In the night, I felt God bringing some fresh revelation to my heart about our need to forgive others no matter what they might have thought, said or done that brought us pain and suffering. It concerned the need for repentance.

Jesus said: "If [your brother] sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, "I repent", forgive him" (Lk. 17:4). This has led many to believe that we should only forgive the person who repents. But as Leon Morris says: "Forgiveness must be habitual. A sevenfold repetition of an offence in one day must cast doubt on the genuineness of the sinner's repentance. But that is not the believer's business. Our business is to forgive."

"Therefore, [since you have taken off your old self and put on the new self], as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity" (Col. 3:12-14).

These words set the issue of our unconditional forgiveness of others in its proper context. It is part of our being transformed into the image of Christ. "Forgive as the Lord forgave you" that is, without recalling it to mind and regardless of whether the offence keeps being repeated or not. When we put our trust in Jesus and receive him as Lord of our lives, he forgives us of all sin – past, present and future. True, heartfelt repentance needs to take place, but it may precede conversion or follow on from it, as was my own case. Jesus saved me when I was eight and I have no recollection of repenting at the time or even knowing anything about it.

My fresh revelation is that only God can demand repentance as a condition of forgiveness – we never can; and we become more like him the quicker we forgive and refuse to take offence. His forgiveness should create in us "the fear of the Lord" and quicken our forgiving of others. "If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, therefore you are feared" (Ps. 130:3-4).

Maybe it is better to think of repentance as evidence of the Spirit's work rather than a condition of salvation. For example, there is no mention of it in Rom. 10:9-10: "If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved", or in John 3:14-15: "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,  that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him."