Cultivating a Spirit of Forgiveness: Exploring the Personal Competence of Christian Religious Education Teachers through Genesis 50:17 at SD Negeri 175751 Purbatua

Abstract

This study investigates how Christian Religious Education (CRE) teachers cultivate a spirit of forgiveness among primary school students by embodying personal competence grounded in the theological insights of Genesis 50:17. Conducted at SD Negeri 175751 Purbatua, the research employs a qualitative design combining a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) with semi-structured interviews involving three CRE teachers and six students. The SLR synthesizes contemporary scholarship on teacher personal competence, spirituality, and character formation, while the interviews provide contextualized insights into how teachers integrate emotional maturity, ethical consistency, relational sensitivity, and theological reflection into daily classroom interactions. Genesis 50:17-highlighting Joseph’s act of forgiving his brothers-serves as a foundational exegetical lens, emphasizing forgiveness as a redemptive, God-enabled moral act rather than a mere emotional concession. The findings indicate that students learn forgiveness most effectively when teachers consistently model it through patient communication, transparent acknowledgment of mistakes, and proactive facilitation of reconciliation. Teacher behavior serves as the primary mechanism through which biblical forgiveness becomes pedagogically meaningful, confirming theories that moral development in children is shaped more by observed behavior than by verbal instruction alone. The study also highlights the role of teacher spirituality as an internal resource that sustains ethical practice in challenging relational contexts. Overall, the research concludes that integrating theological grounding, personal competence, and relational modeling forms a powerful triad for fostering a culture of forgiveness in Christian primary education.