“This is the motive which should constrain us to forgive others. God’s forgiveness towards us is free; it precedes even our repentance and is the cause of it. It is exercised notwithstanding the number, the enormity and the long continuance of our transgressions. He forgives us far more than we can ever be called upon to forgive others. God forgives us in Christ. Out of Christ he is, in virtue of his holiness and justice, a consuming fire; but in him, he is long–suffering, abundant in mercy, and ready to forgive.” — Charles Hodge on Eph. 4:32 in A Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians (1856), pp. 276-277