The World's Law is Revenge, but God's Law is Forgiveness. The Spirit can do what The Body cannot.

The Blood (crucifixion/death/cross) of Jesus is symbolic of The Covenant (Agreement/Promise) of Forgiveness.

Matthew 26:28
For this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.

One of The Last things Jesus said when on The Cross was...

Luke 23:34
"Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing."

In Matthew, Luke, and Mark Jesus says that in order to actually receive The Forgiveness, you have to Forgive others...

Matthew 6:14-15
"For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. "But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.

Luke 6:37
Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned.

Mark 11:25-26
Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. "But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions."

When Jesus taught people who to pray, he gave them The Lord's Prayer which includes these lines:

Matthew 6:12
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us

Earlier, when giving the Beatitudes he also said this:

Matthew 5:7
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.

According to Matthew, after telling people to bless those who curse them and to love their enemies, Jesus said

Matthew 5:48
Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

but according to Luke, Jesus said:

Luke 6:36
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Isn't it interesting that where Matthew says Jesus said to be "perfect" , Luke says Jesus said to be "Merciful"? Something to think about.

How many times are we supposed to forgive? Here are some answers:

Matthew 18:21-22
Then Peter came and said to Him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" 22Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Luke 17:3-4
Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. "And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' forgive him."

Here are two parables on Forgiveness he gave:

Matthew 18:23-25 (The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant)
Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

“At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’

“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Luke 7:40-43
Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Tell me, teacher,” he said.

“Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

The world will tell you that your revenge is justified. When someone does harm to you, they deserve harm done back to them.When someone curses you, they deserve to be cursed. When someone insults you or demands of you a favor, they deserved to be insulted and demanded from as well.

It is because of The Spirit that Charity exists and it is because of The Spirit that Forgiveness and Mercy exists. These thing do not come from the body which thinks in a logical pattern of "cause and effect", "stimulus and response" but from the Mercy of The Spirit which Gives and Forgives.

Beautiful thread OP. Yes, I would just like to add this to think about. While forgiving someone that has wronged us is something that we often struggle with but eventually are able to do, forgiving yourself for something is much more difficult.

For years I struggled with this until one day this thought hit me. If we are to forgive everyone doesn't that include ourselves? If Jesus is willing to forgive us and we cannot forgive ourselves does that not make us project ourselves Superior to Christ? I mean the Highest authority in heaven and earth is willing to forgive us, so what makes someone, but we cannot forgive our own sins. Hmmmm......I must think myself Superior to Christ!

When I realized this I was so humbled at what my inaction of forgiveness meant that I decided I needed to adjust my behavior toward my own guilt. Just like that i said the words, and i will admit I did not feel them at first but very soon the HOly Spirit moved my heart and I did feel forgiveness for everything I had done that effected someone negatively. It was a very freeing moment.

It also showed me how much I need a Savior and was so glad I had one.....

Just something that I think plagues most of us.

a reply to: arpgme

The Blood (crucifixion/death/cross) of Jesus is symbolic of The Covenant (Agreement/Promise) of Forgiveness.
Matthew 26:28
For this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.

The word "for" at the beginning of the verse indicates that this is a second clause in a larger sentence, where the first clause tells the conclusion.
So it is backwards from how we would say it today in English.
We would say, "Because this is the confirmation of the covenant, drink this wine."
He was using the word "blood" in a figurative sense, as an allusion to the sprinkling of blood on the 12 standing stones at the base of Mount Sinai representing the 12 houses of Israel.

The Greek word aphesis here translated as "forgiveness" literally means to send away, so it could be talking about a way to eliminate sinfulness from people's lives, rather than a way to just ignore sins and pretend that they are not being committed.