Thoughts on the Text
In 2 Corinthians, the word for God’s prodigal mercy is reconciliation. Reconciliation starts from God, reaches through Christ to all who are in Christ “without counting their trespasses against them,” and so through us to all the world and back to God again. While Paul uses his “ambassadorship” (verse 20) to plead with the community in Corinth to be reconciled with God, his larger argument identifies reconciliation as a core ministry of mercy for all followers of Jesus.
“Without counting their trespasses against them” is at the heart of reconciliation. Two points should be made here. First, this does not mean that trespasses were overlooked, nor that God (nor we!) have acted nor should act as if they never happened. They have, and they have caused the brokenness of the relationships in which we now find ourselves with God, neighbor, enemy and earth. Reconciliation always involves coming clean about the harm that has been done and what led to that harm with the expectation that such harms and their causes will not be repeated. Those seeking reconciliation thus do not forgive and forget, but rather forgive and remember lest any of them continue in practices that led to conflict and harm to begin with.
The second point, then, is what we do when we remember rather than “cover up” or “cover over” our trespasses against one another. Following the lead of God in Christ, we no longer hold those trespasses against one another. That is, we no longer point an accusing finger because of what has happened in the past. Any debts (or potential bases for revenge!) from past trespasses are forfeit. Having cleaned up or made restitution for harms done as part of the process of coming to just peace, all parties move forward now with a clean slate, or better, a slate filled with just and merciful intentions and practices toward one another.