What's in a Word?

What really is forgiveness? For many years, I didn't have a clue.  There are days that I am sure I still don't totally understand it. So I decided to look up the etymology of the word.  You may be wondering what in the world "etymology".  Basically, it is the origin of the word.  Knowing the background of a word can sometimes help in understanding its meaning.  Here is what I came up with...

Aphesis  This word is used in the Bible and comes from the Greek. It means "to let go". In forgiving, we let go.

Nasa This is one of the Hebrew words for "forgiveness". It means "the taking away".  So forgiveness is a taking away of our sins.

Forgiefan This is the old English word.  It means "to give up, provide".  Do we give something up when we forgive? The right to hurt back? Do we give up bitterness?

Tomorrow, I will talk about is NOT forgiveness.