Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 6:14
For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
For if ye forgive men their trespasses – If ye forgive others when they offend or injure you.
Your heavenly Father will also forgive you – This is constantly required in the Bible. See the notes at Mat 6:12. Our Saviour says we should forgive even if the offence be committed seventy times seven times, Mat 18:22. By this is meant, that when a man asks forgiveness, we are cordially and forever to pardon the offence; we are to declare our willingness to forgive him. If he does not ask forgiveness, yet we are still to treat him kindly; not to harbor malice, not to speak ill of him, to be ready to do him good, and be always prepared to declare him forgiven when he asks it, and if we are not ready and willing to forgive him; we are assured that God will not forgive us.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 6:14
If ye forgive men.
Mutual forgiveness
I. All mankind as transgressors are deeply indebted to Gods law.
II. That if ever man be saved it must be by an act of pure mercy.
III. That the Scriptural character of the Almighty encourages us to confide in him for forgiveness.
1. Because the love of God has laid such a foundation for its exercise.
2. It is seen in the earnestness of His invitations.
3. In the promises of His word.
4. In the persons whom He has saved;
(1) their number;
(2) their character.
IV. That however free the mercy of God is to man, A merciful disposition towards our fellow-creatures is necessary to its enjoyment.
1. It cannot, according to the general tenour of Scripture, condemn self-defence by lawful means.
2. There is a connection between forgiving and being forgiven.
3. Reason establishes this connection. (J. E. Good.)
Those who do not forgive others should never sin themselves
The Rev. J. Wesley, in the course of his voyage to America, hearing an unusual noise in the cabin of General Oglethorpe, the Governor of Georgia, with whom he sailed, stepped in to inquire the cause of it. The General addressed him: Mr. Wesley, you must excuse me; I have met with a provocation too great for man to bear. You know, the only wine I drink is Cyprus wine; I therefore provided myself with several dozens of it, and this villain, Grimaldi (his foreign valet, who was present, and almost dead with fear) has drunk up the whole of it: but I will be revenged on him. I have ordered him to be tied hand and foot, and be carried to the man-of-war which sails with us. The rascal should have taken care how he used me so, for I never forgive. Then I hope, sir, said Wesley, looking calmly at him, you never sin. The General was quite confounded at the reproof; and putting his hand into his pocket, took out a bunch of keys, which he threw at Grimaldi. There, villain, said he, take my keys and behave better for the future.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 14. If ye forgive men] He who shows mercy to men receives mercy from God. For a king to forgive his subjects a hundred millions of treasons against his person and authority, on this one condition, that they wilt henceforth live peaceably with him and with each other, is what we shall never see; and yet this is but the shadow of that which Christ promises on his Father’s part to all true penitents. A man can have little regard for his salvation, who refuses to have it on such advantageous terms. See Quesnel.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Not that our mere forgiving our brethren the injuries done unto us is all that God requireth of us in order to the forgiveness we expect from him, the contrary is plain from several other texts, Joh 3:18,36; Ac 2:38; 16:31 &c.; but that without this forgiveness of our brethren, God will not forgive us, Mat 18:35. It is one piece of that obedience which we owe to God, and also of our gratitude, without the performance of which it is vain for us to hope for forgiveness from God.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. For if ye forgive men,&c.See on Mt 6:12.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For if ye forgive men their trespasses,…. Christ here refers to the petition in Mt 6:12 which is enforced with this reason and argument, “as”, or “for”, so Lu 11:4 “we forgive our debtors”; which he repeats and explains: and the reason why he singles out this particularly is, because he knew the Jews were a people very subject to revenge; and were very hardly brought to forgive any injuries done them: wherefore Christ presses it upon them closely to “forgive men their trespasses”; all sorts of injuries done them, or offences given them, whether by word or deed; and that fully, freely, from the heart; forgetting, as well as forgiving; not upbraiding them with former offences; and even without asking pardon, and though there might be no appearance of repentance. Now to this he encourages by saying,
your heavenly Father will also forgive you; will hear your prayers, and manifest his forgiving love to you: not that the forgiveness of others is the procuring cause of forgiveness with God, which is the blood of Christ; or of the manifestation and application of it, that is, the advocacy of Christ; nor the moving cause of it, that is, the free grace of God: but this enters into the character, and is descriptive of the persons, to whom God is pleased to make a comfortable discovery, and give a delightful sense of his pardoning grace; such persons, so disposed and assisted by his grace, may expect it of him.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Trespasses (). This is no part of the Model Prayer. The word “trespass” is literally “falling to one side,” a lapse or deviation from truth or uprightness. The ancients sometimes used it of intentional falling or attack upon one’s enemy, but “slip” or “fault” (Ga 6:1) is the common New Testament idea. (Ro 5:14) is a positive violation, a transgression, conscious stepping aside or across.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Trespasses [] . The Lord here uses another word for sins, and still another [] appears in Luke’s version of the prayer, though he also says, “every one that is indebted to us.” There is no difficulty in supposing that Christ, contemplating sins in general, should represent them by different terms expressive of different aspects of wrong – doing (see on Mt 1:21). This word is derived from parapiptw, to fall or thrown one’s self beside. Thus it has a sense somewhat akin to aJmartia, of going beside a mark, missing. In classical Greek the verb is often used of intentional falling, as of throwing one’s self upon an enemy; and this is the prevailing sense in biblical Greek, indicating reckless and wilful sin (see 1Ch 5:25; 1Ch 10:13; 2Ch 26:18; 2Ch 29:6, 19; Eze 14:13; Eze 28:26). It does not, therefore, imply palliation or excuse. It is a conscious violation of right, involving guilt, and occurs therefore, in connection with the mention of forgiveness (Rom 4:25; Rom 5:16; Col 2:13; Eph 2:1, 5). Unlike parabasiv (transgression), which contemplates merely the objective violation of law, it carries the thought of sin as affecting the sinner, and hence is found associated with expressions which indicate the consequences and the remedy of sin (Rom 4:25; Rom 5:15, 17; Eph 2:1).
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, (qan garophete tois anthropois ta paraptomata auton) For if you all forgive men of their trespasses,” the wrongs, ills and injuries that they have done to you, including anger, envy, malice, and old grudges, Eph 5:30-32; Joh 13:12-15.
2) “Your heavenly Father will also forgive. you:” (aphesei kai humin ho pater humon ho ouranios) “Your Father who is (exists) in heaven, will also forgive or pardon you,” of your sins, trespasses, or deeds of wrong toward Him, Col 2:12-13. Those who are merciful to forgive also receive God’s mercy and forgiveness, Gal 6:1; Mat 6:12.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Here Christ only explains the reason why that condition was added, Forgive us, as we forgive The reason is, that God will not be ready to hear us, unless we also show ourselves ready to grant forgiveness to those who have offended us. If we are not harder than iron, this exhortation ought to soften us, and render us disposed to forgive offenses. (445) Unless God pardon us every day many sins, we know that we are ruined in innumerable ways: and on no other condition does he admit us to pardon, but that we pardon our brethren whatever offenses they have committed against us. Those who refuse to forget the injuries which have been done to them, devote themselves willingly and deliberately to destruction, and knowingly prevent God from forgiving them. (446)
(445) “ Pour nous rendre faciles a oublier les injures qu’on nous a faites.” — “To make us ready to forget the injuries which have been done to us.”
(446) “ Et de propos delibere veulent que Dieu procede contre eux en toute rigueur;” — “and deliberately resolve that God may proceed against them to the utmost rigor.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(14, 15) The condition implied in the Prayer itself is more distinctly asserted. It is, as we have seen, not an arbitrary condition, but the result of the eternal laws of the divine order. Repentance is the condition of being forgiven, and the temper that does not forgive is ipso facto incompatible with the temper of the penitent. As if for greater emphasis, the truth is presented in both its positive and negative aspects.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
For if you forgive men their trespasses,
Your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
But if you do not forgive men their trespasses,
Neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Jesus then adds a rider, stressing the kind of people that they must be if their Father is to have dealings with them in a continuing forgiveness (note the emphasis of His words here on God as their Father). If they are to see God as their Father, and enjoy His continual forgiveness, they must be those who, like Him, love their enemies, and who are peacemakers. The blessings of the Kingly Rule of Heaven (which include God’s continual forgiveness) are for those who are truly under the Kingly Rule of Heaven. How could they be otherwise? Thus those who would enjoy them must themselves be under the Kingly Rule of Heaven and thus be involved in dispensing the forgiveness of the new age (Mat 18:21-22). Indeed they cannot be Jesus’ disciples and yet not be involved in being forgiving. For being unforgiving is as bad as clinging on to riches. It sets them against God.
The point is thus that if they are not willing to reveal themselves as true sons of their Father (Mat 5:9; Mat 5:45) by being forgiving to those who seek their forgiveness, they cannot very well expect to be treated as such. They have proved that they are not. Forgiving others is not seen here as a condition of their being forgiven, it is rather seen as a ‘not without which’. It is seen as one of the signs that give them right of entry to their Father. That is, it is an indication that they are of those who walk rightly with God and as such can therefore expect forgiveness from their Father.
So Jesus is not saying here that they will be forgiven if they forgive. That would be impossible. Forgiveness from God cannot be bargained for, nor can it be earned. He is saying rather that if they want God to treat them as His sons by forgiving them, their grosser sins, they must be revealing in their lives that they are true sons by forgiving others their lesser sins. It is not a tit for tat, otherwise we might as well give up. If God’s forgiveness was dependent on the level of ours we would have no hope. What is in mind is that our hearts are revealed as having the right attitude. We can compare with this how they are also to be reconciled with those who have things against them before they bring their gifts to God (Mat 5:23-24). In both cases they must approach God having put behind them all that might offend God. How could someone with the spirit of the servant in Mat 18:23-30 possibly approach Someone like the God of infinite mercy and compassion?
‘Trespasses.’ Note that here ‘debts’ has now become ‘trespasses’, confirming that the ideas are synonymous. The principle described here is so important that it is repeated in Mat 18:23-35 where the new community is being described. It also occurs in a different context in Mar 11:25.
There is an interesting parallel to this in Sir 28:1-2 , ‘he who takes vengeance will find vengeance from the Lord, and He will surely make firm his sins. Forgive your neighbour the hurt that he has done you, and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray’. The same principle lies behind it. It is caught up in the basic principle, ‘you shall love your neighbour as yourself’. But whereas in Ecclesiasticus ‘neighbour’ probably meant very much their fellow Jews, with Jesus the requirement was to forgive ‘men and women’. It was universal.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
A necessary warning:
v. 14. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
v. 15. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. The hearing of our prayer, the granting of the benefits asked for, hinges upon our being in the right relation toward God, which is brought about by the assurance and the certainty of the forgiveness of sins. And this, in turn, depends upon the manner in which we show proofs of the right condition of our hearts toward the neighbor. Our sins toward God were called debts, and these are piled up with horrible swiftness. Our neighbor’s sins toward us are described as mere stumblings or faults in performing his duty. To be vindictive under such circumstances is folly in itself, and argues that the mercy of God is not appreciated. If we really desire the forgiveness of God, we must first show that we realize our own sinfulness and its damnableness by forgiving our neighbor his faults.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 6:14-15. For if ye forgive, &c. From what our Lord here says, we are not to imagine that the forgiving of injuries will entitle us to pardon: it only places us in a condition to receive it through faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ. However, all negative declarations being in their own nature absolute, he who does not forgive never shall be forgiven, as it is in the 15th verse. Behold then the necessity of forgiving all kinds of injuries established by the Lord Jesus Christ himself! in opposition to the foolish opinions of the men of this world, who, associating the idea of cowardice with the greatest and most generous act of the human mind, the forgiveness of injuries, have laboured to render it shameful and vile, to the utter disgrace of human reason and common sense. It is a strong remark of Archbishop Wake, upon that petition of the Lord’s prayer whereof these verses are explicatory, that “if we do not forgive as we hope to be forgiven, we imprecate the wrath of God upon our own heads, when we use the Lord’s prayer, and do in reality pray after this desperate manner: ‘Thou, O God, hast commanded me to forgive my brother his trespasses; thou hast declared that unless I do so, thou wilt not forgive me my sins. Well, let what will come, I am resolved to stand to the hazard of it. I will not forgive, nor be reconciled to my brother: do then with me as thou shalt see fit.'” Can the man of unforgiving temper see his sin and his danger in a stronger point of view?
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 6:14 f. ] points back to Mat 6:12 , the subject of which is now further discussed.
] like the preceding , placed first to render it emphatic. For the thought, the fundamental basis of which was stated in Mat 6:14 ff., comp. Sir 28:2 ff.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1319
A FORGIVING SPIRIT NECESSARY TO OUR ACCEPTANCE WITH GOD
Mat 6:14-15. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
THE different petitions of the Lords Prayer are collected from different parts of the Old Testament, and concentered so as to form a concise and comprehensive summary of all that we need to pray for. But there is annexed to one of the petitions a limitation, which was altogether new, and which greatly needed some elucidation. Our Lord however did not stop to explain it at the time, but finished the prayer first, and then added, in confirmation of it, the words which we have now read; shewing us thereby that the clause had not been lightly introduced, but was of great importance, and indispensable necessity. It certainly appeared strange, that we should presume to make our own compassion towards others the pattern and the measure of Gods compassion towards us: but our Lord would have us to know, that it will be in vain to expect mercy at Gods hands, unless we exercise it towards our fellow-creatures: on this condition, and on this only, can we hope for acceptance with him in the day of judgment.
Having already had repeated occasion to consider the subject of forgiveness of injuries, we shall now advert rather to the manner in which that duty is here enjoined; and shall shew,
I.
In what sense the salvation of the Gospel may be called conditional
This subject has been a fruitful source of controversy in the Church of Christ: but both sides of the question are true according to the sense which we annex to the word condition.
Salvation is not conditional in a way of compact
[There are those who think that God engages to give us heaven, if we will perform so many good works; and that, when we have performed those good works, we may claim heaven as a debt. But to affirm that salvation is conditional in any such sense as this, would entirely make void the Gospel of Christ. Salvation would then be of works, and not of grace. It would be to no purpose to say, that these terms were procured for us by Jesus Christ, and that we must therefore refer the honour of our salvation unto him, and accept our reward as the purchase of his blood: for, though the procuring of the terms might be his act, the performing of them must be ours: and when we had performed them, we should have whereof to glory before God. But by the Gospel all glorying is excluded [Note: Rom 3:27.]: and therefore salvation cannot be conditional in the way that we are now speaking of.]
But salvation is conditional in a way of inseparable connexion
[God has chosen men to salvation; but it is through sanctification of the Spirit, and through belief of the truth [Note: 2Th 2:13.]. Faith and holiness are required of us; but the performance of them gives us a claim upon God only so far as he has freely engaged himself by his own gracious promises: it does not warrant us to expect any thing on the ground of merit: we cannot go to God, as labourers that have performed their task, and say, Pay me that thou owest: on the contrary, if we had done all that was commanded us, we should still account ourselves unprofitable servants; and must accept life as the free gift of God for Christs sake [Note: Rom 6:23.]. But still we must do these things; and without doing them we cannot possibly be saved. God has appointed the means as well as the end; and the end is to be attained only in and by the means. It is certainly true that the purpose of God according to election shall stand [Note: Rom 9:11.]; but it is no less true, that it shall be effected only in the way that he has appointed; and that, whatever men may fancy about their predestination to eternal life, except they repent they shall all perish; and if they believe not, they shall not see life; and without holiness no man shall see the Lord. In this sense therefore salvation is conditional: the obligations that are upon us are indispensable; and no person whatever shall be saved who disregards them.]
The import of the term condition being fixed, we shall proceed to shew,
II.
The reasonableness of the condition here imposed
Here it will be proper to mark the precise nature and limits of the condition imposed
[The forgiving of others is not so to be understood as to supersede the exercise of magisterial authority. God has appointed magistrates as his vicegerents in the world, and has put the sword into their hands for the punishment of evildoers, and the support of them that do well: and if they should forbear to execute wrath upon those who violate the laws, they would themselves be guilty of a dereliction of their public duty. Such lenity therefore is not comprehended in the duty which is here inculcated. Neither does the duty here spoken of altogether prohibit us from the personal exercise of our just rights, either for self-defence, or for the obtaining of legal redress. The Apostle Paul pleaded his right as a Roman citizen in order to protect himself against the injuries with which he was menaced; and appealed to the tribunal of Caesar to obtain that justice which was denied him in the inferior courts. He has indeed expressed his disapprobation of a litigious spirit, and especially such a shameful exercise of it as led Christians to drag one another before the tribunals of Heathens. But he does not prohibit Christians from submitting their claims to the arbitration of judicious persons among themselves; and consequently he does not require us so to forgive those who injure us, as in no case to seek redress. If the only alternative be to suffer an injury, or by angry contention to embroil ourselves in difficulties and quarrels, our Lord has determined the point for us, and bidden us to turn the other cheek to a man who has smitten us, rather than retaliate the injury, or do ourselves a still greater injury by yielding to a vindictive spirit. But to a certain extent, the support of our just rights is necessary for the preservation of the peace of the community; and consequently we not only are permitted, but bound, in some instances, to maintain our rights, and to punish those who would rob us of them.
But nothing is ever to be done from a vindictive spirit. The smallest disposition to revenge is strictly prohibited. We not only must not avenge ourselves, but must not for a moment be pleased with the news that any evil has happened even to our most inveterate enemy. So fax from wishing him evil, we ought to the uttermost to do him good: to love and bless him when he hates and curses us; and to pray fervently to God for him, at the very time he is doing us all the injury in Iris power. The work of retribution must be left to God, to whom alone vengeance belongeth; and we must content ourselves with heaping coals of fire upon his head, to melt him into love.
Now on our performance of this duty God suspends the salvation of our souls.]
The reasonableness of this condition will easily appear
[If we exercise this grace of forgiveness from proper motives, and in a becoming manner, it will be a clear evidence that we are renewed in the spirit of our minds. There are, it is true, some persons of so easy and gentle a disposition, that they would rather pass by an offence than be at the trouble to resent it. But the forgiving spirit of which we are speaking must proceed from a sense of our own utter unworthiness, and of the exceeding greatness of that debt which has been forgiven us. It must proceed also from a sense of love and gratitude to our Lord and Saviour, and from a desire to honour him by treading in his steps and walking as he walked. Now where such principles and such conduct are found, there will every other grace be found also: there is in an eminent degree the image of God enstamped upon the soul; and there is a meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light. It is reasonable therefore that such a person, possessed of such humility, such faith, such love, such patience, such self-denial, and such an obediential frame, should be forgiven by his God. There is a perfect correspondence between his work and his reward.
On the contrary, a person of an unforgiving spirit shews, beyond a doubt, that he is altogether unhumbled for his own sins. If he had a proper consciousness of the guilt which he himself has contracted, he would feel no disposition to cast a stone at others: nor would he take a fellow-servant by the throat for a few pence, when he was sensible how many talents he himself owed unto his God. Who, that reads the parable by which our Lord has illustrated this subject, does not see the equity of the sentence passed upon the unforgiving servant [Note: Mat 18:23-35.]? So must also that universal sentence be accounted reasonable by every dispassionate man, He shall have judgment without mercy, who hath shewed no mercy [Note: Jam 2:13.].
On whichever side then we view the condition, it appears most reasonable: it is most reasonable that the forgiving should be pardoned, and the unforgiving punished: and knowing as we do, the determination of God to act agreeably to this rule, we must prepare to expect our sentence of condemnation or acquittal according to it.]
From this one subject we may obtain a deep insight into Christianity: we may behold,
1.
Its consistency
[Persons from different motives are apt to represent the declarations of God in his word as at variance with each other; and, according to their respective views, to wrest the meaning of them for the purpose of maintaining their own particular system. Some, because the grace of God is freely proclaimed to sinners, will not endure the mention of a condition, or admit that there is any kind of conditionality in such passages as that before us. Others, because of such passages, will not endure to hear of Gods electing grace, which they suppose to be inconsistent with them. Others again, because of the difficulty of reducing every thing to their comprehension, are ready to reject Christianity as altogether inconsistent with itself. But there are no two positions in the whole book of God, which are inconsistent with each other. That there are difficulties, we admit: but so there are also in every other work of God, whether of creation or providence: and if there were none in the work of redemption, we should have reason to think that it was not really of divine original. No man that ever lived could reconcile the existence of sin with the holiness of God: but is there therefore an absolute inconsistency between them? Does not every one see that the inability to reconcile them arises from the weakness of our intellect and the narrow limits of our knowledge? The same difficulty is complained of by some in reference to the subject before us; but it is obvious, from the statement we have made, that enough may be said to satisfy an humble mind, though there may still be difficulties left for the confounding of a proud spirit. This is really the case with respect to every other doctrine in the Bible: there may be, as in some works of human art, wheels moving in a variety of directions, and appearing to an ignorant person to obstruct each other; but there is an unity in the whole design, and a subserviency in every part to the production of one common end.
Let us then be on our guard against that controversial spirit that leads men to wrest or stumble at the word of God: and, if there be difficulties which we cannot reconcile, let us be content to say, What I know not now, I shall know hereafter.]
2.
Its equity
[It is astonishing to hear with what presumption many will arraign the justice of God: If he has not elected me, how can I help myself? If he imposes on me conditions which I cannot perform, with what equity will he condemn me? The Apostles answer to such proud objectors is that which most befits their state: Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Yet the subject before us may suffice to shew, that God will be justified in his sayings, and be clear when he judgeth: the day of judgment is called the revelation of the righteous judgment of God; and such it will appear to all. Those who now quarrel with the deep doctrines of predestination and election, will then find, that God has ordered every thing in perfect wisdom and equity. None will then presume to arraign his counsels. None will then object that any are saved or condemned contrary to strict justice. Not one ungodly person will be found amongst those that are saved, nor one godly person amongst those that perish. Both the forgiving and unforgiving will have judgment measured to them, according as they have meted unto others; and every mans happiness or misery will be exactly apportioned to him, according to his works. The godly indeed will feel no difficulty in ascribing their salvation to God and to the Lamb; but the ungodly must for ever ascribe their condemnation to their own incorrigible folly and wickedness.]
3.
Its excellency
[The evils which Christianity is intended to remedy, are guilt and wickedness: and these it does remedy most effectually. Forgiveness of sins is freely offered to every penitent believer, without any respect to the number or greatness of his offences: the blood of Jesus Christ shall cleanse him from all sin: if only the sinner believe in Jesus, he shall be justified from all things, without exception. But does Christianity make no provision for holiness? Does it leave men a prey to evil dispositions, and a torment to each other? No: it requires a change both of heart and life: it requires the exercise of universal love: it requires a conformity to God himself: it saves not one single person, whom it does not first of all change into the image of God, and make perfect as God himself is perfect. Were Christianity universally prevalent, and if it had its full operation in every heart, there would be no unkindness in men towards each other, nor any trouble in their own minds. O that its influence were more generally known, and more deeply felt! Let those at least who profess to have embraced it in sincerity and truth, shew forth its power. Let them shew what amiable tempers it produces in the mind, and what a lovely carriage it produces in the life. If at any time they receive an injury, instead of meditating revenge, let them say, Now has my God given me an opportunity of recommending religion, and of glorifying his name: now has he called me to display the excellency of his Gospel and the efficacy of his grace. Such conduct would serve as an evidence to our own minds that we are the Lords, and would constrain others also to acknowledge that God is with us of a truth.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
We must not suppose from those expressions at the close of the LORD’S prayer, as if the condition of our forgiveness was suspended upon our forgiving of others. Our glorious Lord could not be supposed to mean this, because our pardon and acceptance with GOD is wholly on CHRIST’S account. But it is meant as a blessed evidence of grace. Paul, his servant, marks the feature of a renewed heart as a precious token of Jesus’ love reigning there; be ye kind (saith he) one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for CHRIST’S sake hath forgiven you. Eph 4:32 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
Ver. 14. For if ye forgive men their trespasses ] Our Saviour resumeth, and inculcateth the fifth petition with a repetition; because upon charity (which is chiefly seen in giving and forgiving) hangeth, after a sort, the restful success of all our suits, 2Ti 2:8 . Malice is a leaven that swells the heart and sours the sacrifice, 1Co 5:7-8 . Out with it, therefore, that we may keep the feast or holy day ( ); that we may (as we ought to do) keep a constant jubilee, nexus solvendo, et noxus remittendo. This flesh and blood will not easily yield to. But we are not debtors to the flesh, Rom 8:12 ; we owe it nothing, but the blue eye that St Paul gave it, 1Co 9:27 , . When Peter heard that he might not recompense to any evil for evil, but most studiously seek his conversion and salvation, “Lord,” saith he, “how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?” this he thought a mighty deal, a very high pitch of perfection. Our Saviour tells him, till seventy times seven times, that is, infinitely, and without stint: yet he alludes to Peter’s seven, and, as it were, derides it, and his rashness in setting bounds to this duty and prescribing how often to him that was the wisdom of the Father.
This happens when my brother returneth and saith, It repents me. But what if he does not?
In forgiving an offender, say divines, there are three things: 1. The letting fall all wrath and desire of revenge. 2. A solemn profession of forgiveness. 3. Re-acceptance into former familiarity. The first must be done however. For the second, if he say, I repent, I must say, I remit, Luk 18:22 . To the third a man is bound till satisfaction be given.
Your heavenly Father will also forgive you ] Yet is not our forgiving men the cause of his forgiving us, but a necessary antecedent. The cause is only the free mercy of God in Christ. He puts away our iniquities for his own sake, Isa 43:25 . Nevertheless, forasmuch as he hath made us this promise here, our forgiving others (saith learned Beza) seemeth to have the nature of an intervenient cause, a cause, sine qua non, of his forgiving us. (Annot. in Luk 11:4 )
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
14, 15. ] Our Lord returns ( ) to explain the only part of the prayer which peculiarly belonged to the new law of love, and enforces it by a solemn assurance. On the sense, cf. Mar 11:25 , and the remarkable parallel Sir 28:2 ; , . . See Chrysostom’s most eloquent appeal on this verse, Hom. xix. 7, p. 255, end.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
if. Implying a contingency. Greek. ean (with Subj.) See App-118. Forgiveness was conditional in that dispensation of the kingdom.
trespasses = lapses, varying in degree. Greek plural of paraptoma.
heavenly. Here the emphasis is on Father, the adjective ouranios being used, instead of the noun, in regimen. It occurs only here, verses: Mat 6:26, Mat 6:32, Mat 6:13, Luk 2:13, Act 26:19; and in the critical texts, additional in Mat 5:48; Mat 18:35; Mat 23:9.
also forgive you = forgive you also (emphasis on “you”).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
14, 15.] Our Lord returns () to explain the only part of the prayer which peculiarly belonged to the new law of love, and enforces it by a solemn assurance. On the sense, cf. Mar 11:25, and the remarkable parallel Sir 28:2; , . . See Chrysostoms most eloquent appeal on this verse, Hom. xix. 7, p. 255, end.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 6:14. , for) referring to the twelfth verse. See of how much account it is to forgive our neighbour. Of the seven petitions, one alone, the fifth, has a certain condition or restriction, as we also; the reason of this is, therefore, added in the present verse.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Mat 6:12, Mat 7:2, Mat 18:21-35, Pro 21:13, Mar 11:25, Mar 11:26, Eph 4:32, Col 3:13, Jam 2:13, 1Jo 3:10
Reciprocal: Gen 50:17 – Forgive Gen 50:21 – I will nourish Exo 22:9 – for all manner of trespass Exo 34:7 – forgiving Deu 15:2 – exact it Deu 15:15 – General Jos 22:15 – General Pro 11:17 – merciful Mal 1:6 – if then Mat 5:7 – are Mat 6:9 – Our Mat 7:24 – whosoever Mat 18:22 – but Mat 18:35 – do Luk 6:37 – forgive Luk 11:4 – for Luk 11:13 – heavenly Luk 15:18 – Father Luk 17:4 – I repent 1Th 3:11 – God 1Ti 2:8 – without Phm 1:12 – thou Jam 5:9 – lest
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
God’s Forgiveness for Sins
Mat 6:14-15; Mat 18:21-35
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
The question which the words of our first text propound, is, Is forgiveness conditional? In answering this query we would say three things.
1. These words concerning forgiveness are spoken strictly to saints. Christ is not telling sinners about how they obtain pardon from their sins, but He is speaking to a covenant people; He is speaking unto those who can rightly address Him as, “Our Father, who art in Heaven.”
2. Salvation is not of works, therefore, the forgiveness spoken of in these words is entirely distinct from salvation. He does not say, “If you forgive men their trespasses, you shall be saved,” because salvation is of grace through faith and it is not to be obtained by doing anything. Salvation is spelled D-O-N-E and not D-O,
3. Forgiveness is a pre-requisite to fellowship. We cannot walk with Him, having sweet communion, if we are hiding sin in our heart. If the spirit of unforgiveness is separating us from fellowship with our brother, we may be assured that it is also separating us from fellowship with our God. “If we say we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: * * If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” Sonship and fellowship are distinct. We become the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus; we become children by being born of the Spirit; we have fellowship with God when we walk with God and talk with God. All believers have sonship, but not all believers have fellowship.
Now, with these three considerations, we are ready to answer the query, “Is forgiveness conditional?” and we answer positively that it is. If we forgive, we shall be forgiven.
Mat 18:21-35. These words tell us what happens unto the servant when he refuses forgiveness. If we forgive, we are forgiven, but if we forgive not, then, according to Mat 18:34 and Mat 18:35, our Lord will be wroth and deliver us to the tormentors until we have paid that which was due unto our fellow servants. This is what our Heavenly Father does unto us when in our hearts we refuse forgiveness for our brother, concerning his trespasses.
I. CHRIST PRAYING FOR HIS ENEMIES (Luk 23:34)
The words, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do,” carry us to the Cross of Christ and display before our vision the mercy and compassion of the Crucified.
Concerning this Cross there are two things we would like to emphasize.
1. The Cross as the climax of suffering. It is not customary to think of Calvary as portraying the deepest anguish that is possible among men, yet this is true. If we gathered together all the sorrows and all the sufferings of all the ages which sin has brought upon the human race, they would not more than equal the bitter cup of sorrow which the Lord Jesus drank upon the Cross.
The two thieves who hung upon the same hill with Him, suffered a similar physical anguish. They knew the pain of the piercing nails, they knew the misery of being stretched upon the wooden bars, but these men knew nothing of the deeper anguish of the Christ of the central Cross. Upon the Lord Jesus Christ hung the woes of the world.
There are dark pictures of hell in the Bible. It is described as the place where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. It was in hell that the rich man opened up his eyes, being in torments. In Revelation we read of the Lake of Fire where “the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night.” None of these pictures, however, can surpass in the way of suffering the “via miserable” that our Lord traveled as He went round and round the cycle of His suffering upon the Cross.
2. The Cross as the climax of mercy. This is a common note. We always delight in it. No verse is more often quoted than this one:
“God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.”
God Himself commends His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
The love displayed upon Calvary’s Cross surpasses any manifestation of love ever known to man. Scarcely for a righteous man would one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die, but Christ died for sinners. In His dying, He cried those marvelous words of our text, “Father, forgive them.” It was for this very reason that He did die, so that God through Christ’s expiatory and substitutionary work might reach down in mercy and save the lost sinner.
II. THE SAINTS’ ATTITUDE TOWARD THEIR ENEMIES (Mat 5:43-48)
1. We have before us the attitude of men toward their enemies. Christ said, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy.” This is the attitude of the natural man. To carry out such a human precept is not in the least difficult. It is easy to love those who love you, and quite as easy to hate those who despitefully use and persecute you.
2. The attitude of saints toward their enemies. Saints should love their enemies; bless them, and not curse them; do good to them, and not hate them; pray for them and not despise them.
This attitude certainly goes far beyond man’s ideas, or even the instructions of the Law. It carries us into the spirit of the Master Himself. The believer should do evil to none, but good to all.
Peter said, “How oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?” That would seem a climax of Christian grace, but Christ replied, “Until seventy times seven.”
The Christian should live peaceably with all men. He should never avenge himself. If his enemy hungers, he should feed him; if his enemy thirsts, he should give him drink; if the believer is smitten upon the right cheek, he should turn also the left; if his coat is taken away, he should give his cloak also.
3. The attitude of Christ toward His enemies. Our Scripture says, “For He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”
There are those who read these words, who will imagine that they do not tally with other statements of Scripture concerning God, in His attitude toward the wicked. For instance, we have often heard that God is angry with the wicked every day. Did not Christ take the whip of cords and drive forth the enemies of His Father’s House? Does not Christ at this very moment sit at the Father’s right hand anticipating until His enemies are made His footstool?
Yes, this is all true, but it is also true that the same God, who deals in absolute justice and righteousness against the wicked, also gave Christ to die for them. He stands today with His hands extended while He says, “Come, * * and I will give you rest.”
III. SEVENTY TIMES SEVEN (Mat 18:21-22)
In response to Peter’s question as to how oft he should forgive a sinning brother, Christ gave him the royal rule for forgiveness. It was unto seventy times seven. If we are going to follow the Lord Jesus in our attitude of forgiveness, we must remember how compassionate He is. Think of God in the days of Noah and His long-suffering while He waited as the ark was a-preparing, wherein a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. Think of all those weary years of Israel’s disobedience, as they tramped through the wilderness and as they passed on and on under the judges and then under the kings. Concerning these years, the Word of God remarks: “All day long I have stretched forth My hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.”
Let us remember how the Lord Jesus, when He was moving among Israel, during His earth-life, said, “How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”
If we are going to forgive as God forgives, and be patient and long-suffering, as He is patient and long-suffering, it will be unto seventy times seven.
IV. HOW GRACE FORGIVES (Luk 7:39-48)
A woman slipped into the home where Christ was eating with a Pharisee. This woman was a great sinner and the Lord Jesus knew it. Simon found fault with Him, saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth Him: for she is a sinner.” Jesus told Simon He had something to say to him. Then He said:
“There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell Me therefore, which of them will love him most?” Of course, there was but one answer that Simon could give and he said, “He, to whom he forgave most.” Christ told Simon he had rightly judged; then He turned unto the woman and said to Simon: “Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest Me no water for My feet: but she hath washed My feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest Me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss My feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed My feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much.”
How all of us should bow our heads in contrition and thanksgiving, as we thank God for the forgiveness of our so great a debt!
V. HOW GOD FORGAVE TWO SINNING SAINTS
1. David Forgiven (Psa 51:1-19).
We wish to mention David first, because David had wandered far from God. His bones waxed old with their roaring all the day. He had sinned and sinned grievously. David, however, made confession of his sin; he prayed to the Lord, acknowledging his guilt, and suing for peace. Then it was that the Lord heard him; He washed him from all his iniquity and cleansed him from all his sin, God never held that sin against David, in the after years because it was blotted out and for ever gone.
2. Peter forgiven (Luk 22:31).
The Lord knew that Peter would sin against Him and deny Him thrice. Thus it was that He said unto Peter, “Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee.” Then He told Peter, “When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”
The steps of Peter’s downfall are known to all, so also the steps of his restoration should be known. When Peter, stood in the room cursing and swearing and saying, “I do not know the man,” the Lord turned His compassionate eyes and looked at Peter. After His resurrection, a message was sent, saying, “Go * *, tell His disciples AND PETER”; then, later on, He appeared unto Peter and, finally, as they sat around the fire, He restored Peter fully to his place of fellowship and of service.
VI. THE BASIS AND REACH OF GOD’S FORGIVENESS
1. God’s basis of forgiveness (Eph 1:7).
If we owe God a debt and He forgives it, He must assume the loss as He gives us credit in full for our indebtedness. There must be a ground on which God forgives. On the one hand, of course, it is our confession, but bur confession does not lessen the fact of our debt; therefore, there must be an additional basis. The Word of God says, “In whom we have redemption through His Blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” God places the responsibility, the wages, the debt of our sin over on to Christ; Christ bears them all upon the Cross; He suffers, the Just for the unjust; therefore, God, in riches of grace, finds a ground on which His forgiveness can operate.
2. God’s far reach in forgiveness (Psa 103:3).
“Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases.” The Lord, our God, is speaking here primarily of Israel, in the coming days, when they shall be restored to the land, inheriting the earth. Then it is that all Israel’s iniquities shall be forgiven and all her sicknesses healed. There is, nevertheless, a glorious application of this Scripture to us. It does not matter how great the sin, He is a greater Saviour; if sin abounds, grace will much more abound. The reach of God’s forgiveness includes all sin.
AN ILLUSTRATION
The following item was clipped from a recent American publication and it tells its own story-one of magnanimity.
“Love your enemies, * * and pray for them which despitefully use you.” How impossibly ideal that seems at first! As a matter of fact, it is the most practical and rational for daily living that could be laid down.
In the course of the Armenian atrocities a young woman and her brother were pursued down the street by a Turkish soldier, cornered in an angle of the wall, and the brother was slain before his sister’s eyes. She dodged down an alley, leaped a wall and escaped. Later being a nurse, she was forced by the Turkish authorities to work in the military hospital. Into her ward was brought, one day, the same Turkish soldier who had slain her brother. He was very ill. A slight inattention would insure his death. The young woman, now safe in America, confesses to the bitter struggle that took place in her mind. The old Adam cried, “Vengeance”; the new Christ cried, “Love.” And equally to the man’s good and to her own, the better side of her conquered, and she nursed him as tenderly as any other patient in the ward.
The recognition had been mutual, and one day, unable longer to retain his curiosity, the Turk asked his nurse why she had not let him die; and when she replied, “I am a follower of Him who said ‘Love your enemies and do them good.'” he was silent for a long time.
At last he spoke: “I never knew there was such a religion. If that is your religion tell me more about it, for I want it.”
One is haunted by the idea that if, on any large scale, Christians should exhibit magnanimity as the Sermon on the Mount enjoins, there would be stirred up in the heart of this very bitter and vindictive world a wistful response like the Turk’s.
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
4-15
See the comments on verse 12 for the explanation of these.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 6:14-15. These verses explain the fifth petition (Mat 6:12), substituting the word trespass for debt, as some liturgies do in the Lords Prayer itself. In debt the notion of obligation is prominent, in trespass that of misstep, falling away from what is right. The adoption of this explanation shows that forgiveness and readiness to forgive were among the leading ideas of the prayer. They are distinctively Christian ideas. The people were not prepared to learn the true ground of forgiveness, the redeeming work of Christ, but the principle could be laid down. No man is forgiven of God (whatever be his understanding of the doctrine of justification by faith, his theoretical belief about the Person of Christ, and the work of the Holy Spirit) who has not received with the forgiveness of his own sins the spirit of forgiveness toward others. It is impossible that we should be forgiven, because we forgive others, for none can do this until forgiven of God for Christs sake. Because He is our forgiving Father, He will not brook an unforgiving spirit in us.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
There being no duty to which our corrupt natures are more backward than this of forgiving injuries, our Saviour repeats that duty over and over, and frequently inculcates it in the holy Gospels; assuring us, that forgiving others is the indispensable condition upon which we are to expect forgiveness from God.
Learn thence, That every time we go to God in prayer, and beg forgiveness of him, as we forgive others; if we do not forgive them heartily and sincerely, fully and freely, readily and willingly, we fly in the face of God, and our prayers are a sort of imprecations against ourselves.
Note farther, That although God promises us forgiveness if we forgive others; yet it is with this limitation, of no other condition of salvation be wanting, for this virtue alone cannot obtain favour with God, unless other duties are performed.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mat 6:14. If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you We are not to infer from this, that the forgiving of injuries alone will entitle us to pardon. Surely not. Repentance toward God, and fruits worthy of repentance, as also faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, working by love, overcoming the world, and purifying the heart, are absolutely necessary, as is frequently stated elsewhere in the discourses of our Lord, and in the writings of the apostles and evangelists.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
6:14 {4} For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
(4) They that forgive wrongs, to them sins are forgiven, but revenge is prepared for them that take revenge.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
These verses explain the thought of the fifth petition (Mat 6:12) more fully. Repetition stresses the importance of forgiving one another if we want God’s forgiveness (cf. Mat 18:23-35). Our horizontal relationships with other people must be correct before our vertical relationship with God can be.
"Prayer is straightforward and simple for those who have experienced the grace of the kingdom in Christ. In prayer the disciple does not try to coerce or manipulate God. There are no magical words or formulae, nor does an abundance of words count with God. Short, direct, and sincere prayers are adequate." [Note: Hagner, p. 152.]
"The sample prayer, it can be concluded, is given in the context of the coming kingdom. The first three requests are petitions for the coming of the kingdom. The last three are for the needs of the disciples in the interim preceding the establishment of the kingdom." [Note: Toussaint, Behold the . . ., p. 112.]