New Testament · Gospel

Matthew 6:14

Treasures and Worry

For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Matthew 6:14 · Berean Standard Bible
What It Means

Matthew 6:14, in plain English

When you forgive the people who have wronged you, your heavenly Father forgives you in return.

Why it's here

Jesus just finished teaching the Lord's Prayer, and now He zeros in on forgiveness because He knows it's the hardest part.

Who's speaking

Jesus, speaking directly to His followers.

Where it sits in the story

Forgiveness isn't just a nice idea in God's kingdom; it's the currency of grace that flows both ways between you and God.

A Closer Look

The scholar's commentary

Jesus establishes a conditional link between human forgiveness (aphiemi) and divine forgiveness, emphasizing that extending mercy to others is prerequisite to receiving it from God.

Language and setting

Immediately after teaching the Lord's Prayer, Jesus expands on the forgiveness petition, underscoring its central importance.

Voice

Jesus, elaborating on the Lord's Prayer.

Significance

This teaching connects the prayer model to lived ethics, making forgiveness a defining mark of those who belong to God's kingdom.

In context

Matthew 6:12–16

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.

15But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours.

16When you fast, do not be somber like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.

Read all of Matthew 6 — Jesus redefines wealth, prayer, and anxiety in a single breath. The lilies and the birds become his unlikely teachers.

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