One of the more difficult lines in the Lord’s Prayer concerns forgiving debt. Does this refer to literal debt? Or did Jesus refer to forgiving people who have wronged us? For the small-time farmers and day laborers who listened to Jesus in Galilee, debt forgiveness was a serious issue. Just like today, farmers often need to take loans to plant a crop; fishermen may need to take a loan in order to finance new equipment. Even though the Law forbids charging interest on loans, this applied only to the Jews. If a Galilean worker owed money at interest, he may have been in debt to a Gentile landowner. A prayer for debt relief would have been very attractive indeed!
For other posts in this series on the Lord’s Prayer:
- Praying Like The Pagans – Matthew 6:5-8
- Our Father in Heaven – Matthew 6:9
- Thy Kingdom Come – Matthew 6:10
- Give Us Today Our Daily Bread – Matthew 6:11
- Forgive us Our Debts – Matthew 6:12
- Lead us Not into Temptation – Matthew 6:13
However, some interpreters associate this debt with the debt of sin. Jesus’s followers are a movement characterized by forgiveness. Many experienced radical forgiveness from Jesus. Those who followed Jesus were reformed tax collectors, prostitutes, outsiders, etc. (Luke 7:36-50). People who had experienced healing also represented a form of forgiveness since there was an association of sin with major disease for some in the Second Temple period (Mark 2:1-12).
Is Jesus saying, “Confess your sins to God, and you will be forgiven”? Does this imply that if you are not confessing your sins, they will not be forgiven? First, Jesus is not talking about “how to get saved” here, so the confession of sin in Matthew 6:12 is a requirement for salvation. The original audience was the inner-circle disciples of Jesus, the very people he had chosen as his closest followers. The person praying a prayer of confession already has a relationship with God.
Second, if the person praying is already right with God, why must they confess their offenses? Confession of sin allows a person to recognize that they are falling short of God’s glory and still need God’s forgiveness.
Third, nothing in the Bible suggests the follower of Christ must confess every sin along with all of the gory details. The point is acknowledgement of God’s grace and mercy for our daily offenses.
Fourth, the person praying a prayer of confession is “in their closet.” This is not a public confession before the whole congregation. I recall a prayer meeting I was leading many years ago when a person began to confess some rather specific sins publicly during a prayer. In that case, the person was more gossipy about what they had done, looking for some sort of public affirmation they were “not all that bad.” The true disciples of Jesus should not draw attention to themselves even in their confession of sin!
I suggest that the true disciple of Jesus has a healthy understanding of sin and how it affects their relationship with God. This is not some self-flagellation, nor should confession of sin lead to extremely low self-esteem (“such a worm as I”). A healthy confession of sin reflects an honest and open relationship with God.
The second part of the line is important, too: we are to forgive others. Jesus will return to the theme of forgiveness in the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant (Matthew 18:21-44). The parable focuses on forgiving those who have wronged us even if they cannot “pay their debt.” Forgiveness of others is based on the common Old Testament theme that God is the avenger. In Matthew 5:43-48, Jesus reversed the popular view that one can hate one’s enemy and seek revenge when wronged. Rather than seeking revenge, Jesus says, pray for your enemy and allow God to avenge you.
Forgiveness was an important part of the Judaism of the first century. The Jewish people knew that they had to be forgiven by God and that they, too, needed to forgive their neighbors of their offenses against them. Sirach 28:1-7 is remarkably similar to Jesus’s call to forgive others.
Sirach 28:1–2 (NRSV) The vengeful will face the Lord’s vengeance, for he keeps a strict account of their sins. 2 Forgive your neighbor the wrong he has done, and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray.
If Jesus’ followers are forgiven, they, too, must be forgiving people. But this is much harder to do than say. Contemporary (western) culture tends to glorify revenge, but so did the Romans. The Bible, however, consistently describes God as the avenger of the weak. Forgiving people who have wronged you is difficult because we have to let go of a lot of pain, hurt, and anger (most of which we really enjoy!)
Most people are aware of some great act of forgiveness. Perhaps a person deeply hurt forgives the criminal who wronged them. Sometimes, it is easier for a Christian to forgive someone of a crime than to live out the ideal model of forgiveness described in the Sermon on the Mount by daily forgiving the little offenses against us.
The forgiveness Jesus describes in the Lord’s Prayer frees us from the chains of our debt. Most people know what it is like to be freed from a debt of money (paying off a loan, for example). If you owe a friend money, that debt can seriously damage your relationship. By forgiving debts of offense against us and accepting forgiveness when it is offered, we can be free from the weight of the debt. The true disciples of Jesus live out the forgiveness they have received in their relationships with their brothers and sisters in Christ.
Reblogged this on James' Ramblings.
Personally, when I think of debt, I think of money. I think this is the norm when the word debt is brought up, but it also could be because of my background and interest in business. As your post mentions above, this is not at all what Jesus is talking about when he talks about debt. He is talking about sin (Long, 2018). There was something extremely interesting that McKnight said in the reading. He said that Judaism looks at debt as a language, but it is not a work-based religion (McKnight, 2013). The work-based religion is not the aspect that caught me off guard, but how they look at it as a language. So, they do believe heavily in giving and rejoicing in this.
This section was strictly about forgiveness and McKnight gives the order that is implied by Jesus:
1. God has graciously forgiven us.
2. Therefore, we are to forgive others and to extend God’s grace.
3. If we don’t forgive others, we show we are not forgiven.
4. Forgiven people forgive others.
5. But our forgiveness does not earn God’s forgiveness.
These 5 points that McKnight mentioned were extremely accurate. Number 5 is the one that hit me though. We can forgive someone, but we have still sinned, so we have to ask for forgiveness from God. I think that this is one of the most important things that Christians need to realize. Not only do we need to forgive, but we need to live our lives in a way that is pleasing to God.
I love this post, Chris. Ultimately we live to please God, that’s why we were created. Sin corrupted that, but grace replaced it so that we could live in eternity with Jesus Christ because of what He did for us. Like you said, forgiveness wasn’t earned, it was given. God graciously forgave us because of His unfailing love for us and gave us the opportunity of a lifetime to live for Him.
Great post Chris! I have the same mindset when it comes to debt, it always brings me to finances. However, he also talks about our sin. One of the ideas that struck me the most about McKnight’s statement on forgiveness is that “if we don’t forgive others, we show were are not forgiven” (McKnight, 2013). As Christians we ought to show others the grace that has been shown to us. By denying this grace to others, we are clearly giving the wrong message to non-believers, and even to other believers. We ought to forgive others, not only as a duty, but as an act of thankfulness for God’s mercy towards us. After all, God was the one forgiving what we did not deserve to be forgiven.
We have more than enough debt to go around and unfortunately, we owe it all to God. Thankfully though, Jesus Christ came to take away our debt and pay it for us. Our sins, short comings and failures have dug us a deep hole and there is nothing we could do to fix it. But Jesus forgave us because of His grace and gave us new life because of His desire to be with us and promised us a place in Heaven because of His unchanging love for us. We didn’t deserve it but we were given it anyways, we didn’t earn it because we were sinful but instead God extended us grace to set us free from sin and gave us the opportunity to start a brand new life living in His love. Ultimately we live to please God, that’s why we were created, sin corrupted that but grace came like a wave and covered our sins for eternity so that we could start over and live the life we were meant to live which is found only in Jesus Christ because of what He did for us.
As I mention my assignment #3 paper, , if you take the time out really invest yourself in the things that the master (God) is giving you than you’ll have the opportunity to get yourself out of debt. (Tankard, 2018) The word debt is used to remind us that our sinful nature and behavior is holding us back from having the things we will like to have. Like a man that owes the IRS over a million dollars and it hinders him from the financial freedom he may desires to maybe invest, shop for things, etc. because to take care of his debt. Now once he pay off the IRS, then it allows him to have a little bit more freedom to do what he wants with his money. Now this can go good for him or bad because if he take advantage of the chance that are given, then he will stay out of debt and help to others do the same. The same way McKnight explains it in the Sermon on the Mount. God has graciously forgiven us. Therefore, we have to forgive others and to extend God’s grace. If we don’t forgive others, we show we are not forgiven. Forgiven people forgive others. You can find the best example of this in the Matthew 18:21-35, a servant had a great debt to pay and the king decided to forgive his debt. Later on the King found that the servant was being very brutal toward a man that owed him and the amount was much last than what he owed the King. Therefore, the King took it upon himself to punish that man because of the actions of not forgiving after he forgave.
I see where this issue can get confusing, the issue of confessing ones sins, is something that people don’t like to do, but the Catholics require this to be a regular part of their lives. I liked what you said about it not being necessary for salvation, but it is important to confess with your mouth the sins that you have committed. However, like you said in the blog, that does not mean that we have to write down every sin we think do and say so that we can confess it. It is more along the lines of realizing where you are weak and asking God to help you in that area. As for forgiveness of debt, I agree that it is more of a talk of sins than actual debt. My question is does this verse apply to actual debt or is it only talking about forgiving sins?
If the ‘debts’ referred to in this verse truly is addressing the issue of owing or holding a debt to sin, then the implications for the verse are very different. I particularly like the part about confessing the sin. As anyone who has ever watched a Italian mob movie knows, Catholics take the practice of confessions very seriously and the practice is steeped in traditions that are not supported Biblically. It is because of this that ever non-catholic distances themselves with the practice so much. However I believe that confession is a significantly overlooked part of prayer in the lives of modern American Christians. Now I am not saying to climb into a wooden box and confess to a guy you call ‘father’, dressed in a robe. I am saying to come before God and acknowledge the fact that you did sin and state you ‘repent’, as in you are making a conscious decision and proclamation that you have no intention of repeating the sin. This makes the prayer process so much more personal with God.
I really liked how this article really focused on the confession aspect of this. We are always told that it is oh so important to outwardly confess your sins. That is completely true. I am happy that you addressed the fact that we are not going to remember every little detail to ask God for forgiveness for. Rather, he knows our daily offenses. I have always had the conviction as since becoming a Christian that I need to keep track of every little sin I have ever committed and make a list so I can ask for forgiveness at the end of the day. When I first became a Christian I thought this was the only way I would be able to maintain a good and healthy relationship with God. But I was wrong. That weighed me down more than anything. I just started grasping the concept that God sees our daily mistakes and forgives us anyway rather than me needing to make a list and remind myself of how terrible I am. I also liked that you pointed out that while it is good to talk to others about your sin, it is good to do that alone too. McKnight addresses our prayer life in the book as well and reminds us how prayer is important and that we do get it wrong sometimes. God does forgive. Confession is important. those were the two main points I picked up from this article.
Forgiving us of our debts when I first saw this article I was thinking of money but it has a bigger focus on confession. Mcknight says “In the simplest terms this theory teaches that we fast in order to gain some benefit. The most commonly promised benefits of spiritual growth, suppression of sins, improved health, and a much better chance of answers to our prayers.” (Mcknight 2013). I think it is important that we confess our sins at the end of the day like you said in the article the focus of confessing our sin is to recognize that we have fallen short to the glory of God and are in need of God’s forgiveness. The importance for confessing is also to recognize how yourself has fallen short to the glory of God. The second piece of the article that I picked up I thought was important is being able to forgive others. This is not always something that is easy to do depending on the situation but it is important and best to forgive others no matter what the situation is. God forgives us for all of our sins.
When I think of debt, I also think of Money. I always think about the future and when I am done with school how much debt, I will be in or when I make a payment on my car. My mindset is always on not being in debt. I am reminded that God does not look at the money aspect of debt. I realize that when Jesus died on the cross he took care of my debt (sin). At times I forget that, that was a debt that was not taken lightly. God forgave us because his son died for us. Why is it that we forget to forgive others when our debt to God was the same. We look at sin as a bar graph and tend to forget that all sin is the same in God’s eyes. It does not matter the sin, sin is sin. Yet we as the flesh make it big deal that people have sinned against God, and we look at at the spec in our neighbors eye, we do not worry about the log in our own. ” We are to forgive others. If we don’t forgive others, God won’t forgive us”. ( Mcknight, 182) In order to forgive others, we must forgive ourselves and realize that God also forgave us. He did not have to do that but he did.
I agree with the first part of your blog. When I first think of debt, I think of money, I do not always associate it with sin. although this is what it is referring to in this passage, is a sin. when you sin you start creating these little pockets of bad things like anger, jealousy, and everything that comes along with sin, and that builds up your debt in Gods sight, and that is not a good place to be. In this part of the McNight chapter, and in the post it takes about how the verse says confess your sins to God and you will be forgiven that it is implying that you have to do something to get to heaven, but towards the end of both of the blog, and McNight it seems as though the conclusion is that it is not forgiving that gets you to heaven, it is more than because you are a Child of God you forgive. McNight puts it well when he says “we need to know how connected Gods forgiveness, and our forgiveness is — not so we will go about trying to earn our forgiveness by forgiving others but so we will see the utter importance of being people who forgive”. (183)
When the word debt comes up, my mind instantly goes to a money debt. That is what the world tends to be so focused on. There are classes and things that you can do to get rid of money debt that the world spends a lot of time on. But if we look at debt from a biblical viewpoint, the spectrum widens and debt becomes any sin that has been done. Jesus is able to give the people of that time a real life example and is able to help them understand the weight that sin can carry by simply comparing it to the weight of money debt. In order for these debts to be cleared, Jesus states that they must be forgiven (Matthew 6:12). He also states the importance of forgiving one another so that our heavenly father may forgive us (Matthew 6:14-15). McKnight says that “for most of us this seems backward because it seems to make God’s forgiveness conditioned on our forgiving others” (182). Jesus claims this in order to show the importance of forgiveness as well as the power that it brings forth.
When I first looked at this assignment before even opening up the article, Forgive us our debts really stuck out to me. When I think about debts I instantly think our sin especially in regards to anything that has to do with school and homework since we are a Christian school. It’s just so amazing to me how God works, today during my spiritual formation class we were having a discussion about forgiveness and how essentially we are supposed to forgive indefinitely. In class we also discussed doing to others as you would want done to you. Everything we did today in class really ties into this post and everything you said. I like your point about how even as Christians and being followers of God it’s still important for us to acknowledge our sins and confess them. McKnight says “We are to forgive others. If we don’t forgive others, God won’t forgive us.” (McKnight, 182) As followers of Christ it’s important for us to forgive because God forgives us. Just as Matthew 6:12 says as we ask God to forgive us for our debts as we forgive our debtors, no one is perfect and we all fall short of the glory of God but if we can own up to it and ad it those wrongs we will be forgiven.
A line that stuck out to me in the post said, “Sometimes it is easier for a Christian to forgive someone of a crime than to live out the ideal model of forgiveness” (Long, 2018). It seems like the small offenses in life are where we have our guard down to the division that the enemy tries to create within the body of Christ. Every once in a while on the news there will be a story of someone forgiving another person in an extremely dire situation where forgiveness seems inconceivable. In those cases it is so obvious that there has been a dramatic hurt that forgiveness is acknowledged as a gift that allows healing. But what about the petty things that we encounter? Often they stir up more anger and annoyance than hurt. Is this why we do not forgive in our daily life offenses as easily? Because we do not recognize them as offenses to be forgiven? When someone says something that offends us, when someone cuts us off, when someone overlooks us…these are all things equally as important to forgive as the “big offenses” yet they go unattended so often. An image that comes to my mind is that some offenses are like a dagger in the body. They are the type of injury that immediately causes pain and demands attention. The church is aware of these types of offenses and knows that forgiveness is needed to mend the wound or the body of Christ will suffer. But small offenses that go unattended to are like a cancer that slowly grows going unnoticed. They are equally as life threatening to the Church body. They may go unnoticed until it is too late- unless the church looks out for them and seeks to mend these small offenses with as much fervency as the dagger.
Matthew 6:14-15 says, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:14-15). I think that this shows that we need to take forgiveness more seriously than we do, and extend forgiveness even when the offenses we are faced with are small.
By us asking God to forgive us for our sins we are simply recognizing that we have done wrong. Gods grace on us is why we should be thankful. He knew we were going to sin which is why he payed for our sins on the cross. It was his grace that set us free and therefore, we need to repent and ask for His forgiveness when we have done wrong. In certain religions, it is normal for them to go into depth on the sins that they have committed, but God did not say that was necessary. God just wants us to repent and ask for forgiveness.
Debt is often looked upon as a big weight upon peoples shoulders and conscience. While mainly in a worldly aspect I may be talking about college debt or a service debt to a friend, none of these compare to the debt of sin. The sin of debt can only be forgiven by God. Yet, in order to receive salvation we must confess those sins. On page 182, McKnight says that we need to forgive others and that if we don’t, then God himself will not forgive us. I believe that this speaks numbers about the passage from the gospel saying to love thy neighbor as ones self. We must love enough to forgive but must not be foolish enough to forget. We as humans constantly make mistakes however we should also be content with forgiving and moving on. This part of life is like a double edged sword, we must do what we feel is right but we also must continue with our loving nature.
Dr Long,
I would like to add on to your statement that “if Jesus’ followers are forgiven, they too must be forgiving people” (Long, 2018). I think it is very common for Christians to expect forgiveness for their transgressions, but refuse or hesitate to forgive another’s. It is the flesh inside of us that want to seek revenge rather than forgive because revenge seems easier or more satisfying, but God tells us that revenge is not an easier road. Scripture tells us “do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD” (Lev. 19:18, ESV), while also saying that it is only God who will and can avenge. Adding on, in the textbook Four Portraits One Jesus, Mark Strauss writes “Jesus called people not only to acknowledge God’s kingdom but also to submit to it in their daily lives” (Strauss, 2007, p. 441). Meaning, that God not only wants us to acknowledge His kingdom, but to leave it out every day and to do that we must do what God commands of us and that is to forgive those who have wronged us and to love our neighbors as ourselves- there are no “ifs” or “buts” it is what God commanded and there is no questioning that.
It is not up to us to seek revenge, God does not call us to do that. It is not up to us to question whether or not someone is worthy of our forgiveness or whether or not someone’s wrong doing towards us is too “unforgivable” because every time we succumb to the temptation of sin and disobey God, we commit unforgivable sins in which God still shows us mercy by forgiving us. So, if God (who is all powerful, all knowing and created everything in existence) can forgive us for our transgressions, why can’t we do the same for our neighbors? Forgiveness -not revenge- will bring us peace.
I think it is completely normal for us today to think of money in regards to debts. It is really common in today’s world to have a debt. It could be anything from paying for school, paying off a house, or paying for a car. Having debt has become a completely normal part of our society today. The other debt that I think of is owing someone a favor. This actually is an interesting topic in my opinion because you should never want to collect on a favor. It is ok for us to just do something without receiving something in return. Look at God, He is forgiving us out of the kindness of His heart, not because we did anything to repay Him. Jesus actually did this for us, so we are doing even less than a normal favor. The points from this chapter of McKnight really stand out to me when talking about this topic. God forgave us so it is important for us to show this grace from God to our fellow man (McKnight).
I find Mathew 6: 12 interesting in our modern context of debt. We think of a debt as something we owe or something that is owed to us, typically money. Referring to forgiveness in a debt is interesting, implying that we owe a debt to God in because of our sins. This verse is a cry out for forgiveness in humility, understanding our constant sin, and that we are in a constant debt to God for it. The point about Christian’s attention seeking even in confessing and asking forgiveness, made by Dr. Long is also interesting. Even in an effort to humble ourselves and “do the right thing” or “change our ways” we can be so pompous, using the opportunity to make ourselves feel better by seeking the approval of those we burden. A repentance of sin and cry for forgiveness should be a daily endeavor. Sin does not exist on the spectrum either, as our modern secular world may make it seem. In the eyes of God all sin is sin, none any less sinful than others. All sin requires repentance also, which is, I think, the greatest illustration of this debt, a pile of sin stacking up, which has yet to be accounted for. I also think that when we do not ask for forgiveness this debt is allowed to sit and grow larger weighing on us more, until we ask for and receive forgiveness.
Interestingly, we can apply “forgive us our debts” in two different aspects. The first would be actual debt involving money. I remember sitting in a sermon when a Pastor stated that “debt” was terrible and went against what God desired of us. He based this on Romans 13:8, saying, “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” My first thought was debt can sometimes be the only way a person can get off their feet. At the time, it was hard for me to understand. Now applying it to forgiveness of our debts in the aspect of sin, this changes. “Jesus teaches his followers to ask God to forgive their “debts” and this metaphor “debt” is interpreted in the surrounding verses and parallel” (Mcknight 2013). I believe it is important to confess our sins. God wants to hear our repentance and confession. We know God will forgive us for our sins, but He still wants to listen to us.
Reference
Mcknight , S. (2013). The Story of God Bible Commentary: Sermon on the Mount . Zondervan.
So far out of all the blog post in every single P.Long class this one was my absolute favorite, because it is the exact practice that I always preach and live my life according to. P.Long hits it right on the nose when he mentions that society in the western world often take pride in revenge and get back just as the Romans did, and I think that is just ridiculous because we are not to be enforcers or judgers on Earth, we as true, pure hearted Christians need to leave that to God. In Matthew 5:43-48 Jesus reversed the popular view that one can hate their enemy and seek revenge when wronged. Personally, whenever someone is hating on me or has wronged me, I will literally do my best to treat you better and kill you with kindness. I think keeping the peace within oneself and society is the best and most pleasing thing you can do to appeal to God and imitate Jesus. “Rather than seeking revenge, Jesus says, pray for your enemy and allow God to avenge you” (P.Long). Build a relationship with God and pray for those that have wronged you and God will handle everything. P.Long also mentions another applicable statement in regard to confessing sin in a non-narcissistic way; “Healthy confession of sin reflects an honest and open relationship with God” (P.Long). It can be very annoying when a person tries to get attention when they confess their sins to social media and wherever they see fit, I think the sins worth confessing should be between you and God; all the other miniscule sins God is already knowing.
Immediately when hearing “Forgive us our debts” I think of the Lord’s prayer which is found in Matthew 6:19-13. In verse 12 it says “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” To me this means to let go and to just forgive one another. In today’s times we take advantage of a lot of people and things. If I am lending someone something and I truly want to help, I am not looking for a handout or for something in return. For example, when my friends ask me for money and things of that nature I don’t expect them to give it back to me. I am doing these things out of the kindness of my heart. Another example is just praying for a friend and being there for them mentally. I am not looking for them to shout me out or do something grand for me. Long in his blog posts talks about debt being a forgiveness of sin. In Luke 7:36 we do read about prostitutes and outsiders, but because they carry that sin with them they ask for forgivness. I agree with your next section of does confessing a sin allow for forgiveness. What about those who may not know how to confess their sins? What about the ones who are too embarrassed to talk about what they have done? Does God disregard them and look past them? “Jesus’ message can be reduced to these ideas: Live simply. Possessions are mysteriously idolatrous. Trust God” (McKnight,205). We should be trusting in God and his visions for us.
Even in a Christian context, when I hear the word debt, I think of monetary debt. Money that is owed and needed to be paid back. I think as Christians we know the ultimate debt that we needed to be paid was paid in full by Jesus on the cross but we forget live our lives like we are essentially in His debt.
This blog post talks about the confessing of our sins and the great importance it has in our walk with Christ. Why do we need to continually confess, even though we already have that relationship with God? Because, like this post points out, our confessions of the sins we will inevitably make brings us back to why we needed to be saved. We confess because it is acknowledging the fact that we are sinners and we all fall short of the glory of God. We need his forgiveness, mercy and grace.
In the Lord’s Prayer, when we say “forgive us our debts,” it touches on the important theme of forgiveness. For the people Jesus spoke to in Galilee, debt was a real and serious issue. Many were farmers and laborers who often had to borrow money to buy seeds or tools. High interest rates, especially from Gentile landowners, made it hard for them to get ahead. Asking for debt relief would have been very relatable. But “debts” can also mean the wrongs we commit against others our sins. Jesus preached about forgiveness and welcomed those who felt like outsiders because of the past mistakes. His followers experienced deep forgiveness and were expected to pass that same grace on to others. When we confess our sins in prayer, it’s not about earning salvation; it’s about admitting that we all make mistakes and need God’s help. This confession is private, not a show for others. It helps us remember how much we rely on God’s kindness. Forgiveness isn’t always easy, especially in a world that often favors revenge. But letting go of grudges frees us from carrying heavy emotional burdens. By forgiving those who hurt us, we can live more peacefully and strengthen our relationships, showing the same mercy we’ve received from God.
The line “forgive us our debts” speaks to both literal and metaphorical debt. To the poor farmers and laborers that constitute Jesus’ audience, debt was a pressing concern that had to do often with survival. It would have been extremely desirable to have one’s debts forgiven. However, I don’t think this stops with financial debts but also relational and spiritual debts we take on when we wrong people. The radical forgiveness Jesus extended to so many he met involved obvious sinners and those wanting healing, sometimes as part of forgiveness in their cultural mindset. I believe Jesus is teaching us about the need to maintain an honest and humble relationship with God through regular confession, not just for salvation but for the ongoing recognition that we continue to fall short. It’s less about listing every sin in detail and more about acknowledging our need for God’s grace.
Possibly even more challenging is the second part of the prayer that has to do with forgiving others. Today, holding onto grudges or seeking revenge seems like a natural thing to do, but Jesus calls us to let go of these harmful emotions and forgive. I am reminded that forgiving others, even in the smallest offenses, reflects the forgiveness we have received from God. It’s not easy, but it’s essential for freeing ourselves from the weight of unresolved conflicts. True discipleship involves living out this kind of forgiveness daily, not just in dramatic moments but in our everyday relationships.
Forgiveness is an essential component in our relationship with God. Through Jesus’ bloodshed, we are forgiven and reconciled back to God the Father. The last paragraph gives us the perfect example of how it feels to be in debt to someone. We feel a weight on our soldiers and a responsibility to pay back our debt. When Jesus uses this in the Lord’s prayer, we see that asking for forgiveness is a need. Forgiveness was already a common thing to do in Jewish culture, so this appealed to the Jewish culture. Diving deeper, we can see that forgiveness was not just something Jesus called us to ask for, but to give. No matter how someone wrongs us, we should offer them forgiveness. This is not easy to do; forgiveness goes against our modern culture here in the USA. As Long says- revenge is more appealing. Our natural desire to sin causes us to seek revenge against our enemies. McKnight says, “Forgiveness is difficult at the personal and pastoral level, and the twofold reason is because Jesus was so forceful about its necessity for his followers, and we find forgiveness so demanding and difficult.” Jesus probably includes forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer because of how demanding it is. It is difficult to admit when we are wrong or have sinned, but it necessary for our relationship with God. Confessing to God our sins allow for a more open relationship. Acknowledgment of sin is our first step in being saved. If we need a savior to be saved, what are we being saved from? Asking for forgiveness is the acknowledgement that we fall short of God’s glory and need his mercy and grace to be saved.
After reading this blog, I found a lot of things to be very interesting and deep because forgiveness is one of the hardest things for people to do. The four different interpretations that you point out for the meaning behind what Jesus said about forgiving each other’s sins, or the sins that you have committed. For me personally, I believe what resonates with me the most is the fourth one that you point out because I believe that confession should not be out in the open to others to hear, or with people you do not know well enough for them to help you work through what you are confessing. The reason I feel this way is because strangers will not give you the feedback that you need to work on the sins that you are committing because they do not know you, so they will just give you the gratification of confessing the sin, but not the help to work on confronting the sin. With that being said, I believe what you said in the second part of the fourth view about confession being a reflection of an honest and open relationship was perfectly said. The reason I say that is God already knows what you have done before you confess it to him, so confession is more on the part of you being open with God with your struggle with sin, and feeling a sense of guilt about it which will allow you to become closer to God by working through it.
The prayer in verse 12, “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors,” is not about earning God’s forgiveness by forgiving others. It’s rather about how a forgiven person should live out the forgiveness received from God by being a forgiving person. Because we’re forgiven by God, we will extend our forgiveness to others. McKnight nicely puts the order of what Jesus implied in this way:
1. God has graciously forgiven us.
2. Therefore, we are to forgive others to extend God’s grace.
3. If we don’t forgive others, we show that we are not forgiven.
4. Forgiven people forgive others.
5. But our forgiveness does not earn God’s forgiveness.
McKnight further explains that Jesus is teaching His disciples about the Kingdom’s perspective: that Kingdom people love and forgive others, including those who sin against them. So, this is a reminder for all of us that, even though we’re still in this fallen world full of sin and evil, our citizenship is in heaven, and the way we treat others should reflect that.
The word debt is usually viewed as a term that relates to money. Most people will view the term because we as humans are naturally attracted to attaining anything that relates to money. Debt is viewed as a negative term because we owe money back to the lender. The only thing we should be focused on owing back is infinite praise and worship to Jesus for what He did for us. While reading Matthew 6:12, the term debt is meant for the debt we have accumulated while sinning. We accumulate much debt by continual sin and disregarding obedience to God. This verse is included in the Lord’s prayer because we seek forgiveness from God because of the debt that weighs on us from sinning. This is a daily prayer for my family.
When I hear Matthew 6:12 where it says “ and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” I immediately think of money. A specific image and feeling comes to mind. It reminds me of my time at Bethel College University. I was there for only my freshmen year but I accumulated a lot of debt and when I paid it off it felt like the weight of the world fell off my shoulders. In the reading it says Israel need only repent to receive “times of refreshing” from the Lord (v. 19). This is similar to the blog post. When talking about confessing our sins Straus says “The point is acknowledgment of God’s grace and mercy for our daily offense.” As christians we do not need to confess every little thing in our life but we do need to keep God at the center.
When I first heard the Lords prayer, “forgive us our debts as we also have forgive our debtors”, I did not understand it. I do not think I understood that statement til I was at least a teenager. I just figured debt had to do with money, and I did not understand why God was talking about money. When I hear it now I obviously see he is talking about forgive this who have sinned against you. I see forgiveness as one of the more harder things to do in life. It is something that I personally have always struggled with unfortunately. As hard as it is to do, I also have found it to me one of the most rewarding things I can do. I see so clearly why God commands us of it. So in our prayer when we say forgive us our debts, he will not until we can forgive those who have sinned against us.