Matthew 6:12

‘And forgive us our debts,

As we also have forgiven our debtors'.

‘Forgive us our debts.' The meaning of this petition, as Luke specifically brings out, is that we are to pray for the forgiveness of our sins (Luke 11:4). The Jews saw sin as being a debt owed to God. They rightly saw it as a failure to give Him His due. Thus the Aramaic word for debts came also to mean sins, and this idea is regularly found in the Targums (Aramaic translations or paraphrases of the Hebrew text for the benefit of Aramaic-speaking worshippers who lacked a knowledge of Hebrew). That is why Luke translates whatever the Aramaic word was as ‘sins' (Luke 11:4).

Luke, however, then goes on to speak of ‘every one who is indebted to us'. This last fact would seem to demonstrate that either he or his source knew that the original Aramaic in the first phrase was also ‘debts' but saw ‘debts' as signifying ‘sins', and wanted this to be clear to those who received their words. Possibly he left the second part as ‘indebted to us' in order to bring out that any way in which others have sinned against us cannot be compared with the awfulness of our having sinned against God and His laws. Jesus Himself used the same idea of sin being like a debt in certain of His parables (Matthew 18:23; Luke 7:40), where He specifically linked it to the forgiveness of sins (Matthew 18:21; Matthew 18:35).

The idea here is of day by day sins, not the initial forgiveness required in order to make men right with God. It can be illustrated by Jesus' words to Peter in John 13:8, ‘He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet'. It is a reminder that daily we do come short, and therefore daily need forgiveness. Compare here 1 John 1:7.

In the Old Testament God is revealed as a God Who is very willing to forgive the truly repentant (Exodus 34:7; Numbers 14:18; Daniel 9:9), and such forgiveness was regularly receivable through the offering of sacrifices (Leviticus 4:20 and often; Numbers 15:25; Numbers 15:26; Numbers 15:28). Thus the Psalmists constantly rejoiced in His forgiveness (Psalms 32:1; Psalms 85:2; Psalms 86:5; Psalms 103:3; Psalms 130:4). But the coming Messianic age was to especially be a time of forgiveness when God would blot out their transgressions and not remember their sins (Isaiah 43:25; Isaiah 44:22; Isaiah 55:7; Jeremiah 31:34; Ezekiel 37:23). Thus His disciples can now approach their Father for forgiveness without doubt in their hearts.

‘As we also have forgiven our debtors.' This is not a bargaining counter as though we have deserved forgiveness because we have forgiven others. It is a declaration that every disciple is expected to be able to make, precisely because he is observing Jesus' teaching in Matthew 5:43. For one sign that they are truly His will be found in this readiness to forgive others. It is one of the badges by which we are identified as the light of the world. Note that it is ‘those who sin against us' that we forgive. We cannot forgive their sins, but we can forgive the fact that they have sinned against us, and love them for His sake. It should also be noted that the assumption here is of people who seek our forgiveness, not of inveterate enemies. Thus when Peter says ‘How often shall we forgive?', it is of those who come and say ‘I repent' (Matthew 18:21). The same principle is also brought out in the parable (Matthew 18:23). This must be so because such forgiveness involves treating the people who have sinned against us as though they have never done so, in the same way as we know that God will treat us. But we cannot expect to take up such a position with someone who has not revealed, at least outwardly, a change of heart. We may refrain from feeling bitter against them, and be prepared to act in love towards them, but that is not full forgiveness. Forgiveness involves putting them back in a position of trust, in the position that they were in before they sinned. So while people are unrepentant we can love them, and act in love towards them, but we cannot treat them as though they were repentant. We cannot restore them to full trust, because their attitude is unchanged.

Such forgiveness is a sign that God's Kingly Rule has broken forth on the earth in His people, so that His disciples have become forgiving like He is. And the point is that it is because they are His people as revealed in this way that they can come to Him confidently expecting daily forgiveness. It will be because they are walking in His light.