Forgive as Christ Forgave You

Pray then like this...."forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors"....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 6:9-15

This thought came out of the discussion from our church's College and Career group on Saturday night.

On the face of it, it almost seems as if Jesus is teaching work-salvation: if you don't forgive, you won't be forgiven. As that is inconsistent with the rest of scripture, we must look to a different interpretation. I think what Jesus is really getting at is this: how you forgive others shows what you believe about how God has forgiven you. The point is not that God forgiveness is contingent on our forgiving others, but that those who have truly been forgiven cannot help for forgive others. As Colossians 3:13 says, we forgive others, just as Christ forgave us. First, God forgives us; after that, we forgive others to the same degree.

I wrote last night about the meaning of the phrase "love your neighbour as yourself" - we are to love others in the same manner that we love ourselves. Notice the parallel construction in the verses above: "Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors." We are to pray to God that He would forgive us in the same manner that we have forgiven others.

How radical is that? How frightening is that? To ask God to forgive our sins in the exact same way that we forgive other people. That's how forgiving we should be. But I think the formula is really meant to work in reverse - when we realize that this is how we should pray, we will realize that the degree to which we forgive others should be the same degree to which we ourselves have been forgiven.

This brings up the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:21-34. Peter asks how often he should forgive his brother if he keeps repeating the same sin. Jesus says, there is no limit. Then he gives the parable; one servant after being forgiven a debt worth 10,000 talents. The footnotes in the ESV Bible say that a "talent" is worth 20 years' wages for a labourer. You do the math - this is a huge debt, one the servant could never hope to repay. After being forgiven this massive debt, the servant goes out and beats up a servant of his own over a matter of a hundred denarii (a hundred day's wages). A big debt, but nothing compared to what he had just been forgiven. This is what it is like when a believer does not forgive. It's a heinous crime. When we truly understand how big a debt we have been forgiven, we cannot help to forgive.

So, when Jesus says "if you do not forgive others, the Father will not forgive you," I think the point is not that if we don't forgive others then God will withdraw his forgiveness from us; nor is it that we must forgive to secure God's forgiveness. If either of those were true, who could be saved? The point is that this is how a believer acts and prays. A person who has been forgiven will forgive others; a person who does not forgive shows that they were never forgiven by God in the first place. Because, in a sense, it's just a math problem - if God has so freely forgiven the 10,000 talent debt that my sin incurred against Him, it only makes sense that I would forgive even a hundred denarii debt against me. A hundred denarii may be a big debt; but compared to 10,000 talents, it is nothing. It is simply a matter of perspective. Someone who understands their own sinfulness has the right perspective.

Believers forgive. It's just what they do. They have no problem praying, "Lord, forgive me just like I forgive others", because they forgive others to the same degree that they have already been forgiven.

As the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. (Col. 3:13)