Sunday Message: Lord's Prayer pt 7

Now we come to what I see as the simplest but most practical section of the Lord's model prayer:

Mat 6:12  and forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors. 

As this one SEEMS easy-peasy, I just want to point out two things.  One is, we need to invoke the Kalko rule, if nowhere else, on this one.  So important is this line, that in memorizing it, we forget about what goes with it right after Jesus finishes the prayer:

Mat 6:14  For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 

Mat 6:15  but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 

Note that this is the only part of the prayer that requires an action on our part- we MUST forgive FIRST, to be forgiven.  One thing I saw as I looked at the original words was that 'we' is described as 'only used as emphatic'; WE is ALL of us.

Another thing I noted is that the original prayer uses the terms 'debtors' and 'debts', which has the exact meaning we give it- a debt is something owed- although, in a figurative sense, it also includes 'a fault'.  But when Jesus further elucidates, the word changes from debts to 'trespasses'.  And that word carries the following meaning:

From G3895; a side slip (lapse or deviation), that is, (unintentional) error or (wilful) transgression: - fall, fault, offence, sin, trespass.

And that G3895?

to fall aside, that is, (figuratively) to apostatize: - fall away.

Draw from this that when we sin, we accrue a debt to God.  And our only means of paying is through Jesus.

I guess the only other things to add is, 'how soon' and 'how many'?  And these are both spelled out for us:

How soon: Mat 5:23  So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 

Mat 5:24  leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 

How often: Mat 18:21  Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" 

Mat 18:22  Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.