves. Thus, Lewis suggests that Christians should diligently consider excuses when someone wrongs them. Conversely, they should be hard on themselves, assuming that most excuses they try to make in their favor are not valid. For Lewis, this is the most reliable procedure because it offsets the selfish tendency to be hard on others and easy on ourselves (notably, Lewis exposes several of his own weaknesses to illustrate the problems of forgiveness, thus practicing this kind of humble self-scrutiny). Lewis submits all of this to God’s all-seeing knowledge, which implies that he may in turn let people off the hook because of extenuating circumstances of which they are unaware.

Reflecting teachings of Jesus, Lewis emphasizes that one of the hardest things about forgiveness is doing it repeatedly, and for the same offenses. This is answered by pointing out that Christians have as a model God himself, whose mercy is inexhaustible and who never ceases to forgive human sins. The system of forgiveness in Christianity is a reciprocal action: God initiates forgiveness to human beings, and human beings are to reflect it to each other.

“On Forgiveness” shows Lewis well established as a Christian apologist. Writing for a popular readership, Lewis addresses a topic of relevance for everyday Christian living. As a key element of Christian moral life, forgiveness relates to the other essays in the book that discuss Christian happiness, ethics, and social life, developing the theme of The Challenges of Living Faith in Community.