Treasures and Worry
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. Matthew 6:12 · Berean Standard Bible
Forgive us for what we owe You, just as we forgive the people who owe us. Receiving God's forgiveness and giving forgiveness to others are connected. You can't have one without the other.
This is challenging. Jesus ties your experience of God's mercy directly to your willingness to extend mercy. Holding grudges blocks the flow of grace.
Jesus teaches us to pray for forgiveness.
Forgiveness is the heartbeat of the Gospel. And it flows in two directions: from God to you, and from you to others.
The petition for forgiveness uses opheilemata (debts/obligations), a metaphor for sin as a moral debt owed to God. The conditional clause 'as we also have forgiven' (hos kai hemeis aphekamen, aorist tense: 'have already forgiven') makes receiving God's forgiveness contingent on extending forgiveness to others.
This is the only petition Jesus expands on after the prayer (vv. 14-15), indicating its central importance. The parable of the Unforgiving Servant (18:21-35) later dramatizes this principle.
Jesus, teaching the Lord's Prayer.
Forgiveness is the hinge of the Lord's Prayer: vertical forgiveness from God and horizontal forgiveness toward others are inseparably linked.
10Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
11Give us this day our daily bread.
12And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
14For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
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