During Dylann Roof’s first court appearance after the June 17 murder of nine worshippers at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, several families of the victims offered forgiveness to the man, who did not deserve it.

Why were they so quick to forgive? The families were simply exercising a fundamental Christian virtue. In so doing, they possibly changed the South forever in the process as Confederate flags and symbols are removed from state buildings across the South.

When we suffer injustice, the human heart craves revenge, vindication and retaliation. These are also desires Christ came to save us from. Christians are commanded to respond to injustice with forgiveness. This principle is central to Jesus’ teaching in the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (Matt 6:12). Immediately after this prayer, Jesus tells his disciples, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14–15)

Later in the Gospel of Matthew, Peter asks Jesus, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answers, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” (Matthew 18:21–22) In other words, you cannot forgive someone enough.

The swift forgiveness offered by the victims’ families, as hard as that must have been, is what Christianity is all about. Forgiveness is an extension of love. Christians extend forgiving love to those who have wronged them — including their enemies — because this is God’s disposition toward them. God is love, and he calls his people to love. God forgives first and expects his people to do the same.

The grace of forgiveness, in turn, empowers forgiven people to forgive others. The irony, of course, is that the very act of Emanuel AME members welcoming a white man into their Bible study showed their deep orientation toward love, given that the AME denomination was birthed from white Christians committing unloving and unwelcoming acts against African-Americans in majority-white congregations.