The Layman Foundations of the Faith
Forgive us our debts
Robert P. Mills, Posted Tuesday, Oct 1, 2002
Suggested Scripture Readings: Psalm 103:1-12; Matthew 6:12; 8:23-35; Romans 3:20-26; I John 1:8-10 |
Are you in debt?
For most of us, our reflexive response to that question probably involves acknowledging mortgages, car payments, and credit card bills. And indeed, we need to keep such obligations in mind.
But immeasurably greater than any debt anyone owes to another individual or corporation is the debt everyone owes to God. It was this debt, incurred by human sin, that Jesus had in mind when he taught his disciples to pray “Forgive us our debts.”
Our debts
As recorded in Luke’s Gospel, this petition reads “Forgive us our sins.” The noun in Matthew, used only here and in Romans 4:4, comes from a verb that means “to owe.” It indicates an actual obligation that is due to someone.
As William Willimon and Stanley Hauerwas observe, “Saying ‘debts’ gives a nice specificity to our petition.” They note that the Lord’s Prayer “realistically assumes that we do have debts. Our books are in the red, as far as our relationship to God is concerned. We have run up a debt with God so large that all we can do is ask for forgiveness.”
Those inclined to doubt that everyone is a sinner indebted to God would do well to reacquaint themselves with the opening chapter of John’s first letter, where he writes:
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives” (I John 1:8-10).
Although describing sin as “debt” is rare in the New Testament, the concept was well known to the Jews of Jesus’ day. Jesus drew on this familiarity in a parable about a servant who owed the king about 20 years wages, a sum far more than he could possibly repay when the king called him in to settle accounts (Matt. 18:23-35).
The servant’s only hope was to ask the king for mercy. He did, and the king forgave him his entire debt.
God’s forgiveness
That God forgives our sin is a theme that runs throughout the New Testament. The Greek verb “to forgive” combines the preposition meaning “from” and a root meaning “to put in motion” or “to send.” To forgive is thus to send away, to let go. To be forgiven is to be acquitted, released without a sense of guilt, obligation or punishment. Forgiveness is God not only declaring us justified before him, but actually making us just in Christ. It is the work of God the Father through Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:20-26).
This forgiveness not only secures our acquittal, it also restores our sin-ruptured relationship with God the Father. As Spiros Zodhiates writes, when God forgives our sins “it is not merely a declaration of ‘not guilty’ but also actual, effectual deliverance from the dominion and power of Satan and sin, and the creation of a new nature within man.”
We continue to pray “forgive us” not because our past sins are unforgiven, but because Jesus knew that sin would continue to interfere with the closeness of the relationship between his disciples and their Father in heaven. There is great truth, and great comfort, in the saying “Christians are not perfect, just forgiven.”
Our response
Donald Williams writes, “It is well that the Lord reminded us of our need for forgiveness. Had he not done so, our generation would surely have forgotten it. … for much of the preaching we hear is the proclamation of a vague gospel of personal fulfillment rather than the good news of salvation from God’s wrath against sin through the blood of his Son. This theological flabbiness in the Church reflects the relativism of the general culture.”
Echoing this theme, N.T. Wright pointedly observes, “Instead of genuine forgiveness, our generation has been taught the vague notion of ‘tolerance.’ This is, at best, a low-grade parody of forgiveness.”
As Jesus’ disciples, as God’s children, the debt that we could never pay has been paid for us in full. Such astonishing grace rightly leads to a life of gratitude and obedience to the one who has forgiven us.
One measure of our gratitude is our forgiveness of others, which will be the topic of our next study.
Additional Resources Williams, Donald T. The Disciples’ Prayer (Camp Hill, Pa.: Christian Publications, 1999); Willimon, William H., and Stanley Hauerwas. Lord Teach Us (Nashville: Abingdon, 1996); Wright, N.T. The Lord and His Prayer (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996); Spiro Zodhiates, The Lord’s Prayer, 2nd ed., (Chattanooga: AMG Publishers, 1991) |