Matthew 6:12

Saturday, 4 January 2025

 

And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors. Matthew 6:12

 

“And You forgive us our debts as also we, we forgive our debtors” (CG).

 

In the previous verse, Jesus included the thought of receiving one’s necessary bread as a part of the Lord’s Prayer. He now continues with, “And You forgive us our debts.”

 

The word translated as debt is opheiléma. It is found only here and in Romans 4:4, where Paul notes that the wages of those who work are like a debt that is owed. Here, the idea being presented is that sinning (a transgression against God) brings about a debt that must be satisfied. Under the law, this satisfaction was through the Levitical sacrificial system, each aspect of which anticipated the coming of the Messiah.

 

God’s holiness demands such a satisfaction to cover over wrongdoing, removing it from His presence. This is because nothing impure or defiled can enter into His presence. Understanding this, Jesus next says, “as also we, we forgive our debtors.”

Of this, Vincent’s Word Studies is probably missing the mark by saying, “The Rev. rightly gives the force of the past tense, we have forgiven; since Christ assumes that he who prays for the remission of his own debts has already forgiven those indebted to him.”

 

Jesus is not necessarily instructing the people in what has been. Rather, it appears He is instructing them in a state of life that may exist at the time of the prayer but also a state that will be. Thus, it covers all times –

 

Forgive me for this. I have also forgiven others.

Forgive me for what I may do, just as I will also forgive others.

 

The prayer shows that forgiveness of others is to be a condition for God’s forgiveness at any given time, but it also appears more appropriate as a prayer to cover life in general, not each specific occasion that arises.

 

Life application: Sin is considered a debt that must be paid. As noted, the Levitical sacrificial system was set up for that purpose. However, each aspect of it was given as a type of Christ to come. It was actually ineffective in taking away sin –

 

“For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. 3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.” Hebrews 10:1-4

This is one of the many points of error found in the doctrine of Judaizers, such as the Hebrew Roots Movement. They mandate that people must observe the law. Quite often their doctrine is selective in that they mandate dietary restrictions, Sabbath observance, etc. But then they ignore the sacrificial system.

However, the law is a codified whole. There is no observing it in part. It must be observed in its entirety. If Christ Jesus is the fulfillment of the sacrificial system (and He must be because they do not observe that system now), then He is the fulfillment of the entire law that demands a sacrificial system.

 

To say one must observe the dietary laws, Sabbath laws, etc., but that Jesus is the sacrifice for not observing these laws is convoluted thinking. It is a false presentation of who Jesus is and what He did. A debt for sin is owed. Jesus is the payment for all sin debt. Nothing else can satisfy the debt of sin.

And so to mandate law observance makes no sense at all. This is obviously true with Gentiles who neither received the law nor were ever expected to observe it. But it is true with Jews as well. If Jesus fulfilled the law for Israel, which He did, then when they accept Jesus, they enter the New Covenant. The mandates of the Mosaic Law are ended.

 

Put on your thinking cap! Stay away from those who mandate law observance. To attempt to merit God’s favor through the law will only lead to condemnation. All of that work... for nothing. What a sad and wasted existence.

Come to Jesus and be saved. Then, live in the grace of God that flows from His completion of the law on your behalf.

 

Lord God, help us to understand that salvation stems from You alone. You have sent Jesus to do what we cannot do. May we learn this lesson and rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.