Indemnity

Indemnity – a key concept for restoration to take place

In the Unification Principles, the concept of indemnity is a key idea related to restoration, or the process of returning humanity to its original, sinless state.

Indemnity refers to a spiritual principle by which humans must make certain conditions or efforts to reverse the effects of sin and restore themselves and the world to God’s ideal. It’s not a simple punishment or payment, but rather a necessary effort to correct what was lost or broken due to the Fall of Adam and Eve and sinful history.

Key points about indemnity:

1. Restorative, not punitive
   Indemnity is not about revenge or punishment; it’s about restoring love, life, lineage, and position with God that were lost through sin.
2. Three types of indemnity conditions
   • Equal indemnity: Paying back exactly what was lost (often rare or difficult).
   • Less-than-equal indemnity: Paying less than what was lost, often due to God‘s grace.
   • Greater-than-equal indemnity: When mistakes are made during restoration, sometimes greater suffering is required to compensate.
3. Historical indemnity
   The concept applies not just to individuals, but to families, nations, and all of history. Biblical stories (like Abraham’s offering or Jacob’s struggle) are often interpreted as indemnity conditions.
4. Responsibility and free will
   Human beings must voluntarily set these conditions – through prayer, repentance, sacrificial acts, or fulfilling missions – to demonstrate responsibility and reverse the effects of evil.
5. Purpose of indemnity
   • To restore proper relationships (with God, others, and the creation)
   • To allow for the coming of the True Parents, who complete the process of restoration

Example: Jacob as an indemnity figure

In the Unification Principles, Jacob’s victory over Esau is seen as an indemnity condition to restore the failure of Cain and Abel. Jacob’s cleverness, patience, and eventual reconciliation are interpreted as fulfilling a historical condition to restore God’s lineage.

About the original Korean expression

It’s worth noting that “indemnity” in the Unification Principles is the English translation from the Korean word 탕감 (蕩減 – tang-gam). The concept is used with a special meaning in the teachings of Father Moon and Mother Han.

In the New World Concise Korean-English Dictionary, tang gam is translated as “write-off” or “cancellation”. In the Unification Principles, howver, tang gam has been translated into English as “indemnity”. The official German translation of tang-gam is Wiedergutmachung (amends, reparation, restitution, compensation). “Reparation” is often used in legal, historical, or political contexts – e.g., post-war reparations. “Restitution” implies restoring something to its original owner or state. “Compensation” can be financial or material reimbursement. “Making amends” emphasizes the moral or ethical side, often used in personal or relational contexts.

“Indemnity” means “reparation”, “compensation”, or “reimbursement”. Both indemnity and compensation emphasize that it is the person who caused the damage, or who has an outstanding debt, who must pay.

However, the true meaning of tang gam is that it is the person who has been harmed, or to whom money is owed, who shows goodwill, grace, or forgiveness. He knows that the person who must pay compensation or repay a debt is not capable of doing so. Even if he or she sells all their belongings and scrapes together everything they own, it is still far from enough.

Therefore, we must ask for forgiveness and mercy, and for the remaining debt to be cancelled. In order to ask for this, we must of course contribute everything we are able to as payment of the debt or as restitution for the damage. In such a situation, our inner attitude is extremely important. We must be humble and sincere. Otherwise, there is little chance that our debt will be forgiven.

Humanity is precisely in such a situation. It is impossible for us to pay our debt to God, especially when we consider how God’s heart has been broken because He/She lost all his/her children. In addition, God has had to live completely separated from his/her sons and daughters for thousands of years. For God, the history of humankind has been a history full of suffering. This is the reason the expression tang gam has been chosen to describe the conditions humans must fulfill in order for restoration to take place. It is humanity’s responsibility to establish such conditions. If everything were up to God alone, of course the world would already have been restored.

Text: Knut Holdhus

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