You asked

what does it mean for us to hold people accountable for harm while also extending grace for restoration?

The passage, plainly, with room to sit with it.

Matthew 18:21-22

“Then Peter came and said to him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I don't tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven."”

This passage is part of Jesus' teaching on community life and forgiveness, recorded in Matthew's Gospel, likely written in the late first century CE for a Jewish-Christian audience. Peter asks for a limit to forgiveness, and Jesus responds with an expansive, almost boundless, expectation.

What would it look like to pursue both accountability and boundless forgiveness in a specific relationship or community where harm has occurred?

Keep thinking

Read alongside it

Luke 17:3-4
Jesus gives similar teaching on the need for repeated forgiveness when someone repents.
Philemon 1:15-18
Paul asks Philemon to forgive and restore Onesimus, who had wronged him, while offering to cover any debt.
2 Corinthians 2:5-8
Paul instructs the Corinthian church to forgive and reaffirm a repentant offender to prevent him from being overwhelmed.

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