“Forgiveness flounders because I exclude my enemy from
the community of humans even as I exclude myself from the community of sinners.
But no one can be in the presence of the God of the crucified Messiah for long
without overcoming this double exclusion – without transposing the enemy from
the sphere of monstrous inhumanity into the sphere of shared humanity and
herself from the sphere of proud innocence into the sphere of common
sinfulness. When one knows that the torturer will not eternally triumph over the
victim, one is free to rediscover that person’s humanity and imitate God’s love
for him. And when one knows that God’s love is greater than all sin, one is
free to see oneself in the light of God’s justice and so rediscover one’s own
sinfulness.” ~
~ Miroslav Volf, Exclusion and Embrace, p.124