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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 18:21

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Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

21. till seven times? ] The Rabbinical rule was that no one should ask forgiveness of his neighbour more than thrice. Peter, who asks as a scribe a scribe’s question, thought he was making a great advance in liberality and shewing himself worthy of the Kingdom of heaven. But the question itself indicates complete misunderstanding of the Christian spirit.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Then came Peter … – The mention of the duty Mat 18:15 of seeing a brother when he had offended us, implying that it was a duty to forgive him, led Peter to ask how often this was to be done.

Forgive him – To forgive is to treat as though the offence was not committed – to declare that we will not harbor malice or treat unkindly, but that the matter shall be buried and forgotten.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Mat 18:21-22

Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?

The forgiveness of injuries

I. The best exemplification of the spirit of forgiveness is our Lords own life. There were two kinds of sin in these days of which Christ took cognizance; those against society or the race, and those against Himself. To each He applied the principle of the text. He forgave the vilest sinners who came to Him; and Saul who persecuted His Church. But we find the highest illustrations of His love when we mark His dealings with the souls He seeks to save. Christ does not turn against the man who rejects Him.

II. This principle is intended to guide us in our actions towards our fellows.

1. Shall not Christians be forbearing towards other men. Let us bear wrong in as generous a spirit as we can. The feeling of brotherhood must be kept higher than that of revenge.

2. This law must be observed in the family.

3. Christ teaches the spirit in which we must regard offenders whose sin is against society. Unlimited forgiveness you will say is unpractical. Put it into action, and let it fail. Christianity conquers by failing; its martyrs are its victors. This is not a dead law; but life-giving. (A. J. Griffith.)

Forgiveness of offences

I. A personal offence is anything whereby we are personally injured in our feelings, our reputation, our person or estate. A public offence is one by which the Church is injured by any of its interests.

II. The question is, what is our duty in reference to personal offences?

1. We should not cherish any malignant or revengeful feelings towards those who injure us.

2. We should not retaliate, or avenge ourselves on our offenders.

3. We should cherish towards those who offend us the feelings of kindness, regarding them with that benevolence which forbids our wishing them any harm.

4. We should treat them in our outward conduct with kindness, returning good for evil and acting towards them as though they had not injured us.

III. When are we to forgive? There are two classes of passages which bear upon this subject.

1. Those which prescribe the condition of repentance (Luk 17:3).

2. Those in which no such condition is prescribed (Mat 6:14; Mat 18:21; Mat 5:44-45). So Christ prayed for His crucifiers. So Stephen prayed. So is God in His dealings with us. These passages are not inconsistent. The word forgiveness is used in a wider or a stricter sense. In the wider sense, it includes negatively, not having a spirit of revenge; and positively, exercising a spirit of kindness and love, and manifesting that spirit by all appropriate outward acts. This is forgiveness as a Christians duty in all cases. In a more restricted sense it is the remission of the penalty due to an offence. This is illustrated in the case of an offence against the Church. Repentance is the condition only of the remission of the penalty, not of forgiveness in the wider sense. There are penalties proper to private as well as public offences.

IV. Grounds of the duty.

1. Gods command.

2. Gods example.

3. Our own need of forgiveness. Our sins against God are innumerable and unspeakably great.

4. The threatening that we shall not be forgiven unless we forgive others.

5. It is a dictate of Christian love. (C. Hodge, D. D.)

The duty of forgiveness

I. Is urged by a consideration of the greatness of Gods mercy to us.

II. Of the lightness of our brothers sins.

III. Of the terrible consequences of indulging an unforgiving spirit. (Dr. Dobie.)

The forgiveness of sires

1. If God commands us thus to forgive, there must be an infinite ocean of forgiving love in His own heart.

2. That Gods forgiveness is altogether above mans conception of it. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)

A forgiving spirit essential to vital religion

I. The Christian duty of forgiveness.

II. The consequences of refusing to fulfil that duty. (B. W. Noel, M. A.)

The duty of forgiving offences

There are many wrong notions about forgiveness. Consider the following conspicuous points-

I. The principle of forgiveness is single.

II. Forgiveness and forbearance are two separate principles of action.

III. The object of the Christian religion is to make like God, and therefore the Christian is called upon to imitate God in his action.

IV. Compassion and forgiveness are very different things.

V. Forgiveness has an element of justice in it. (N. Schenck, D. D.)

Limited forgiveness

This question was framed in the very spirit of the old law of retaliation. By proposing any limit whatever to forgiveness, Peter showed that he still considered that to forgive was the exceptional thing, was to forego a right which must some time be reassumed, was not an eternal law of the kingdom, but only a tentative measure which at any moment may be revoked; that underneath the forgiveness we extend to an erring brother, there lies a right to revenge which we may at any time assert. This feeling, wherever it exists shows that we are living with retaliation for the law, forgiveness for the exception. But Christs law is, that forgiveness shall be unlimited. (Marcus Dods, D. D.)

Injuries not to be made public

A man strikes me with a sword, and inflicts a wound. Suppose, instead of binding up the wound, I am showing it to everybody, and after it has been bound up I am taking off the bandage constantly, and examining the depths of the wound, and making it fester, is there a person in the world who would not call me a fool? However, such a fool is he who, by dwelling upon little injuries or insults, causes them to agitate and influence his mind. How much better were it to put a bandage on the wound and never look to it again. (Simeon.)

The superior influence of forgiveness

A soldier in the American army heard of the severe illness of his wife. He applied for leave of absence but was refused. He left the army, but before he got away he was retaken, and brought in as a deserter. He was tried, found guilty, and summoned before the commanding officer to receive his sentence. He entered the tent, saluted, and stood perfectly unmoved while the officer read his fearful doom-To be shot to death with musketry on the next Friday. Not a muscle of his face twitched, not a limb quivered. I deserve it, sir, he replied, respectfully; I deserted from my flag. Is that all, sir? -No, replied the officer-I have something else for you; and, taking another paper, he read aloud the doomed mans pardon. The undaunted spirit which severity had failed to move was completely broken down by clemency. He dropped to the ground, shaking, sobbing, and overcome, and, being restored to his regiment, proved himself grateful for the mercy shown him, and was soon promoted for good conduct.

Forgiveness awakens gratitude

A private was court-martialled for sleeping at his post. He was convicted, sentenced to death, and the day fixed for his execution. But, the case reaching the ears of the President, he resolved to save him; he signed a pardon and sent it to the camp. The day came. Suppose, thought the President, my pardon has not reached him. The telegraph was called into requisition; but no answer came. Then, ordering his carriage, he rode ten miles and saw that the soldier was saved. When the Third Vermont charged upon the rifle-pits, the enemy poured a volley upon them. The first man who fell, with six bullets in his body, was William Scott, of Company K. His comrades caught him up; and, as his life-blood ebbed away, he raised to heaven, amid the din of the war, the cries of the dying, and the shouts of the enemy, a prayer for the president. (Moore.)

Forgiveness

Peters question showed that he wholly misunderstood the nature of forgiveness. He thought it was something he might withhold or give as he pleased. Our Lord shows that it is a state of the heart which cannot be called forth by order or calculation.

I. Both in the parable and in the teaching of our Lord here it is admitted that all men have claims on one another. These are not to be compared, in point of magnitude, with the claims which God has on all, but still they are claims. The man who is debtor towards God may be a creditor towards somebody, and the man who has committed most wrongs may be able, in his turn, to say that there is some one who has wronged him.

II. Admitting to the full the claims which one man has against another in the way of personal offences, yet there is something of more importance still than the rectifying of a wrong act or word. His of importance to have the wrong righted, but Jesus Christ has more respect still to the character, repentance, and restoration of the individual who has offended. It is difficult to realize that the offender has inflicted a worse injury on himself than on the offended, the injury he has wrought on his own spirit. This truth will come out more clearly when you consider the precepts Christ gives for guidance in the matter, and the great result of success-Tell him his fault between thee, etc., Thou hast gained thy brother. This is above all personal gain. Charity is victory.

III. This duty of forgiveness is enforced by a parable where our claims on others are placed in contrast with Gods claims on us. We have no hope but in forgiveness. If we feel the need of Divine compassion, have we not learned the worth of it towards our fellow-creatures. (A. Watson, D. D.)

Forgiveness not a matter of calculation

Suppose a man were to put the question, How often must I admire what is beautiful and great in creation? how often must I cherish affection for my child? how often must I honour God? how often must I practise the duty of kindness? or how often must I feel sympathy for the unhappy and the suffering? You will see that any answer which could be given to such a question would be misleading, simply because the question proceeded on a false notion of what admiration, or affection, or sympathy is. To give a direct answer to such questions, you could only say, in Christs words, Until seventy times seven i.e., numbers have nothing to do with the matter. Forgiveness is a simple state of mind, like admiration of Gods creation, for which all that a man needs is a sense of beauty and order in his nature, Forgiveness is a state of heart, just as affection or sympathy is. And no man thinks of determining how often and how far he must feel sympathy, or how often and how far he must love those who are dear to him. The sympathy is always there, the love is always in the heart, and it requires only to be appealed to and touched to come forth. You could not imagine a man of genuine tenderness of heart making up his mind and calculating whether he should feel pity for a case of distress or not. You could not imagine a friend debating with himself whether he would sympathize with his friend in some calamity. Sympathy is free and spontaneous; it does not come and go at ones call: love is only love; sympathy is only sympathy, when it cant help itself. (A. Watson, D. D.)

The offender the greatest sufferer, and therefore needs pity most

If a man, in robbing us of a trifle, were to meet with an accident which disabled him and made him a sufferer for life, we should feel that his punishment far exceeded our loss; and most of us would have the heart to commiserate him, even though he had only himself to blame. And if the injury is not to life or limb, but to the immortal part of the man-if he destroys his own spiritual life-we should commiserate him all the more. (A. Watson, D. D.)

Forgiveness must be real and true

We may not forgive with our lips, and bear malice in our hearts. Such sham forgiveness is only too common. A man was lying on his sick bed, and the clergyman by his side was urging him to be reconciled to some one who had injured him. After much persuasion the man said, If I die I will forgive him, but if I live he had better keep out of my way. And again, our forgiveness must be willing, not forced from us. (Buxton Wilmot.)

Forgive and forget

How many are there who profess to forgive, but cannot forget, an injury. Such are like persons who sweep the chamber, but leave the dust behind the door. Whenever we grant our offending brother a discharge, our hearts also should set their hands to the acquittance. (Archbishop Secker.)

A sensibility to injury not sinful

We may without sin he sensible of injuries (a sheep is as sensible of a bite as a swine); but it must be with the silence of a sheep, or at utmost the mourning of a dove, not the roaring of a bear, or bellowing of a bull, when baited. All desire of revenge must be carefully cast out; and if the wrongdoer say, I repent, you must say, I remit, and that from the heart; being herein like that king of England of whom it is said that he never forgot anything but injuries. (John Trapp.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 21. Till seven times?] Though seven was a number of perfection among the Hebrews, and often meant much more than the units in it imply, yet it is evident that Peter uses it here in its plain literal sense, as our Lord’s words sufficiently testify. It was a maxim among the Jews never to forgive more than thrice: Peter enlarges this charity more than one half; and our Lord makes even his enlargement septuple, see Mt 18:22. Revenge is natural to man, i.e. man is naturally a vindictive being, and, in consequence, nothing is more difficult to him than forgiveness of injuries.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Luke hath something like this Luk 17:4, but it seemeth to have been spoken at another time, and upon some other occasion; yet the sense is much the same, and there are who think that Peters mention of seven times arose from our Saviours command there, that we should forgive our brother offending us seven times, when our Saviour by it intended not a certain and definite number, but a number uncertain and indefinite. But it is a greater question, what sinning and what forgiveness is there meant, I cannot think that our Saviour here speaketh concerning the churchs absolving scandalous sinners justly excommunicated, but of the private forgiveness of injuries done to us; it is not the church, but I forgive him; for although the doors of the church ought to be as open to a repenting sinner as the doors of heaven are, yet I think both the phrase of the text and the following parable (which seemeth to me a comment upon this text) seem to lead us to the interpretation of these verses as to private wrongs or injuries; they are properly sins against us, and such as it is in every single persons power to forgive. But it seems hard that Christians should be obliged to forgive another his private wrongs so often as he doth them, if he will go on without end multiplying affronts and injuries to us; we must therefore know, that our Saviour by this precept doth not oblige any to take his enemy into his bosom, and make him his intimate or confidant again; but only to lay aside all malice, all thoughts and desires of revenge towards him, to put on a charitable frame of spirit towards him, so as to be ready to do him any common offices of friendship. Thus far we are obliged to forgive those that do us injuries, so often as they stand in need of forgiveness. The apostle, Col 3:8, speaks of wrath, malice, &c., as pieces of the old man, which every true Christian hath put off, and calls upon us in malice to be children.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

21. Then came Peter to him, andsaid, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgivehim?In the recent dispute, Peter had probably been an objectof special envy, and his forwardness in continually answering for allthe rest would likely be cast up to himand if so, probably byJudasnotwithstanding his Master’s commendations. And as suchinsinuations were perhaps made once and again, he wished to know howoften and how long he was to stand it.

till seven times?Thisbeing the sacred and complete number, perhaps his meaning was, Isthere to be a limit at which the needful forbearance will be full?

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Then came Peter unto him,…. Having heard and observed the rules Christ gave concerning offences and brotherly reproofs, he drew near to Christ, and put this question to him:

and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? He instances in a brother, because it was such an one Christ had been speaking of; he makes no doubt of its being his duty to forgive him upon his repentance, and acknowledgment, but wanted to be reformed, how often this was to be done, and asks, whether

until seven times? Which was, as he might think, a large number; and especially, since it was double the number of times, that the Jewish doctors set for forgiveness: for thus they say d,

“A man that commits a sin, the “first” time they pardon him; the “second” time they pardon him; the “third” time they pardon him: the “fourth” time they do not pardon, according to Am 2:6.”

Again,

“he that says I have sinned, and I repent, they forgive him “unto three times”, and no more e.”

d T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 36. 2. Mainion. Hilch. Teshuba. c. 3. sect. 5. e Abot. R. Nathan, c. 40. fol. 9. 3.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Christian Worshippers Encouraged; The Cruel Creditor.

21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. 23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. 24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. 28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, which owed him a hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. 29 And his fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. 32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: 33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee? 34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. 35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

This part of the discourse concerning offences is certainly to be understood of personal wrongs, which is in our power to forgive. Now observe,

I. Peter’s question concerning this matter (v. 21); Lord, how oft shall my brother trespass against me, and I forgive him? Will it suffice to do it seven times?

1. He takes it for granted that he must forgive; Christ had before taught his disciples this lesson (Mat 6:14; Mat 6:15), and Peter has not forgotten it. He knows that he must not only not bear a grudge against his brother, or meditate revenge, but be as good a friend as ever, and forget the injury.

2. He thinks it is a great matter to forgive till seven times; he means not seven times a day, as Christ said (Luke xvii. 4), but seven times in his life; supposing that if a man had any way abused him seven times, though he were ever so desirous to be reconciled, he might then abandon his society, and have no more to do with him. Perhaps Peter had an eye to Prov. xxiv. 16. A just man falleth seven times; or to the mention of three transgressions, and four, which God would no more pass by, Amos ii. 1. Note, There is a proneness in our corrupt nature to stint ourselves in that which is good, and to be afraid of doing too much in religion, particularly of forgiving too much, though we have so much forgiven us.

II. Christ’s direct answer to Peter’s question; I say not unto thee, Until seven times (he never intended to set up any such bounds), but, Until seventy times seven; a certain number for an indefinite one, but a great one. Note, It does not look well for us to keep count of the offences done against us by our brethren. There is something of ill-nature in scoring up the injuries we forgive, as if we would allow ourselves to be revenged when the measure is full. God keeps an account (Deut. xxxii. 34), because he is the Judge, and vengeance is his; but we must not, lest we be found stepping into his throne. It is necessary to the preservation of peace, both within and without, to pass by injuries, without reckoning how often; to forgive, and forget. God multiplies his pardons, and so should we, Psa 77:38; Psa 77:40. It intimates that we should make it our constant practice to forgive injuries, and should accustom ourselves to it till it becomes habitual.

III. A further discourse of our Saviour’s, by way of parable, to show the necessity of forgiving the injuries that are done to us. Parables are of use, not only for the pressing of Christian duties; for they make and leave an impression. The parable is a comment upon the fifth petition of the Lord’s prayer, Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. Those, and those only, may expect to be forgiven of God, who forgive their brethren. The parable represents the kingdom of heaven, that is, the church, and the administration of the gospel dispensation in it. The church is God’s family, it is his court; there he dwells, there he rules. God is our master; his servants we are, at least in profession and obligation. In general, the parable intimates how much provocation God has from his family on earth, and how untoward his servants are.

There are three things in the parable.

1. The master’s wonderful clemency to his servant who was indebted to him; he forgave him ten thousand talents, out of pure compassion to him, v. 23-27. Where observe,

(1.) Every sin we commit is a debt to God; not like a debt to an equal, contracted by buying or borrowing, but to a superior; like a debt to a prince when a recognizance is forfeited, or a penalty incurred by a breech of the law or a breach of the peace; like the debt of a servant to his master, by withholding his service, wasting his lord’s goods, breaking his indentures, and incurring the penalty. We are all debtors; we owe satisfaction, and are liable to the process of the law.

(2.) There is an account kept of these debts, and we must shortly be reckoned with for them. This king would take account of his servants. God now reckons with us by our own consciences; conscience is an auditor for God in the soul, to call us to account, and to account with us. One of the first questions that an awakened Christian asks, is, How much owest thou unto my Lord? And unless it be bribed, it will tell the truth, and not write fifty for a hundred. There is another day of reckoning coming, when these accounts will be called over, and either passed or disallowed, and nothing but the blood of Christ will balance the account.

(3.) The debt of sin is a very great debt; and some are more in debt, by reason of sin, than others. When he began to reckon, one of the first defaulters appeared to owe ten thousand talents. There is no evading the enquiries of divine justice; your sin will be sure to find you out. The debt was ten thousand talents, a vast sum, amounting by computation to one million eight hundred and seventy-five thousand pounds sterling; a king’s ransom or a kingdom’s subsidy, more likely than a servant’s debt; see what our sins are, [1.] For the heinousness of their nature; they are talents, the greatest denomination that ever was used in the account of money or weight. Every sin is the load of a talent, a talent of lead, this is wickedness,Zec 5:7; Zec 5:8. The trusts committed to us, as stewards of the grace of God, are each of them a talent (ch. xxv. 15), a talent of gold, and for every one of them buried, much more for every one of them wasted, we are a talent in debt, and this raises the account. [2.] For the vastness of their number; they are ten thousand, a myriad, more than the hairs on our head, Ps. xl. 12. Who can understand the number of his errors, or tell how oft he offends? Ps. xix. 12.

(4.) The debt of sin is so great, that we are not able to pay it; He had not to pay. Sinners are insolvent debtors; the scripture, which concludes all under sin, is a statute of bankruptcy against us all. Silver and gold would not pay our debt, Psa 49:6; Psa 49:7. Sacrifice and offering would not do it; our good works are but God’s work in us, and cannot make satisfaction; we are without strength, and cannot help ourselves.

(5.) If God should deal with us in strict justice; we should be condemned as insolvent debtors, and God might exact the debt by glorifying himself in our utter ruin. Justice demands satisfaction, Currat, lex–Let the sentence of the law be executed. The servant had contracted this debt by his wastefulness and wilfulness, and therefore might justly be left to lie by it. His lord commanded him to be sold, as a bond-slave into the galleys, sold to grind in the prison-house; his wife and children to be sold, and all that he had, and payment to be made. See here what every sin deserves; this is the wages of sin. [1.] To be sold. Those that sell themselves to work wickedness, must be sold, to make satisfaction. Captives to sin are captives to wrath. He that is sold for a bond-slave is deprived of all his comforts, and has nothing left him but his life, that he may be sensible of his miseries; which is the case of damned sinners. [2.] Thus he would have payment to be made, that is, something done towards it; though it is impossible that the sale of one so worthless should amount to the payment of so great a debt. By the damnation of sinners divine justice will be to eternity in the satisfying, but never satisfied.

(6.) Convinced sinners cannot but humble themselves before God, and pray for mercy. The servant, under this charge, and this doom, fell down at the feet of his royal master, and worshipped him; or, as some copies read it, he besought him; his address was very submissive and very importunate; Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all, v. 26. The servant knew before that he was so much in debt, and yet was under no concern about it, till he was called to an account. Sinners are commonly careless about the pardon of their sins, till they come under the arrests of some awakening word, some startling providence, or approaching death, and then, Wherewith shall I come before the Lord? Mic. vi. 6. How easily, how quickly, can God bring the proudest sinner to his feet; Ahab to his sackcloth, Manasseh to his prayers, Pharaoh to his confessions, Judas to his restitution, Simon Magus to his supplication, Belshazzar and Felix to their tremblings. The stoutest heart will fail, when God sets the sins in order before it. This servant doth not deny the debt, nor seek evasions, nor go about to abscond.

But, [1.] He begs time; Have patience with me. Patience and forbearance are a great favour, but it is folly to think that these alone will save us; reprieves are not pardons. Many are borne with, who are not thereby brought to repentance (Rom. ii. 4), and then their being borne with does them no kindness.

[2.] He promises payment; Have patience awhile, and I will pay thee all. Note, It is the folly of many who are under convictions of sin, to imagine that they can make God satisfaction for the wrong they have done him; as those who, like a compounding bankrupt, would discharge the debt, by giving their first-born for their transgressions (Mic. vi. 7), who go about to establish their own righteousness, Rom. x. 3. He that had nothing to pay with (v. 25) fancied he could pay all. See how close pride sticks, even to awakened sinners; they are convinced, but not humbled.

(7.) The God of infinite mercy is very ready, out of pure compassion, to forgive the sins of those that humble themselves before him (v. 27); The lord of that servant, when he might justly have ruined him, mercifully released him; and, since he could not be satisfied by the payment of the debt, he would be glorified by the pardon of it. The servant’s prayer was, Have patience with me; the master’s grant is a discharge in full. Note, [1.] The pardon of sin is owing to the mercy of God, to his tender mercy (Luk 1:77; Luk 1:78); He was moved with compassion. God’s reasons of mercy are fetched from within himself; he has mercy because he will have mercy. God looked with pity on mankind in general, because miserable, and sent his Son to be a Surety for them; he looks with pity on particular penitents, because sensible of their misery (their hearts broken and contrite), and accepts them in the Beloved. [2.] There is forgiveness with God for the greatest sins, if they be repented of. Though the debt was vastly great, he forgave it all, v. 32. Though our sins be very numerous and very heinous, yet, upon gospel terms, they may be pardoned. [3.] The forgiving of the debt is the loosing of the debtor; He loosed him. The obligation is cancelled, the judgment vacated; we never walk at liberty till our sins are forgiven. But observe, Though he discharged him from the penalty as a debtor, he did not discharge him from his duty as a servant. The pardon of sin doth not slacken, but strengthen, our obligations to obedience; and we must reckon it a favour that God is pleased to continue such wasteful servants as we have been in such a gainful service as his is, and should therefore deliver us, that we might serve him, Luke i. 74. I am thy servant, for thou hast loosed my bonds.

2. The servant’s unreasonable severity toward his fellow-servant, notwithstanding his lord’s clemency toward him, v. 28-30. This represents the sin of those who, though they are not unjust in demanding that which is not their own, yet are rigorous and unmerciful in demanding that which is their own, to the utmost of right, which sometimes proves a real wrong. Summum jus summa injuria–Push a claim to an extremity, and it becomes a wrong. To exact satisfaction for debts of injury, which tends neither to reparation nor to the public good, but purely for revenge, though the law may allow it, in terrorem–in order to strike terror, and for the hardness of men’s hearts, yet savours not of a Christian spirit. To sue for money-debts, when the debt or cannot possibly pay them, and so let him perish in prison, argues a greater love of money, and a less love of our neighbour, than we ought to have, Neh. v. 7.

See here, (1.) How small the debt was, how very small, compared with the ten thousand talents which his lord forgave him; He owed him a hundred pence, about three pounds and half a crown of our money. Note, Offences done to men are nothing to those which are committed against God. Dishonours done to a man like ourselves are but as peace, motes, gnats; but dishonours done to God are as talents, beams, camels. Not that therefore we may make light of wronging our neighbour, for that is also a sin against God; but therefore we should make light of our neighbour’s wronging us, and not aggravate it, or study revenge. David was unconcerned as the indignities done to him; I, as a deaf man, heard not; but laid much to heart the sins committed against God; for them, rivers of tears ran down his eyes.

(2.) How severe the demand was; He laid hands on him, and took him by the throat. Proud and angry men think, if the matter of their demand be just, that will bear them out, though the manner of it be ever so cruel and unmerciful; but it will not hold. What needed all this violence? The debt might have been demanded without taking the debtor by the throat; without sending for a writ, or setting the bailiff upon him. How lordly is this man’s carriage, and yet how base and servile is his spirit! If he had been himself going to prison for his debt to his lord, his occasions would have been so pressing, that he might have had some pretence for going to this extremity in requiring his own; but frequently pride and malice prevail more to make men severe than the most urgent necessity would do.

(3.) How submissive the debtor was; His fellow servant, though his equal, yet knowing how much he lay at his mercy, fell down at his feet, and humbled himself to him for this trifling debt, as much as he did to his lord for that great debt; for the borrower is servant to the lender, Prov. xxii. 7. Note, Those who cannot pay their debts ought to be very respectful to their creditors, and not only give them good words, but do them all the good offices they possibly can: they must not be angry at those who claim their own, nor speak ill of them for it, no, not though they do it in a rigorous manner, but in that case leave it to God to plead their cause. The poor man’s request is, Have patience with me; he honestly confesses the debt, and puts not his creditor to the charge of proving it, only begs time. Note, Forbearance, though it be no acquittance, is sometimes a piece of needful and laudable charity. As we must not be hard, so we must not be hasty, in our demands, but think how long God bears with us.

(4.) How implacable and furious the creditor was (v. 30); He would not have patience with him, would not hearken to his fair promise, but without mercy cast him into prison. How insolently did he trample upon one as good as himself, that submitted to him! How cruelly did he use one that had done him no harm, and though it would be no advantage to himself! In this, as in a glass, unmerciful creditors may see their own faces, who take pleasure in nothing more than to swallow up and destroy (2 Sam. xx. 19), and glory in having their poor debtors’ bones.

(5.) How much concerned the rest of the servants were; They were very sorry (v. 31), sorry for the creditor’s cruelty, and for the debtor’s calamity. Note, The sins and sufferings of our fellow-servants should be a matter of grief and trouble to us. It is sad that any of our brethren should either make themselves beast of prey, by cruelty and barbarity; or be made beasts of slavery, by the inhuman usage of those who have power over them. To see a fellow-servant, either raging like a bear or trampled on like a worm, cannot but occasion great regret to all that have any jealousy for the honour either of their nature of their religion. See with what eye Solomon looked both upon the tears of the oppressed, and the power of the oppressors, Eccl. iv. 1.

(6.) How notice of it was brought to the master; They came, and told their lord. They durst not reprove their fellow-servant for it, he was so unreasonable and outrageous (let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than such a fool in his folly); but they went to their lord, and besought him to appear for the oppressed against the oppressor. Note, That which gives us occasion for sorrow, should give us occasion for prayer. Let our complaints both of the wickedness of the wicked and of the afflictions of the afflicted, be brought to God, and left with him.

3. The master’s just resentment of the cruelty his servant was guilty of. If the servants took it so ill, much more would the master, whose compassions are infinitely above ours. Now observe here,

(1.) How he reproved his servant’s cruelty (Mat 18:32; Mat 18:33); O thou wicked servant. Note, Unmercifulness is wickedness, it is great wickedness. [1.] He upbraids him with the mercy he had found with his master; I forgive thee all that debt. Those that will use God’s favours, shall never be upbraided with them, but those that abuse them, may expect it, ch. xi. 20. Consider, It was all that debt, that great debt. Note, The greatness of sin magnifies the riches of pardoning mercy: we should think how much has been forgiven us, Luke vii. 47. [2.] He thence shows him the obligation he was under to be merciful to his fellow-servant; Shouldst not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee? Note, It is justly expected, that such as have received mercy, should show mercy. Dat ille veniam facile, cui venia est opus–He who needs forgiveness, easily bestows it. Senec. Agamemn. He shows him, First, That he should have been more compassionate to the distress of his fellow servant, because he had himself experienced the same distress. What we have had the feeling of ourselves, we can the better have the fellow feeling of with our brethren. The Israelites knew the heart of a stranger, for they were strangers; and this servant should have better known the heart of an arrested debtor, than to have been thus hard upon such a one. Secondly, That he should have been more conformable to the example of his master’s tenderness, having himself experienced it, so much to his advantage. Note, The comfortable sense of pardoning mercy tends much to the disposing of our hearts to forgive our brethren. It was in the close of the day o atonement that the jubilee trumpet sounded a release of debts (Lev. xxv. 9); for we must have compassion on our brethren, as God has on us.

(2.) How he revoked his pardon and cancelled the acquittance, so that the judgment against him revived (v. 34); He delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. Though the wickedness was very great, his lord laid upon him no other punishment than the payment of his own debt. Note, Those that will not come up to the terms of the gospel need be no more miserable than to be left open to the law, and to let that have its course against them. See how the punishment answers the sin; he that would not forgive shall not be forgiven; He delivered him to the tormentors; the utmost he could do to his fellow servant was but to cast him into prison, but he was himself delivered to the tormentors. Note, The power of God’s wrath to ruin us, goes far beyond the utmost extent of any creature’s strength and wrath. The reproaches and terrors of his own conscience would be his tormentors, for that is a worm that dies not; devils, the executioners of God’s wrath, that are sinners’ tempters now, will be their tormentors for ever. He was sent to Bridewell till he should pay all. Note, Our debts to God are never compounded; either all is forgiven or all is exacted; glorified saints in heaven are pardoned all, through Christ’s complete satisfaction; damned sinners in hell are paying all, that is, are punished for all. The offence done to God by sin is in point of honour, which cannot be compounded for without such a diminution as the case will by no means admit, and therefore, some way or other, by the sinner or by his surety, it must be satisfied.

Lastly, Here is the application of the whole parable, (v. 35); So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you. The title Christ here gives to God was made use of, v. 19, in a comfortable promise; It shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven; here it is made use of in a terrible threatening. If God’s governing be fatherly, it follows thence, that it is righteous, but it does not therefore follow that it is not rigorous, or that under his government we must not be kept in awe by the fear of the divine wrath. When we pray to God as our Father in heaven, we are taught to ask for the forgiveness of sins, as we forgive our debtors. Observe here,

1. The duty of forgiving; we must from our hearts forgive. Note, We do not forgive our offending brother aright, nor acceptably, if we do not forgive from the heart; for that is it that God looks at. No malice must be harboured there, nor ill will to any person, one or another; no projects of revenge must be hatched there, nor desires of it, as there are in many who outwardly appear peaceable and reconciled. Yet this is not enough; we must from the heart desire and seek the welfare even of those that have offended us.

2. The danger of not forgiving; So shall your heavenly Father do. (1.) This is not intended to teach us that God reverses his pardons to any, but that he denies them to those that are unqualified for them, according to the tenour of the gospel; though having seemed to be humbled, like Ahab, they thought themselves, and others thought them, in a pardoned state, and they made bold with the comfort of it. Intimations enough we have in scripture of the forfeiture of pardons, for caution to the presumptuous; and yet we have security enough of the continuance of them, for comfort to those that are sincere, but timorous; that the one may fear, and the other may hope. Those that do not forgive their brother’s trespasses, did never truly repent of their own, nor ever truly believe the gospel; and therefore that which is taken away is only what they seemed to have, Luke viii. 18. (2.) This is intended to teach us, that they shall have judgment without mercy, that have showed no mercy, Jam. ii. 13. It is indispensably necessary to pardon and peace, that we not only do justly, but love mercy. It is an essential part of that religion which is pure and undefiled before God and the Father, of that wisdom from above, which is gentle, and easy to be entreated. Look how they will answer it another day, who, though they bear the Christian name, persist in the most rigorous and unmerciful treatment of their brethren, as if the strictest laws of Christ might be dispensed with for the gratifying of their unbridled passions; and so they curse themselves every time they say the Lord’s prayer.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Until seven times? ( ?) Peter thought that he was generous as the Jewish rule was three times (Am 1:6). His question goes back to verse 15. “Against me” is genuine here. “The man who asks such a question does not really know what forgiveness means” (Plummer).

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Mat 18:21

. Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me? Peter made this objection according to the natural feelings and disposition of the flesh. It is natural to all men to wish to be forgiven; and, therefore, if any man does not immediately obtain forgiveness, he complains that he is treated with sternness and cruelty. But those who demand to be treated gently are far from being equally gentle towards others; and therefore, when our Lord exhorted his disciples to meekness, this doubt occurred to Peter: “If we be so strongly disposed to grant forgiveness, what will be the consequence, but that our lenity shall be an inducement to offend ?” (571) He asks, therefore, if it be proper frequently to forgive offenders; for, since the number seven is taken for a large number, the force of the adverb, ( ἑπτάκις) seven times, is the same as if he had said, “How long, Lord, dost thou wish that offenders be received into favor? for it is unreasonable, and by no means advantageous, that they should, in every case, find us willing to be reconciled.” But Christ is so far from yielding to this objection, that he expressly declares that there ought to be no limit to forgiving; (572) for he did not intend to lay down a fixed number, but rather to enjoin us never to become wearied.

Luke differs somewhat from Matthew; for he states the command of Christ to be simply, that we should be prepared to forgive seven times; but the meaning is the same, that we ought to be ready and prepared to grant forgiveness not once or twice, but as often as the sinner shall repent There is only this difference between them, that, according to Matthew, our Lord, in reproving Peter for taking too limited a view, employs hyperbolically a larger number, which of itself is sufficient to point out the substance of what is intended. For when Peter asked if he should forgive seven times, it was not because he did not choose to go any farther, but, by presenting the appearance of a great absurdity, to withdraw Christ from his opinion, as I have lately hinted. So then he who shall be prepared to forgive seven times will be willing to be reconciled as far as to the seventieth offense.

But the words of Luke give rise to another question; for Christ does not order us to grant forgiveness, till the offender turn to us and give evidence of repentance. (573) I reply, there are two ways in which offenses are forgiven. If a man shall do me an injury, and I, laying aside the desire of revenge, do not cease to love him, but even repay kindness in place of injury, though I entertain an unfavorable opinion of him, as he deserves, still I am said to forgive him. For when God commands us to wish well to our enemies, He does not therefore demand that we approve in them what He condemns, but only desires that our minds shall be purified from all hatred. In this kind of pardon, so far are we from having any right to wait till he who has offended shall return of his own accord to be reconciled to us, that we ought to love those who deliberately provoke us, who spurn reconciliation, and add to the load of former offenses. A second kind of forgiving is, when we receive a brother into favor, so as to think favorably respecting him, and to be convinced that the remembrance of his offense is blotted out in the sight of God. And this is what I have formerly remarked, that in this passage Christ does not speak only of injuries which have been done to us, but of every kind of offenses; for he desires that, by our compassion, we shall raise up those who have fallen. (574) This doctrine is very necessary, because naturally almost all of us are peevish beyond measure; and Satan, under the pretense of severity, drives us to cruel rigor, so that wretched men, to whom pardon is refused, are swallowed up by grief and despair.

But here another question arises. As soon as a man by words makes profession of repentance, are we bound to believe him? Were this done, we must of necessity go willingly and knowingly into mistake; for where will be discretion, if any man may freely impose on us, even to the hundredth offense? I answer, first, the discourse relates here to daily faults, in which every man, even the best, needs forgiveness. (575) Since, then, amidst such infirmity of the flesh, our road is so slippery, and snares and attacks so numerous what will be the consequence if, at the second or third fall, the hope of forgiveness is cut off? We must add, secondly, that Christ does not deprive believers of the exercise of judgment, so as to yield a foolish readiness of belief to every slight expression, but only desires us to be so candid and merciful, as to stretch out the hand to offenders, provided there be evidence that they are sincerely dissatisfied with their sins. For repentance is a sacred thing, and therefore needs careful examination; but as soon as the offender gives probable evidence of conversion, Christ desires that he shall be admitted to reconciliation, lest, on being repulsed, he lose courage and fall back.

Thirdly, It must be observed that, when any man, through his light and unsteady behavior, has exposed himself to suspicion, we may grant pardon when he asks it, and yet may do so in such a manner as to watch over his conduct for the future, that our forbearance and meekness, which proceed from the Spirit of Christ, may not become the subject of his ridicule. For we must observe the design of our Lord himself, that we ought, by our gentleness, to assist those who have fallen to rise again. And certainly we ought to imitate the goodness of our heavenly Father, who meets sinners at a distance to invite them to salvation. Besides, as repentance is a wonderful work of the Spirit, and is the creation of the new man, if we despise it, we offer an insult to God himself.

(571) “ Incitera les autres a mal faire, et a nous offenser;” — “shall induce others to do ill, and to offend us.”

(572) “ Mais tant s’en faut que Christ ait esgard a ceste objection pour lascher quelque chose de son dire, que mesmes il dit notamment et expressement que sans fin ne terme on doit tousiours pardonner;” — “but so far was Christ from paying regard to that objection, to extenuate any thing that he had said, that he even says plainly and expressly, that without end or limit we must always forgive.”

(573) In the French copy he adds: — “ Car il semble par ce moyen qu’il commande aux siens de tenir leur coeur contre les pervers, et leur refuser pardon;” — “for it appears in this way that he commands his followers to shut their heart against the obstinate, and to refuse them pardon.”

(574) “ Ceux qui sont cheus et ont failli;” — “those who are fallen and have transgressed.”

(575) “ Esquelles les plus parfaits mesmes ont besoin d’estre supportez, et qu’on leur pardonner;” — “which even the most perfect need to be borne with and forgiven.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

CRITICAL NOTES

Mat. 18:22. Until seventy times seven.That is, as often as there is a causea certain number is put for an uncertain (John Wesley).

Mat. 18:24. Ten thousand talents.The talent was not a coin, but a weight or sum of money. See margins A.V. and R.V. The amount here intended cannot be exactly determined. Even if silver talents are meant, the sum is enormousat least two million pounds of our money. It was probably more than the whole annual revenue of Palestine at this time (Carr). The expression is perhaps used indefinitely for a very large sum; yet it might be understood literally, if we suppose, with Archbishop Trench, that the servant in question is a satrap or governor of a province, who should have remitted the revenues of his province to the royal treasury. Cf. Est. 3:9 (Mansel).

Mat. 18:27. Forgave him the debt.The Greek noun in this case expresses a debt contracted through a loan, and in the interpretation of the parable suggests a thought like that in the parables of the Pounds, the Talents and the Unjust Steward. What we call our ownlife, with all its opportunitiesis really lent to us, and God requires repayment with interest (Plumptre).

Mat. 18:28. An hundred pence.A hundred Roman denarii. See margin A.V. and R.V. The denarius was the common wage per day of a labourer (Mat. 20:2).

Mat. 18:29. Besought.Not the same word as worshipped (Mat. 18:26). The word in the text would be used by an equal addressing an equal (Carr).

Mat. 18:31. Very sorry.This seems to point to the common conscience of mankind approving or anticipating the Divine sentence (ibid.).

Mat. 18:34. Tormentors.This word probably signifies more than keepers of the prison, as it is sometimes interpreted. Though there is no evidence of torture being applied to debtors under the Jewish law, yet the practice was not unknown in other countries (Mansel).

Mat. 18:35. From your hearts.A different principle from the Pharisees arithmetical rule of forgiveness (Carr). Their trespasses.Omitted in R.V., the MS. authority being against the retention of the words.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Mat. 18:21-35

Quousque?The Rabbis are said to have taught men to forgive their neighbours three times, but no more. Even this advice, however, they are also said to have qualified so greatly as to amount, practically, to hardly recommending any forgiveness at all. Doubtless, therefore, in the question he asks (Mat. 18:21). Peter thought himself to be even conspicuously nearer the spirit of Christ. The Saviours reply showed him plainly that he was yet very far off. Showed him, in fact, that there was hardly any limit to the question he asked (Mat. 18:22). Amongst many things confessedly difficult in the parable which follows, there are two things bearing on this question of forgiveness which it makes very plain. It shows, first, the real character of mans relation to God; and therefore, secondly, the real meaning, on mans part, of a distinct refusal to forgive.

I. Mans relation to God.Generally speaking, this is that of a debtor to his creditor. We have not done to God as we ought. In this broad way of speaking there is no difference between one man and another. We have all sinned and come short in this most vital respect (Rom. 3:22-23). We have all unquestionably withheld that from God which is just as unquestionably His legitimate due. We have done so, also, to an extent which it is quite impossible to compute. This is signified by the ten thousand talents of which the parable speaks. In 2Ki. 5:26, we see how much Gehazi thought of doing with only two talents of silver; and may judge, therefore, what would have been the purchasing power of five thousand times as many talents; and these, moreover, not impossibly, talents of gold. It is just one of those sums, in short, which is so great that we cannot really reckon it up. And yet it is that, be it observed, to which our Saviour Himself compares our owings to God. It follows, next, therefore, that the debt in question is what we can never discharge. It is true, no doubt, that the servant here spoken of, when called to account, and in imminent danger, promised to discharge, and that in full, what was owing by him; but that we may, perhaps, look upon as being simply in keeping with the general unscrupulousness of his character. And that is certainly in keeping with what we see daily of the utterly unreliable arithmetical reckonings of most persons in debt. Those who never have saved as yet always think that they can. Those who attribute all the evil of the past to infirmity, always hope to be not only strong, but doubly strong in the future. What we know of such hopes is that they are not believed in by any one else; and, in fact, that the very expression of them only increases the mistrust of every one else. Just so is it of all those who think of making up for themselves and by their own efforts what is owing from them to God. It only shows that they have no adequate conception either of themselves or of it. And yet, for all this, observe, lastly, that we are none of us, at present, as it were, paying the penalty of that debt. God may, indeed, have begun to reckon with us about it, as was done with the man in this story. He may be causing us thereby to feel something of its weight and enormity. But He is not as yet exacting from any of us in this world, that heavy and terrible satisfaction for it, which, is required by His law. In this sense we are all of useven the most unbelieving among usforgiven souls for the time, and the sentence against us, if not yet in all cases reversed, is yet, in all cases, suspended. So that to every living soul we may say as was said of old in the latter part of Job. 11:6.

II. The true meaning, therefore, on mans part, of a distinct refusal to forgive.We see, in the first place, the intrinsic iniquity and wickedness of so doing. For it is exacting that from our neighbour which is not being exacted from us. It is taking him by the throat when we have been allowed to go free. It is saying to him just that which has not been said to ourselves. And using the hand, as it were, which has been released from prison to close it upon him. A most outrageous and crying injustice, if ever there was one in the world! Also, it is an injustice which is greatly aggravated by every difference in the two cases. What are one hundred pence to ten thousand talents? What are my brothers few sins against me compared to my numberless sins against God? What my rights, also, against him as my fellow-servant compared with Gods rights over me as His creature? Even if the cases had been similar, the injustice of not doing as I have been done by would be at once gross and complete. As things are, it is even moreit is beyond expression in words. Lastly, we are to notice here the exceeding audacity of this description of conduct. We are told (Mat. 18:31) that when the mans fellow-servants saw what was done, they were exceeding sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. This is not an inapt description of the real meaning of such an action as that. It is doing that which is sure to come under the notice of God. It is an appeal to God, in fact, on such an offenders part, against that offender himself. Other sins may be described as simply so many violations of His lawand they bad enough in all conscience. But this is very much more; it is a direct perversion of it, it is an open defiance of it as well. How can God be omniscient and not know of such things? How can He be holy and not abominate such cruelty? How can He be just and not punish such injustice?

See, in conclusion, how the close of this parable carries us back. The Rabbis and Peter (Mat. 18:21) had treated forgiveness as an exceptional thing; a thing to be granted, as it were, under compulsion, and only so far. The issue of this teaching of Christ is on just the opposite line. According to Him we should not be reluctant but glad to forgive. Let your forgiveness be from the heart (Mat. 18:35). This is the true mark of belonging to Christ (Eph. 4:3). Compare also the saying about Archbishop Cramner: Do my Lord of Canterbury an ill-turn, and you have made him your friend for life. Also how the whole parable carries us upward. Why were these other teachers so radically wrong as to their duty towards their neighbour? Because they were wrong to an equal degree about their relation to God. This is always true of the unregenerate heart (see Psa. 9:17; Psa. 10:4). The opposite is the unfailing sign of the regenerate heart (Psa. 51:4; Gen. 39:9, perhaps Psa. 16:8). How wise, therefore, the words of the Saviour in Joh. 17:3.

HOMILIES ON THE VERSES

Mat. 18:21-35. The duty of forgiveness urged.Forgiveness is urged:

I. By a consideration of the greatness of Gods mercy to us.How can we behold the great mercy of God to us and yet be unforgiving to others?

II. By a consideration of the littleness of our brothers sins.Our brothers trespass was an error, a fault, a mishap, result of ignorance or inadvertence, small in comparison of our grave and multiplied offences. Our fellow servant needs what we sought. The unforgiving is wicked, evil-disposed. He invades the right of his Lord.

III. By a consideration of the terrible consequences of indulging an unforgiving spirit.Lord not wroth on account of debt. Punishment is greater than before for sin is greater; hard, unforgiving spirit is added to debt. The offender has not caught the spirit of his Lord. He says in effect: The Lord was in error in forgiving me; He is excised from the kingdom of God, for he has not the spirit of the kingdom. He only can really understand forgiveness who practises it. Forgiveness vain if we be not cleansed from all unrighteousness.Anon.

Mat. 18:21. Forgiving injuries.

1. We are always in our heart to forgive, I take it, though until forgiveness is craved, it is neither wise nor necessary to express it.
2. When we think of injuries, debts, offences, it is always well to recollect that self-love is very apt to exaggerate such things, and that a day or twos calm reflection will often convince us that we have made too much ado about nothing; and that the sensible as well as the right thing to do is to treat the matter as if it had never happened.
3. Especially is this the case with hot and unpremeditated words, spoken when our friend was off his guard, or repeated to us by some one who ought to have known better. Also take no heed to all words that are spoken, lest thou hear thy servant curse thee.
4. Bishop Butler has taught us that resentment is a moral faculty bestowed on the human soul for its protection and self-assertion. Not all anger is sinful. Sometimes not to be angry is the basest and most cowardly of sins. St. Paul does not tell us not to be angry; only not to harbour and cherish our resentment. Be ye angry, and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Our Blessed Lord, we read, was sometimes angry; and it was a holy anger. The Revelation tells us of the wrath of the Lamb.
5. There are offences and offences. Some, let us confess, while they ought always to be forgiven, make the restoration of love and the rekindling of friendship impossible. There is a sin unto death, says St. John; and this is true of man, as well as of God, in the sense that some sins, such as repeated ingratitude, constant deceit, and flagrant dishonesty, make love, in the fullest sense of the word, not only impossible but unjustifiable. Did Christ love the scribes and Pharisees, who not only would not enter the kingdom of God themselves, but also prevented others from entering in? Did He love the fox Herod, or the self-blinded Caiaphas? We need not think or try to love better than the Saviour loved. But this moral impossibility of loving those who have proved themselves utterly unworthy of it must not, need not, hinder our doing them a kindness whenever it is in our power to do so, or fulfilling the reasonable claims of vicinage, or affinity, or relationship. In our hearts we can wish them well; before God we sometimes remember them, though we do not tell them so.Bishop Thorold.

Mat. 18:23-35. Forgiveness and after.Our Lord proceeds to lay before us something like a complete outline of the moral politics of Gods kingdom.

I. The fundamental moral principle in Gods kingdom is righteousness.A certain king would take account of his servants. There are many who have failed to notice that the gospel comes to us, first of all, as the news of inquisition and of judgment, the institution of a strict account between God and man. The gospel is popularly identified with pity and compassion, and the eager welcome that it gets from many is due to the belief that it dispenses with the reckoning of judgment by the message of a mercy which is so soft and gentle that it hardly makes mention of our sin. This common notion is superficial and mistaken. God never comes to men with a fresh revelation without awakening in their souls a sharper sense of righteousness and sin. When the Spirit is come He shall convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. A solemn sense of Gods awful righteousness looking with a searching eye upon our sin is needed as the forerunner of salvation; for until we feel our guilt and confess the justice of Gods condemnation, we are in no condition either to desire or to receive the mercy that God is willing to bestow. It is the same all through the Christian life. From the converted man God demands not less, but more. No moment in his life is free from the burden of responsibility. We are always sowing, and behind every seed-time comes a harvest. This thought should give solemnity and depth of tone to every hour of life.

II. In Gods kingdom the demand for righteousness is accompanied by the needful mercy.While the gospel demands that the righteousness of the law shall be fulfilled in us, it is quite as essentially the message of heavens mercy. The servant in this parable is no sooner humbled by the demands of justice than, upon the confession of his helplessness and desire to make amends, he is abundantly forgiven. It is no hard task for a, sinful man to obtain forgiveness from his God. This servants repentance was neither very broad nor very radical. The man was by no means a noble specimen of his race. There was in him no conspicuous merit to make him worthy of such generous treatment as to have his debt of nigh two million pounds frankly and at once forgiven. Therefore the picture is expressly intended to convey the fact that in the heart of God there is no reluctance to forgive, and that mans honest appeal to be forgiven is met by an immediate and most generous response.

III. In Gods kingdom mans inhumanity stultifies Gods mercy.The most serious block to your salvation may emerge after your forgiveness rather than before it. After you have received forgiveness you enter on a new probation. What are you going to do with it? When you know that Christ has died for you, and that God forgives you, what influence are these facts going to have upon your life?that is the question on which your ultimate salvation hangs.Alexander Brown.

Mat. 18:23-35. The unforgiving temper.There is a fine story illustrative of this parable, told by Fleury (Hist. Eccles., 5:2, p. 334). It is briefly this: Between two Christians at Antioch enmity and division had fallen out; after a while one of them desired to be reconciled, but the other, who was a priest, refused. While it was thus with them, the persecution of Valerian began; and Sapricius, the priest, having boldly confessed himself a Christian, was on the way to death. Nicephorus met him, and again sued for peace, which was again refused. While he was seeking, and the other refusing, they arrived at the place of execution. He that should have been the martyr was here terrified, offered to sacrifice to the gods, and, despite the entreaties of the other, did so, making shipwreck of his faith; while Nicephorus, boldly confessing, stepped in his place, and received the crown which Sapricius lost. This whole story runs finely parallel with our parable. Before Sapricius could have had grace to confess thus to Christ, he must have had his own ten thousand talents forgiven; but, refusing to forgive a far lesser wrong, to put away the displeasure he had taken up on some infinitely lighter grounds against his brother, he forfeited all the advantages of his position, his Lord was angry, took away from his grace, and suffered him again to fall under those powers of evil from which he had once been delivered. It comes out, too, in this story, that it is not merely the outward wrong and outrage upon a brother, which constitutes a likeness to the unmerciful servant, but the unforgiving temper, even apart from all such.Archbishop Trench.

Mat. 18:28. The weakness and strength of example.Every moralist extols the beauty and value of good example. In an age of abounding hypocrisy, it would ill become us to say aught against the habit, if it were not that the language used sometimes runs into perilous exaggeration. From the immoderate eulogy of the good example, you might sometimes infer that nothing more was needed for the awakening of mens consciences and their guidance into peace than the consistent lives of some God-fearing men. It is bad theology. It is flatly contradicted by human experience.

I. The impotence of example.Lest we should over-estimate the power of example, Christ has given us here a picture which illustrates its utter impotence over some minds. Mercy for himself is well enough; mercy from himself is out of the question. What had example done for him? Nothing.

II. Its causes.How is it that, in the frailty of our nature, example is lost on some?

1. The example we expected to be so potent may be taken as a matter of course.

2. A high example often produces in the onlooker a sense of annoyance.

3. We have to face to-day a strong conviction in many minds that all professors of religion are more or less insincere. It is a revolting proof of the depth to which some natures have fallen that purity, sincerity, other-worldliness are to them incredible.

4. We are familiar, too, with another way of regarding high examples; it is the way of regretful admiration. The observer finds such a character very noble, very impressive; he does not challenge its sincerity or detract from its beauty. But in effect he says It is above me, I cannot reach such a level; I need not try. But how can we feel any surprise at the frequent impotence of example? Lots acquaintance with Abraham did not keep him from stupendous blunders. Gehazis daily service of Elisha could not control his greed. The companionship of St. Paul did not keep Demas faithful. Nay, most striking warning of all, from the society of those who daily looked on the example of Jesus, went the man who for thirty pieces of silver betrayed Him. As it was then, so it is now; the very noblest example will not of itself quicken a single conscience. Example is of value; but for its efficacy it depends upon an external influenceeven the Holy Spirit. He who would serve Christ must believe in his own ministry and watch his own example. But he who would have hearts to be touched and lives to be changed must look beyond the witness of man.A. R. Buckland, M.A.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

VI. YOUR HUMILITY AND SENSITIVITY TO OTHERS IS JUDGED BY YOUR READINESS TO FORGIVE OR SHOW MERCY. (18:2135)
A. PETERS QUESTION: HOW MANY TIMES FORGIVE? (18:21)

Mat. 18:21 Then came Peter, and said unto him. With the same freedom that John earlier broke into this discourse to ask his question about the isolated miracle-worker (Mar. 9:38-41), Peter may have arisen from his seat to confront the Master with what he may have thought was a limitation on something said earlier. There is no need to assume that Matthew glued the following section onto the sermon because of its supposed appropriateness. (See also on Mat. 18:35; Mat. 19:1.) Then came Peter may be nothing but a glimpse into the freedom permitted in Jesus class sessions.

Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? until seven times? This question is based on Jesus statement in Mat. 18:15. Beyond what Jesus had said there (Mat. 18:15), was there a deeper problem getting to Peter? Had he been personally abused by comments from the sidelines by some of the others, jealous of his apparent promotions and prominence? At Caesarea Philippi Jesus had indeed promised him a key role in the establishing of the Kingdom. Were others, bitter at him because his presumed importance blocked their own hope of glory, casting aspersions on his worthiness? It is not impossible that some personal uncertainty made unlimited forgiveness seem extreme to Peter. There are two sides to his question: mentality and mechanics.

MENTALITY. Since the wronged person who attempts to recover his sinning brother must approach him in the spirit of forgiveness and without any intention to be vindicated, Peter may be wondering whether there should not be some limit to this open-ended long-suffering and forgiveness. The basic fallacy of Peters question is that it assumes that forgiveness robs us of the right to cease forgiving and start demanding justice at least in certain cases. This is why Jesus supporting story (Mat. 18:23-34) must illustrate how Gods demand that we forgive does not ask us to surrender a proper right to vengeance. Rather, His demand is based on the fact that, due to our own sin and need for mercy, we never possessed that right in the first place. The very act of asking that justice be waived and mercy granted in our, own case is an implicit justification of mercy in all similar circumstances, like the case of our offending brother. There is just no time when we may claim a right to be vindictive. (Rom. 12:19) To cease forgiving and start demanding justice for others is tantamount to asking that justice be demanded in our own case too. But to beg mercy for ourself and justice for others is a hypocrisy that a holy God cannot overlook.

MECHANICS. Since, according to Jesus formula, if your brother hear you brings the controversy to an end, Peter, seeing the possibility that some brother might repeat his sin, asks, At what time should I simply stop forgiving my brother and bring the grievance before other witnesses, before taking the question before the assembly? Jesus answer will imply that if this be the case, where the offender repents, there need be no second or third step in the reconciliation (cf. Luk. 17:3 f) since all procedure would be blocked at the first step in an indefinite cycle of sinning and forgiveness involving only the two original brothers. (Mat. 18:15; Mat. 18:22) The only exception to Jesus formula of forgiveness is, If he does not listen.

In fact, delight in repeating sins may be the real sin of which the others are but superficial symptoms and, until this is eradicated by confession and forgiveness, the first step toward true reconciliation has not yet been really made. Jesus is not covering the diabolical desire to repeat the other sins just to see how much that fool brother can take or forgive. No one is asked to be taken for a fool by another Christian under the guise of easy forgiveness, for just as soon as it becomes apparent to the offended brother that the other is stepping on his toes, not merely by excusable accident, but for love of tormenting, then this root problem is the sin with which the offended must deal. If he does not listen at this level, then the question should be aired before witnesses. (Mat. 18:16) The secret to Jesus meaning is to get at the right sin the first time.

Until seven times? In later Judaism the Talmudic rule only admitted forgiving ones offender three times, basing its argument on Amo. 1:3 and Job. 33:29, as if God Himself only forgave so far and no more: Should a mere mortal be more amenable to forgive than the Almighty?! It is not impossible that this same bad exegesis and grudging spirit had roots in thinking and practice in Peters time too. If so, he had doubled the cautious, calculating scribal scrimping of love and even added one more time of forgiveness for good measurewas this not enough? But what went wrong?

Peter was moving in the true spirit of legalistic formalism, since he sought ANY numerical, outside limit at which mercy and forgiveness must stop. Rather than manifest a godly spirit, this is really a vindictive temper that wants to know how much longer it has to forbear before letting the offender feel the full brunt of its vendetta.

It had not occurred to him that, in the very process of counting wrongs, he had crushed the very spirit of forgiveness. To tally forgiveness can have only two justifications: to pamper ones pride in great magnanimity or to arrive soon to the outside limit when all mercy is withdrawn and vengeance can finally take over! The spirit of mercy recognizes that we only forgive our brother ONCE. Then, however many times he offends us thereafter, each time he repents, we forgive PERIOD, not once more, because we are not counting.

Whatever else may be criticized about Peters steel-cold question, there is a heart-warming touch of reality in it: this is a real man wrestling with his desire to enter honestly into the spirit of his Masters teaching by offering generously the seven pardons, his desire that the offender learn to stop giving him trouble, and his desire for balance that does not make a mockery of either justice or mercy. Peter does not come to us on the sacred page as a fully perfected Apostle who makes no theological blunders, but as a man who is growing.

See Mat. 18:22-35 for Fact Questions.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(21) How oft shall my brother sin . . .?The words of Mat. 18:15 had obviously told on the minds of the disciples, and had roused them to question with themselves. But they could not, all at once, take in the truth that the commandment was exceeding broad. Surely, they thought, there must be some limit to this way of dealing with the brother who has sinned against us? And the sacred number suggested itself as the natural limit. Not, it may be conjectured, without a half-conscious reference to the words of the prophet (Amo. 1:3), that for three transgressions and for four the punishment thereof should not be turned away, the Apostle made answer to his own question, Until seven times? as though the line must be drawn there.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

GOSPEL LAW OF FORGIVENESS ILLUSTRATED BY THE PARABLE OF THE UNFORGIVING SERVANT, 21-35.

This parable enforces the rule just laid down by our Lord to Peter. It draws a contrast between God’s patient forgiveness and man’s unpitying cruelty.

It warns us of the terrible penalty of incurring God’s justice by our merciless dealing with our fellow-beings.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

21. Peter said how oft Peter perceives that a law of tenderer dealing is to prevail in the Church than exists in the synagogue. The Jewish limit of forgiveness was thrice and no more.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?” ’

Peter here reveals how God’s compassion has come home to him through the teaching of Jesus, but even he has not yet perceived the magnanimity of God. The Scribes taught, on the basis of Amos 1, that a man might be forgiven three times, but that on the fourth judgment must come on him. Thus Peter’s ‘seven times’ was an extension of that principle to an even greater level. ‘Three times’ indicated ‘a few times’. Thus ‘seven times’ indicated the next stage up, ‘many times’ (a divinely perfect number of times). But clearly there had to be a limit on how many times a person could be forgiven.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

But How Often Should We Forgive? (18:21-22).

The idea that disciples should approach those who have sinned against them and seek to be reconciled with them raised in Peter’s mind the question of how often this was required. How often should someone who fails be forgiven? And when he suggested that possibly he should forgive ‘seven times’ he probably knew that he was outdoing the Scribes with their ‘three times’. Thus he may well have been looking for and expecting Jesus’ commendation for his generosity of spirit. He was therefore probably quite taken aback when Jesus replied, ‘not seven times, but seventy time seven times’. Peter then realised that he was not quite as merciful as he had thought.

The idea of forgiveness here connects back once more with the sermon on the Mount. There also Jesus had emphasised the necessity of forgiveness, just as we ourselves have been, and are being, forgiven (Mat 6:14-15). And in Mat 12:31-32 He had emphasised the greatness and wideness of God’s forgiveness. Now He will stress its unlimited nature. The Gospel is both based on forgiveness, and produces forgiveness.

Analysis.

a Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?” (Mat 18:21 a).

b “Until seven times?” (Mat 18:21 b).

b Jesus says to him, “I do not say to you, “Until seven times” (Mat 18:22 a).

c “But, “Until seventy times seven” (Mat 18:22 b).

Note that in ‘a’ the question was how often it was necessary to forgive. The parallel says ‘seventy times seven’ times. In ‘b’ Peter’s suggestion is seven times, and in the parallel the reply is ‘no, not seven times’.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

True forgiveness:

v. 21. Then came Peter to Him and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

v. 22. Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven.

The entire discourse had really concerned the question of dealing with an erring brother. The need of saving the brother, if there were any possibility of doing so without denying the truth and bringing dishonor upon God, had been emphasized. But Peter now wanted to know whether there is any limit to the number of times one should forgive a repentant brother. His question implies: Is there not reason for doubting the sincerity of repentance in such a case? Or is this not at least the final limit? Peter’s estimate, he thought, was generous. But Christ’s answer is staggering: “I say not unto thee, Until seven times. ” He would not even begin with such an insignificant sum, nor would He want to be tied down to any definite sum. No number would begin to show the greatness of forgiving love that should be found in the hearts of Christians; there is no limit to the number of times that we should forgive an erring brother and reinstate him in our esteem after a transgression on his part. Christ here speaks of forgiveness of sins, and here He has no limit, the seventy times seven evidently being in place of a number beyond petty calculation. Nothing but love and forgiveness shall be in the hearts of Christians.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Mat 18:21-22. Then came Peterand said, Lord, how oft, &c. If my brother repeatedly trespass against me; how often must I forgive him? Campbell. When our Saviour had given his advice for the accommodation of differences among his disciples, Peter, imagining that it might be abused by ill-disposed persons, as an encouragement to offer injuries to others; asks his Lord, how often his brother might offend, and claim forgiveness? See Luk 17:4 where it is seven times in a day, which implies very often. Here it is seven times only, a mode of expression which some imagine to have been borrowed from the Jewish tradition, by which the necessity of pardoning in lighter matters, is limited to seven times, and no more. In opposition to this tradition, our Lord may be understood as extending the terms of forgiveness, and ordering that pardon should be repeated as often as the injury,till seventy times seven,as often as there is occasion; a certain number for an uncertain. See Grotius and Wetstein.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Mat 18:21 . At this point Peter steps forward from amongst the disciples (Mat 18:1 ), and going up to Jesus, (Euthymius Zigabenus), proposes that forgiveness should be shown more than twice the number of times which the Rabbis had declared to be requisite. Babyl. Joma , f. 86. 2, contains the following words: “Homini in alterum peccanti semel remittunt, secundo remittunt, tertio remittunt, quarto non remittunt.”

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

C. Absolution in the Church.

Mat 18:21-35

( Mat 18:23-35 the Gospel for the 22d Sunday after Trinity.)

21Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till [until, ] seven times? 22Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until [] seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

23Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king [a human king, ], which would take account of [who desired to make a reckoning with]22 his servants. 24And when he had [only] begun to reckon, one was brought23 unto him, which [who] owed him ten thousand talents. 25But forasmuch as he had not [as ho was not able] to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord,24 have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 27Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed [released] him, and forgave him the debt. 28But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow servants, which [who] owed him a hundred pence [shillings? lit.: denries, ]:25 and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me26 that thou [Pay if 29thou27 owest. And his fellow servant fell down at his feet,28 and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.29 30And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. 31So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their [own, ] lord all that was done. 32Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave then all that debt, because thou desiredst [besoughtest] me: 33Shouldest not thou also have had compassion [pity] on thy fellow servant, even as I had pity on thee? 34And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.30 35So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.31

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Mat 18:21. Until seven times, .The directions of Christ in regard to the discipline of the Church presuppose readiness to forgive. If our brother listen to our admonition, and be reconciled, he is to be forgiven. But the Lord had not indicated how often this mercy was to be exercised. It seemed to Peter as if there must be some limit in the matter. His query indicated that he still regarded forgiveness as something outward and quantitative, rather than as something inward and spiritual. His proposal, until seven timesthe sacred numberis very characteristic of his state of mind. It was, however, greatly in excess of the rabbinical ordinances, which prescribed forgiveness only three times: Homini in alterum, peccanti semel remittunt, secundo remittunt, tertio remittunt, quarto non remittunt. Babyl. Joma.[The Jewish rabbins based the duty of forgiving three times and no more, upon Amo 1:3; Amo 2:6; Job 33:29-30. Peter, under the influence of the spirit of Christian charity, increased the number to seven, because in the Old Testament this number is closely linked with the idea of the covenant and of forgiveness, as well as with that of retribution; comp. Lev 25:28; Lev 26:18; Lev 26:21; Lev 26:24; Lev 26:28; Ps. 28:25; Dan 4:15; Rev 15:1.P. S.]

Mat 18:22. I say not unto thee;i.e., I do not prescribe to thee.

Seventy times seven, . .Jerome, Erasmus, Grotius, de Wette, [Trench], and others, explain seventy times sevenfold [i.e., four hundred and ninety times]. But Origen, Augustine, Bengel, Ewald, and Meyer, explain seventy times and seven, or seventy-seven times, as does not again occur at . Meyer says: According to the Greek idiom, this should have been expressed either by or by . But the expression is derived from the Sept., Gen 4:24 : If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventyfold and seven.32 The reference seems to be in point; all the more, that the saying of Christ was probably intended to form a direct contrast to the revenge which Lamech imprecated. Still, even though we bear in mind the symbolical import of the number seven, yet the bare addition of that numeral seems peculiar, and almost detracting from the force of the injunction. It might, indeed, be urged, that, according to the analogy of 101, it implied nothing more than as it were the measure seventy shaken and pressed down. First, seventy times, and then, if you like, in addition to this, your own seven times! But Grotius translates Gen 4:24, , septuagies et id ipsum septies; nor Joes the translation of the Sept seem to us decidedly in favor of the opposite view. Besides, seventy times sevenfold seems to us a more apt symbolical expression for never-ending forgiveness than seventy times seven. However, grammatically and philologically, the point is not clear. Seventy is seven times ten, or the symbolical number of the world multiplied by that of the covenant. Of course, the expression is intended to indicate by the figure of a large number the quality of endless forgiveness. This view was already advocated by Theophylact.

Mat 18:23. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened.Referring to the reply which had been given to Peter. The parable which follows is intended to illustrate the teaching of Christ about our readiness to forgive. Meyer maintains that the Saviour insists upon unlimited forgiveness, and not, as de Wette suggests, merely upon readiness to forgive. But the latter implies the former; and, in fact, the two are identical in point of principle. The act of forgiveness presupposes genuine repentance on the part of our brother.Likened. On account of the guilt of man, it had become necessary that the kingdom of heaven should rest on compassion as its foundation.

Unto a human king.33The expression is intended to mark the antithesis to the heavenly King.His servants.Here represented as administering his possessions.He desired to make a reckoning, or settlement.This refers to eternal justice ever seeking to right matters, and to the impending judgment; hence more especially to the economy of the law and its results.

Mat 18:24. But when he had only34 begun.

Very solemn and significant.One was brought unto him,i.e., one of the first and highest.Ten thousand talents.An expression intended to indicate the infinite debt incurred, which could never be discharged. As it were an immense number of the largest coin. The Attic talent was equal to 60 min [6,000 drachm], or 1,375 Prussian dollars (see Boeckhs Staatshaushalt der Athener, Mat 1:15),35 and the mine to 100 denarii.36 Hence one talent = 6,000 denarii, and 10,000 talents = 60,000,000 denarii. Gerlach suggests that the Saviour referred to the Syrian talent, which was much smaller than the Attic, amounting only to about one-fourth of it According to the value of the Attic talent, the sum. total would amount to over 13 millions of Prussian dollars.

Mat 18:25. His lord commanded him to be sold.In accordance with the law of Moses, Exo 22:8; Lev 25:39; 2Ki 4:1. See also Michaelis Laws of Moses, 148.And (thus) payment to be made.The sum obtained would, of course, prove wholly inadequate. Still Fritzsche is mistaken in explaining it as meaning that the sum realized was actually to be paid. De Wette renders it: And that this should be paid. Better Meyer in more general terms, and payment to be made. The leading idea is, that the king insists upon payment being made. The exact amount is subordinate.

Mat 18:28. A hundred denaries.Equal to nearly 21 Prussian [or 15 American] dollars. See the article in the Encycls.Took him by the throat.According to Roman law, a creditor was allowed to drag his debtor by the throat before the tribunal. The harsh form in which he demanded payment deserves special attention. His address to his fellow-servant implied his own condemnation. Meyer rightly objects to the view of Fritzsche and Olshausen, who explain the expression as due to Greek urbanity. Others regard it as equivalent to . Paulus and Baumgarten-Crusius understand it as implying that it was uncertain whether such a debt had really been incurred. In our view, it was intended by way of expressing reproofthe claimant all the time forgetting his own case and difficulties, which were not only similar, but even much worse. In fact, it would seem as if the remission of his debt had only called forth pride and self-confidence. His fellow-servant humbled himself in a more becoming manner than he had done before his master ( , ); although we should bear in mind that in the latter case the creditor was the lord and king of the servant.

[Trench: Such is man, so harsh and hard, when he walks otherwise than in a constant sense of forgiveness received from God. Ignorance or forgetfulness of his own guilt makes him harsh, unforgiving, and cruel to others; or, at best, he is only hindered from being such by those weak defences of natural character which may at any moment be broken down.P. S.]

Mat 18:31. Their own () lord.Meyer accounts for the word by remarking, They had recourse neither to their hard-hearted companion nor to any other person. But this would scarcely have required special mention. On the other hand, their appeal to his and their lord exposed them to danger, if his anger should burst forth against them also. Still, they ventured to apply to himcompassion and sorrow inspiring them with courage. In this case, then, we see severity from pity, as formerly harshness in spite of mercy.

Mat 18:34. And delivered him to the tormentors.The imprisonment refers in both cases to temporary confinement, until payment should be made, But, besides this, the servant whom his master now sent to prison was also delivered , to the tormentors, to be tormented by them. The punishment of being sold into slavery, with which he had formerly been threatened, was much lighter than that which he had now to endure. However, the king was generous, and the wife and children of the offender were not molested. In its first form, they shared the guilt of that wicked servant; but the sin which he bad now committed rested upon himself alone. Still, except in reference to the manner in which payment is now enforced, the language of the parable continues the same as before. The imprisonment and the torments are intended to enforce payment; but as, in the present instance, this is manifestly impossible, they serve in reality as a punishment. Fritzsche renders the term by body-guard of the king (!); Grotius, by gaolers []; Meyer, correctly, by tormentors.37 According to the sentence pronounced, the imprisonment would necessarily be both never-ending and hopeless (Chrysostom: , ). Still, we are scarcely warranted in referring these torments to the sufferings of Gehenna.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The symbolical import of the number seven is spiritual and festive rest after the work has been finished; ten, that of the world. Hence the number seventy represents the power of the Spirit as conquering the world (the 70 disciples). Again, seventy times seven would convey the all-conquering power of the Spirit in all His fulness, as reconciling us, and rendering us willing to be reconciled. The largeness of the number would indicate that there was to be no measuring or limitation in the exercise of kindness; but that infinite love was, in its fulness and strength, to sweep all barriers, and that forgiveness was to be bounded by no other limits than those demanded by truth, i.e., more especially, by the state of mind of him who had offended against us.

2. This parable must not be applied merely to the private relations subsisting between Christians; but also refers to the general administration of the servants of the Lord in the Church, which, however, if improperly exercised, may degenerate into a matter of private interest or favor. Under such circumstances, the contrast between the wondrous pardon granted by the Master, and the cruel exactions made by the servants, would appear in the most glaring manner. Strange, that the most harsh and heartless treatment should be connected with the dispensation of highest mercy! Compare the history of church discipline in the middle ages, and the bitter controversies on the doctrine of the holy Communion.
3. Faustus Socinus (De Christo Servatore) argues from this passage, that as the king forgave without ransom or surety, so God similarly pardons sinners. To this Olearius replies, that the object of this parable was to delineate the subjective condition of pardon on our part, not the objective ground of acceptance with God. Besides, each separate parable was not intended to give the whole scheme of salvation. Perhaps, however, it were more accurate to say, that the objective ground of compassion is embodied and presented in the atonement made by Christ But the latter point was not intended to be presented in this parable. [Meyer remarks that the parable implies a , since the infinite forgiving mercy of God could only appear fully in the atoning death of Christ.P. S.]

[4. Till he pay all that was due unto him, Mat 18:34. The offender, it seems, is not imprisoned for the act of unmercifulness to his fellow-servant, but for his old debt to God which had been forgiven him. But it must be remembered that every sin against our neighbor, or against ourselves, is at the same time a sin against God, and so the conduct of the unmerciful servant contracted a new debt due to God. This passage is often quoted in the discussion of the question: Utrum peccata semel remissa redeant, whether sins once forgiven return on the sinner through his subsequent transgressions? Hammond says, the king revoked his designed mercy; but the debt was actually and absolutely forgiven; yet forgiven, of course, as always, on certain moral conditions, the violation of which implies the forfeiture of the benefit. Forgiveness is inseparable from union with Christ. If we forsake Him we relapse into a state of nature, which is a state of wrath; yea, our case becomes much worse than it was before conversion, and our guilt increases in proportion to the mercies received. How many, alas! forfeit the benefit of baptism, i.e., the remission of sins, by a life of impenitence and ingratitude, and become worse than heathen.P. S.]

[5. The same verse (and Mat 18:26) is also quoted by some Roman Catholic interpreters for the doctrine of purgatory, and by Universalists and Restorationists, for the doctrine of the final salvation of all men. In both cases the is pressed as implying a final discharge of the debt and a consequent deliverance from the prison of purgatory or a temporary hell. But this argument proceeds on the radically wrong assumption that man can atone for his sins or discharge his moral debt to God. The debt is expressly represented, in Mat 18:24, as enormous, so as to make it impossible for any human being to discharge it. The debt, moreover, instead of diminishing is daily accumulating; since the utmost that man can do is to perform his present duty, comp. Luk 17:10. The phrase: till he pay all, etc., , like the proverbial ad numum solvere, ad extremum assem solvere, signifies that the debtor shall have justice without mercy and taste the extreme rigor of the law. Trench (p. 158) goes even further, and says: Since the sinner could never acquit the slightest portion of the debt in which he is indebted to God, the putting that as a condition of his liberation, which it is impossible could ever be fulfilled, is the strongest possible way of expressing the eternal duration of his punishment. Maldonatus, one of the best Roman Catholic expounders, remarks: Quousque redderet. Id est semper, ut Chrysostomus, Euthymius et Theophylactus interpretantur, non enim significatur, fore, ut, qui damnati sunt, pnas aliquando persolvant et, quasi reddito debito, liberentur, qui Origenistarum error fuit; sed fore, ut numquam liberentur, nisi pnas persolvant, quas quia persolvere numquam poterunt, numquam liberabuntur. Olshausen in loc. (vol. i p. 594, American edition) admits that the debt of the sinner to God can never possibly be liquidated; nevertheless he infers partly from the , partly from the servants acknowledgment of his debt that he will be finally released. I cannot see how we can hold this opinion without adopting substantially the Roman Catholic dogma of purgatory. But does not necessarily fix a limit beyond which the prexisting state of things must cease (comp. the Saviours promise to be with His people to the end of the world, ; and if the mere admission of sin and guilt insures ultimate salvation, a Judas might have been saved as well who confessed that he betrayed innocent blood.Comp. also the Notes on Mat 5:26 (p. 114) and on Mat 12:32 (pp. 225 and 227 sqq.).P. S.]

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Till seven times? or, the tendency of the class of which Peter is the type to count and limit spiritual acts.Acts of forgiveness, prayers, and similar deeds, should not be counted.Seventy times seven; or, the sacred number,which implies that our love must not be limited by the rules of arithmetic.The kingdom of heaven under the figure of reckoning: 1. The king reckoning; or, the remission of an infinite debt. 2. The servant reckoning; or, the harsh demand of a small claim. 3. The final reckoning of the king occasioned by that of the servantThe great alternations in the kingdom of heaven, occasioned by the unfaithfulness of man in opposition to the faithfulness of God: 1. From the judgment of the law to the mercy of the gospel; 2. from mercy to judgment.The grace of God has converted the economy of the law into that of the gospel; but the unmercifulness of Christians seeks to transform the dispensation of the gospel into one of judgmentHow could the servant who had been forgiven act with such cruelty against his fellow servant? 1. It was suspicious, that he who apparently was among the first of his fellow-servants should have incurred so heavy a debt without accounting for the money long before that; 2. it was still worse when he only plead for delay, promising payment which he well knew he never could make; 3. but it fully indicated his state of mind, when he could go from the presence of his master cherishing such feelings of pride and bitterness.The unconditional and the conditional remission of debt in the kingdom of God: 1. The former is full and irrevocable; the latter is only granted to try us. 2. The former is real, both in respect of its basis and its character; the latter only emblematical. 3. The former leads to humility and compassion; the latter may readily call forth pride and harshness in the unconverted.The unmerciful are equally destitute of feeling and memory, A. 1. They forget their own guilt and humiliation; 2. the pardon extended to them, 3. nor are they even reminded of it by the entreaty of a fellow-servant, so similar to their own pleading; 4. they only remember it in the hour of final judgment. B. Such persons have only a heartless memory for their own selfishness, for their own claims, demands, etc.How the remission of our immeasurable debt should induce us to forgive the small debt incurred by our brother: 1. We are bound to do Song of Solomon 2. enabled; and, 3. impelled to it.How the harshness and cruelty of those who are proud and insecure seems to come out in all its fulness in the gospel kingdom of grace.How the evil disposition of the servants has transformed: 1. The gospel of grace into compulsory conversions; 2. the call to repentance into forced penance; 3. the discipline of the Church into the tortures of the Inquisition; the exhibition of the Redeemer into a call for the Judge.Guilt under the law called forth grace; but harshness under the gospel will bring down the judgment Mat 25:31, etc.The complaint of the fellow-servants in its effects, viewed historically.Heavy judgments impending on those who show no mercy, Jam 2:13.How unmercifulness introduces an order of things which ensures its own ruin.The tormentors and torments of the next world in their relation to those of this life.Unmercifulness is practical unbelief.The practical bearing of this second fall.The domestic guilt which is remitted, and the personal guilt which is retained. So likewise, etc. Or, this parable as specially applicable to the Apostles, and the servants of Christ both in Church and State.My heavenly Father. 1. The Father of mercy, and of the Saviourgrace itself. 2. The Father of the Judge of the worldjustice itself. 3. The Father of Christ in the congregation, or of the Church.

Starke:Canstein: It is a great honor to be in the employment of a mighty potentate; how much more, then, to be a servant of the King of kings and the Lord of lords! What faithfulness and care are requisite in such a service!God will require an account of all that has been entrusted to our stewardship: Job 9:8; Psa 130:8; Psa 143:2.Osiander: Sin has subjected not only our persons, but all we have, to the curse.The natural man is not willing to rely on free grace, and to trust for atonement and righteousness to Christ alone; but would always like to contribute something of his own.Forgetfulness of the freeness of Gods gifts a fruitful cause of relapse into sin.Quesnel: As genuine love to God and compassionate affection toward our neighbor is a fruit of genuine conversion, so is ingratitude toward God and hardheartedness toward our neighbor an evidence of spurious religion.Canstein: To insist on full restitution, is to be inexorable.Your fellow-servants will see it, and lay the case before their Master.Quesnel: To be unwilling to forgive an offence, is to provoke the wrath both of heaven and earth.Feigned penitence is like that wicked servant, promising all, but performing nothing, Psa 12:6.The Lord quotes the example of men, in order to render them inexcusable.Would we like to know whether we have obtained forgiveness from God? Let us ask ourselves how we stand affected toward others.Forgive, and He will forgive you.

Lisco:God reckons with us when setting before us, in our consciences and by His word, His law and His just demands.By his harshness the wicked servant loses the affection and esteem of his fellow-servants, nor can his conduct remain concealed.

Heubner:This command to be ever willing to forgive, implies much rich and blessed comfort.If man is to forgive so frequently, how much more will our Father in heaven be ready to extend mercy!Unless we rightly know the extent of our guilt, we cannot properly appreciate the fulness of grace which the Lord is willing and ready to vouchsafe.How our sins ever involve others in ruin, and generally those nearest and dearest to us.We should despair of being ever able to discharge our debt, and rely on grace and mercy alone.What contrasts here! 1. God, the King of kings, toward a servant; and again a servant toward his fellow-servant. 2. An infinite debt, and again a small debt. 3. Impossibility and inability; and again, possibility and ability. 4. Compassion and kindness; and again, hard-heartedness and cruel behavior.Woe to him whom the tears and sighs of those who are oppressed and injured accuse before the tribunal of God.A harsh person calls down the judgments of God upon himself.

Reinhard:What obligation God lays upon us to forgive those who offend against us.Kuinoel:The character of self-righteousness: 1. Confession of debt; 2. promise of payment; 3. the manner in which this promise is kept; 4. the sad issue of the whole matter.[Bourdalue:Sur le pardon des injures. Serm. 34. Pour Leviticus 21 Dimanche apres la Pentecte.Massilon:Du pardon des offenses,and other famous Catholic sermons on the pericope, Mat 18:23-35.P. S.]

Footnotes:

[22] Mat 18:23.[ , …; Lange: welcher abrechnen wollte, i.e., to make a reckoning or settlement. Comp. 2Ki 21:7, where the E. V. correctly ren lers: There was no reckoning made with them of the money, etc. The Authorized Version in our place conveys a different meaning in modern English.P. S.]

[23] Mat 18:24. [for the more usual word: ] in Codd. B., D., Origen, Lachmann, Tischendorf, [Alford].

[24] Mat 18:26. is omitted in B., D., etc, and by Lachmann, Tischendorf, [Alford].

[25] Mat 18:28.[The English penny Is less than one seventh of a denarius, a Roman silver coin equivalent to the Attie drachma, or about seven and a half pence sterling or fifteen American cents in value. See the Dictionaries. The inaptness of the usual English rendering (in all the old English version 8) appears more fully in Mat 20:2, where laborers are hired for a penny a day, instead of nearly eight times that amount. About two thirds of a denarius a day was the pay of a Roman soldier. As there is no corresponding English coin, it is sary to adopt an inaccurate rendering or the foreign word denry, which would require a marginal explanation. Shilling (in the New York sense, i.e. one eighth of an American dollar) would come nearest, but would lead to confusion, since, the English shilling is nearly double in value (23,cents). Ewald, however, in his German translation, renders: Schillinge. Lange retains Luthers Groschen, but adds In parenthesis Denare, Zehner (dimes). Campbell and Norton: denarii (which might do in a learned Commentary, but not in a Bible for popular use): Conant, and the N. T. of the Am. Bible Union, better: denries. It is surprising that Trench in his interpretation of the parable of the Unmerciful Servant (p. 151) and that of the Laborers in the Vineyard (p. 170), takes no notice whatever of this mistranslation and speaks repeatedly of an hundred pence as if it were all right.P. S.]

[26] Mat 18:28.Codd. B., D., L., etc., omit , me.

[27] Mat 18:28.The reading is best attested and much stronger than . It is a demand for payment In the form of a rebuke: Thou wretch, he who owes, must pay! [Ewald and Lange translate: Bezaihle, wenn du wus schuldig bist! Pay, if thou owest anything. Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Alford unanimously adopt the reading: , which is now sustained also by Cod. Sinait. Dr. Conant ignores this difference of reading.P. S.]

[28] Mat 18:29.The addition of the received text: (at his feet) is omitted in Codd. B., C., D., etc. [Tischendorf and Alford retain and defend the words against Lachmann, Tregelles, and Meyer, who omit them.P. S.]

[29] Mat 18:29.The best authorities [also Cod. Sinait.] omit (all), which seems to be inserted to conform to Mat 18:26.

[30] Mat 18:34.B., D., etc., omit . [Lachmann and Alford omit it, Tischendorf retains ItP. S.]

[31] Mat 18:35.B., D., L., etc., omit the words: (their trespasses), which seem to be inserted from Mat 6:14-15; Mar 11:25-26. [Cod. Sinait, and all the critical editors, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Alford, omit the words.P. S.]

[32][Jerome already observed this significant contrast of our Lords seventy times seven of forgiveness to the antediluvian Lamechs seventy and sevenfold of revenge. So Trench asserts (p. 145), referring to Jeromes works, vol. ii. p. 565. of the Benedictine edition. But I cannot find the passage in the Vallarsi edition, which I have before me. In his Commentary on Matt. in loc. (Opera, tom. 7 col 141, ed. Vall.) Jerome makes no allusion to Gen 4:24, and says simply: Non usque septies, sed usque septuagies septies, id est, quadringentis nonaginta vicibus, ut toties peccanti fratri dimitteret In die, quoties ille peccare non possit.P. S.]

[33][Meyer likewise emphasizes , which the English Version renders: a certain king. ist nicht ohne Grund zugesetst, da das Himmelreich mil sinem Menschlichen Knige verglichen wird. Vergleiche brigens das Hiomerische .P. S.]

[34][Dr. Lange inserts only, to emphasize at the beginning of the sentence.P. S.]

[35][Dr. Robinson, Dictionary, sub , estimates the common Attic talent at 243 15s). sterling, or about 81, 170.P. S]

[36][The original reads 10 for 100 denarii.a palpable printing error, which the Edinb. transl. faithfully copies. Attica (mina) fuit centum drachmarum; Romana, drachmarum nonaginta se; Alexandrina 160 drachmarum Atticarum. See Joa. Scapvle, Lexicon Grco Lat., Oxford ed., p. 1006. An Attic nearly equa in value to a Roman denarius.P. S.]

[37][Among the ancient Romans there were certain legal tortnres, as a heavy chain and a system of half starvation, which the creditor might apply to his debtor, for bringing him to terms. See Arnold, History of Rome, i. p. 186, and Trench, Notes on the Parables, p. Matt 154: The tormentors are those who shall make the life of the prisoner bitter to him; wring out from him the confess on of any concealed hoards which he may still possess; even as there are tormentors in that world of woe, whereof this prison is a figurefellow-sinners and evil angelsinstruments of the just yet terrible Judgments of God.P. S.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

“Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? (22) Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. (23) Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. (24) And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. (25) But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. (26) The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. (27) Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. (28) But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. (29) And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. (30) And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. (31) So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. (32) Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: (33) Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? (34) And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. (35) So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses.”

It was blessed for the Church, that God the Holy Ghost put it into the mind of Peter, to ask this question, which gave rise to one of the most beautiful Parables of our Lord; and which, no child of God would have lost for a world. The parable itself, in its first plain and obvious sense, represents the boundless mercy of the Lord, in cancelling a most enormous debt, even ten thousand talents; which, counted by our English coin, would amount to no less a sum than fifty-four millions and upwards, of our money. A sum almost incredible! But what sum can represent the greatness of our mercies! What insolvency come up to the insolvency of sin! But I confess, I cannot explain in my view the parable of our Lord, in reference to this spiritual sense of it, unless with certain limitations.

The kingdom of heaven is well known to mean the Church of Christ in the present dispensation. The parable saith, that the Lord of this kingdom, that is, Christ, would take account of his servants: that is, his people, his Church, his chosen. Not the whole world: For though by creation the earth is the Lord’s, and all that is therein; yet here the Lord is speaking of his redeemed. The one brought to him in debt is the representative of all. And his debt was so great, that the everlasting slavery of himself, and all the race to which he belonged, could never cancel the debt nor pay it. In this state, the Lord forgives him. Now the debt forgiven could never be recalled. His cruelty to his fellow-servant, horrible as it was, could never unsay what his Lord had said. Neither is the pardon of our sins suspended upon our pardon of others. But the sense of the Parable seems to be this: How truly undeserving must be all those who are made partakers of the rich, full, and free salvation of God, who in the view of their ten thousand talents forgiven, are unkind and unforgiving to their fellow creatures. And in this sense the tormentors, to whom the unforgiving servant was delivered, will be a source of disquietude to his mind, as long as the conscious sense of his ingratitude shall remain. But though this must be agreeably to the whole tenor of Scripture, the general sense of the Parable; yet we are not authorized to strain the sense of the Parable too far. The general scope of our Lord’s meaning by it, is evidently this; to shew, that as we hope for mercy, we are supposed to shew mercy: and the consciousness of sins pardoned in Christ should prompt us, and will prompt the heart of grace to be merciful to everyone who bears the image of Christ, and to forgive from our heart, everyone his brother their trespasses.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

Ver. 21. And I forgive him? till seven times ] How many good people even at this day think if they forgive an offending brother some few times, that they have supererogated, a and deserved to be chronicled, yea, canonized! it was a fault in Peter to presume to prescribe to Christ how often he should enjoin him to forgive. Peter is still the same; ever too forwardly and forthputting.

a To do more than is commanded or required; spec. to perform a work or works of supererogation.? D

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

21 35. ] REPLY TO PETER’S QUESTION RESPECTING THE LIMIT OF FORGIVENESS; AND BY OCCASION, THE PARABLE OF THE FORGIVEN BUT UNFORGIVING SERVANT. See Luk 17:3-4 . It is possible that Peter may have asked this question in virtue of the power of the keys before (ch. Mat 16:19 ) entrusted to him, to direct him in the use of them: but it seems more likely, that it was asked as in the person of any individual: that Peter wished to follow the rules just laid down, but felt a difficulty as to the limit of his exercise of forgiveness.

The Rabbinical rule was, to forgive three times and no more; this they justified by Amo 1:3 , &c.: Job 33:29-30 LXX, and mar [150] . E. V. The expression ‘seven times’ is found Pro 24:16 , in connexion with sinning and being restored: see also Lev 26:18-28 . In our Lord’s answer we have most likely a reference to Gen 4:24 .

[150] Margin. ‘marg-eccles’ denotes that the reading cited is given on the margin as an alteration to be made in reading the passage in church, e.g. the name of our Lord, where the pronoun would otherwise stand at the beginning of a ‘Gospel for the day.’

Seventy times seven, not ‘ seven and seventy times ,’ is the rendering. , . Chrys. Hom. lxi. 1, p. 611.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Mat 18:21-22 . Peter’s question about forgiving . The second of two interpellations in the course of Christ’s discourse ( vide Mar 9:38-41 ; Luk 9:49-50 ). Such words touch sensitive consciences, and the interruptions would be welcomed by Jesus as proof that He had not spoken in vain.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Mat 18:21 . , etc.: the question naturally arose out of the directions for dealing with an offending brother, which could only be carried out by one of placable disposition. Their presupposition is that a fault confessed is to be forgiven. But how far is this to go? In Luk 17:3 the case is put of seven offences in a day, each in turn repented of and confessed. Is there not reason for doubting the sincerity of repentance in such a case? Or is this not at least the extreme limit? Such is Peter’s feeling. , : two futures instead of . : Hebrew idiom instead of Greek. : Peter meant to be generous, and he went considerably beyond the Rabbinical measure, which was three times (Amo 1:6 ): “quicunque remissionem petit a proximo, ne ultra quam ter petat,” Schttgen.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 18:21-22

21Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” 22Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”

Mat 18:21

NASB, NKJV,

TEV” seventy times seven”

NRSV, NJB”seventy-seven times”

Peter was trying to be generous by using seven times (cf. Luk 17:4)! The Babylonian Talmud had three times as the maximum (cf. Amo 1:3; Amo 1:6; Amo 2:6). Jesus took forgiveness to the new metaphorical height of 7 x 70 (or possibly 77). This does not mean on the 491st time believers do not forgive, but that covenant brothers must always be ready to forgive other covenant brothers (cf. Luk 17:4) as God forgives them (cf. Mat 18:35). The new covenant has a radically new orientation to life (cf. Mat 18:15).

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

sin. Greek. hamartano. App-128.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

21-35.] REPLY TO PETERS QUESTION RESPECTING THE LIMIT OF FORGIVENESS; AND BY OCCASION, THE PARABLE OF THE FORGIVEN BUT UNFORGIVING SERVANT. See Luk 17:3-4. It is possible that Peter may have asked this question in virtue of the power of the keys before (ch. Mat 16:19) entrusted to him, to direct him in the use of them: but it seems more likely, that it was asked as in the person of any individual: that Peter wished to follow the rules just laid down, but felt a difficulty as to the limit of his exercise of forgiveness.

The Rabbinical rule was, to forgive three times and no more; this they justified by Amo 1:3, &c.: Job 33:29-30 LXX, and mar[150]. E. V. The expression seven times is found Pro 24:16, in connexion with sinning and being restored: see also Lev 26:18-28. In our Lords answer we have most likely a reference to Gen 4:24.

[150] Margin. marg-eccles denotes that the reading cited is given on the margin as an alteration to be made in reading the passage in church, e.g. the name of our Lord, where the pronoun would otherwise stand at the beginning of a Gospel for the day.

Seventy times seven, not seven and seventy times, is the rendering. , . Chrys. Hom. lxi. 1, p. 611.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Mat 18:21. , how often?) in one day, or my whole life. Cf. Luk 17:4. [This question arose from some sense of super abounding Divine grace, which had been so much dwelt upon and magnified in the preceding discourses.-V. g.-, shall my brother sin?) These words are to be understood, not of some slight offence, which excites a sudden burst of indignation, though this also is indeed sinful, yet ready to forgive of its own accord, but of some more heavy offence or injury.-V. g.]

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Forgiven yet Unforgiving

Mat 18:21-35

Seventy times seven is illimitable forgiveness. These numbers denote the perfection of perfection; and if God asks so much of us, what is He not prepared to do! Despair of yourself, but never despair of Gods forgiving mercy! The cause of soul-ruin is not sin, but the unbelief that thinks sin too great to be forgiven.

The difference between the two amounts of debt named in the parable sets forth the vast difference between our indebtedness to man and to God; and the free pardon of the king teaches us that God desires not only to forgive us, but to wipe out all memory of our sins. We could never pay all, but God will forgive all. Yet, notice that this servant forfeited the kings pardon, so that it ceased to operate. Similarly we may shut ourselves out of the benefits of Christs death-though it has reconciled the world unto God-by an unforgiving and merciless spirit.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Chapter 50

The Sin Debt

Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

(Mat 18:21-35)

Sin is set forth in the word of God under a variety of pictures and metaphors. Sometimes it is described as a loathsome disease, such as leprosy. Sometimes it is compared to bondage, slavery, or imprisonment. Frequently sin is represented by death and compared to an obnoxious, rotting corpse. In this passage sin is compared to a debt that we owe.

How thankful we ought to be that Peter asked this question! Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? It was in response to Peters question about forgiveness the Lord Jesus gave us this rich and blessed parable, comparing the kingdom of heaven to a king who graciously forgives the enormous debt of his servant. It was our Saviors purpose in this parable to teach Peter and each of us both the boundless, incomprehensible fulness of Gods free grace to us in him and how we are to forgive one another. He shows us that both the pattern and the motive for forgiveness among believers is the infinite, incalculable forgiveness of our sins by our God. In

Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible

sin

(See Scofield “Rom 3:23”)

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

till: Mat 18:15, Luk 17:3, Luk 17:4

Reciprocal: Pro 19:11 – and Zec 8:23 – ten men Mat 5:22 – his brother Mat 6:12 – debts Mat 6:14 – General 1Co 8:12 – when Eph 4:32 – forgiving Col 3:13 – forgiving Phm 1:12 – thou

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE SPIRIT OF FORGIVENESS

Then came Peter to Him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive Him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

Mat 18:21-22

The true spirit of forgiveness is essentially a Christian spirit.

I. Where it is to be won.It is to be won only before the Cross of Christ. The natural heart resents all injury and wrong and cries for vengeance on the offender; there are some injuries that no man could forgive unless taught by the Spirit that inspired our Master. The doctrine of unlimited forgiveness was introduced into the world by Christ Himself. Philosophers of old may have looked upon it with partial admiration, but they never taught it as a necessary virtue. A new and indispensable virtue dates from the Advent of Jesus; the Spirit of Christ moved upon the face of the waters and men have learned to forgive.

II. Christs example.And as the man Christ Jesus is the first to preach unlimited forgiveness, so He is the first to practise itto practise it, too, under a heavy weight of anguish which might well have absorbed all the thoughts of His troubled soul. His forgiveness was absolutely without a limit. His enemies had tortured Him, spat upon Him, smitten Him, and jeered at Him in a chorus of infamous blasphemy: they nailed His holy limbs to the bitter cross: and yet, before he could commend His sinless spirit into His Fathers hands, He must intercede for His pitiless murderersFather, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

III. As we forgive.May we so contemplate the life and death of Jesus and of His holy martyrs that, by Gods grace, there may spring up within our souls the Spirit of Divine Charity; in order that our Father may fulfil His gracious promise, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us.

The Rev. W. E. Coghlan.

Illustrations

(1) I never forgive, once said a well-known soldier to an earnest friend who was standing beside him. Then I hope, sir, that you never sin, was the true and ready answer. He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself; for every man has need to be forgiven.

(2) Csar was a man noted for kindly feelings; he had pardoned multitudes of those who had injured him, of those who hated him mortally: Yet even he could not look upon happiness as perfect unless it were flavoured with vengeance, nor victory as complete while his enemy breathed.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

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

8:21

Seven is a prime number and in figurative language means completeness. The question of Peter was equivalent to asking if he should go to the limit in forgiving.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?

[Shall I forgive him? Till seven times?] this question of Peter respects the words of our Saviour, Mat 18:15. “How far shall I forgive my brother before I proceed to the extremity? What! seven times?” He thought that he had measured out, by these words, a large charity, being, in a manner, double to that which was prescribed by the schools: “He that is wronged (say they) is forbidden to be difficult to pardon; for that is not the manner of the seed of Israel. But when the offender implores him once and again, and it appears he repents of his deed, let him pardon him: and whosoever is most ready to pardon is most praiseworthy.” It is well; but there lies a snake under it; “For (say they) they pardon a man once, that sins against another; secondly, they pardon him; thirdly, they pardon him; fourthly, they do not pardon him,” etc.

Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels

IN these verses the Lord Jesus deals with a deeply important subject,-the forgiveness of injuries. We live in a wicked world, and it is vain to expect that we can escape ill-treatment, however carefully we may behave. To know how to conduct ourselves, when we are ill-treated, is of great moment to our souls.

In the first place, the Lord Jesus lays it down as a general rule, that we ought to forgive others to the uttermost. Peter put the question, “How oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? till seven times?” He received for answer, “I say not unto thee till seven times, but until seventy times seven.”

The rule here laid down must of course be interpreted with sober-minded qualification. Our Lord does not mean that offenses against the law of the land and the good order of society, are to be passed over in silence. He does not mean that we are to allow people to commit thefts, and assaults, with impunity. All that He means is, that we are to study a general spirit of mercy and forgivingness towards our brethren. We are to bear much, and to put up with much, rather than quarrel. We are to look over much, and submit to much, rather than have any strife. We are to lay aside everything like malice, strife, revenge, and retaliation. Such feelings are only fit for heathens. They are utterly unworthy of a disciple of Christ.

What a happy world it would be if this rule of our Lord’s was more known and better obeyed! How many of the miseries of mankind are occasioned by disputes, quarrels, lawsuits, and an obstinate tenacity about what men call “their rights!” How many of them might be altogether avoided, if men were more willing to forgive, and more desirous for peace! Let us never forget that a fire cannot go on burning without fuel. Just in the same way it takes two to make a quarrel. Let us each resolve by God’s grace, that of these two we will never be one. Let us resolve to return good for evil, and blessing for cursing, and so melt down enmity, and change our foes into friends. (Rom 12:20.) It was a fine feature in Archbishop Cranmer’s character, that if you did him an injury, he was sure to be your friend.

In the second place, our Lord supplies us with two powerful motives for exercising a forgiving spirit. He tells us a story of a man who owed an enormous sum to his master, and had “nothing to pay.” Nevertheless at the time of reckoning his master had compassion on him, and “forgave him all.” He tells us that this very man, after being forgiven himself, refused to forgive a fellow-servant a trifling debt of a few pence. He actually cast him into prison, and would not abate a jot of his demand. He tells us how punishment overtook this wicked and cruel man, who, after receiving mercy, ought surely to have shown mercy to others. And finally, he concludes the parable with the impressive words, “so likewise shall my heavenly Father do unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.”

It is clear from this parable that one motive for forgiving others, ought to be the recollection that we all need forgiveness at God’s hands ourselves. Day after day we are coming short in many things, “leaving undone what we ought to do, and doing what we ought not to do.” Day after day we require mercy and pardon. Our neighbors’ offenses against us are mere trifles, compared with our offenses against God. Surely it ill becomes poor erring creatures like us, to be extreme in marking what is done amiss by our brethren, or slow to forgive it.

Another motive for forgiving others, ought to be the recollection of the day of judgment, and the standard by which we shall all be tried in that day. There will be no forgiveness in that day for unforgiving people. Such people would be unfit for heaven. They would not be able to value a dwelling-place to which “mercy” is the only title, and in which “mercy” is the eternal subject of song. Surely if we mean to stand at the right hand, when Jesus sits on the throne of His glory, we must learn, while we are on earth, to forgive.

Let these truths sink down deeply into our hearts. It is a melancholy fact that there are few Christian duties so little practiced as that of forgiveness. It is sad to see how much bitterness, unmercifulness, spite, hardness, and unkindness there is among men. Yet there are few duties so strongly enforced in the New Testament Scriptures as this duty is, and few the neglect of which so clearly shuts a man out of the kingdom of God.

Would we give proof that we are at peace with God, washed in Christ’s blood, born of the Spirit, and made God’s children by adoption and grace? Let us remember this passage. Like our Father in heaven, let us be forgiving. Has any man injured us? Let us this day forgive him. As Leighton says, “We ought to forgive ourselves little, and others much.”

Would we do good to the world? Would we have any influence on others, and make them see the beauty of true religion? Let us remember this passage. Men who care not for doctrines, can understand a forgiving temper.

Would we grow in grace ourselves, and become more holy in all our ways, words, and works? Let us remember this passage.-Nothing so grieves the Holy Spirit, and brings spiritual darkness over the soul, as giving way to a quarrelsome and unforgiving temper. (Eph 4:30-32.)

Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

Mat 18:21. Then came Peter, etc. The question was a moral fruit of the previous discourse.

How oft. The Rabbins said, three times; Peter increased the number to the sacred one of seven.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Section 4. (Mat 18:21-35.)

The failure in mercy of one who has received mercy.

We have now a solemn word upon the responsibility of showing grace in a day of grace. In His teaching as to prayer the Lord has already warned us to the same effect, in words which are almost identical with those which close the parable before us. But here the principle is shown us in the full extent of its application, and enforced in the most absolute way.

(1) The first object in dealing with a brother who has sinned is, as we have seen; restoration. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. Forgiveness is necessarily grounded upon the “hearing,” for that alone would show restoration. But Peter has a question here: how often is there to be forgiveness? The Rabbins had already decided as to this, and their limit was three times. Peter has so far appreciated the spirit of the Lord’s words as to more than double this number. Seven was the perfect number: shall his forgiveness of an offending brother be “till seven times”? But the Lord answers, He has put no such limit; and then He puts one which is practically none at all: “I say not unto thee, until seven times, but until seventy times seven.” I suppose it would test Christian grace in us, to go even half way to such a boundary line; but the Lord does not mean us seriously to contemplate this. Could it be a question how often I should gain my brother? Peter is after all still viewing things from the stand-point of personal rights. He must still be seeking in some measure his own; but “love seeketh not her own.” Hence the personal element still rules here – “sin against me, and I.” The Lord takes up, therefore, this very side of things, but to turn it in another direction: “how oft shall I sin against God, and God forgive me?” If there be no limit here, and I am in the sense of this, how can this question of Peter be asked at all?

(2) The similitude which the Lord draws for us here is necessarily a similitude of the Kingdom of heaven. It is not after all a picture of perfect grace, such as we know it in God, although this is as nearly approached as possible for the purpose of the illustration; and, of course, it is a true presentation of God, in no wise inconsistent with the fullest grace. But the Lord will not image one of His own people in the picture that He gives of this unmerciful servant. He is one with the responsibility of such a profession; but without the real apprehension of divine grace, as his conduct shows. Hence the grace shown to him is not the unconditional grace of the gospel, but that which, in fact, is manifested in the Kingdom, as in “baptism for the remission of sins” (Act 2:38) where the grace witnessed to is manifestly conditioned, as here, upon the truth of discipleship. The Kingdom, as we see in the parables, embraces the true and the false, and in it all is governmental, conditional blessing.

The Kingdom of heaven is likened here unto a human king; which prepares us for certain points in it which we must not attribute to the divine. The king here will have a reckoning with his servants; and no sooner has he begun to reckon than there is brought to him one with an overwhelming debt, which argues in itself surely something more than any misfortune can account for. He is ordered, therefore, to be sold, with his wife and children and all belonging to him, for the debt. We see in this the “human” king, of course; yet there is this truth in it, that the sinner against God, as far as he can do it, wrecks not himself alone, but all connected with him. No man can be his own enemy only, as men sometimes assert; and we need no argument to prove how the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children in this world, although in the final account every one answers simply for his own.

So helplessly are we all indebted to the supreme King. Good it is that there is mercy with Him for which all figures fail. The debtor falls at his lord’s feet with an impossible plea for mercy in his own case, – how impossible in our own! “I will pay thee all.” The king can accept no such agreement, takes no notice of it; but his heart is moved with compassion, and taking counsel of that, “he loosed him, and forgave him the debt.”

(3) All this, thank God, the blessed Speaker has now made very plain to us; but the point of the parable has yet to come. “But that servant went out “out from an experience like this! – “and found one of his fellow-servants, who owed him a hundred pence” – denarii (about a 700,000th part of his own debt just forgiven); “and he laid hold of him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me what thou owest.”

It was his own that he was demanding. Apart from the violence used, he was, as men say, quite within his rights. That was not the question; and every one at once understands that that was not the question. We too, in the exaction of our own from others, may be within our rights; and why is it that in our own case we are not as simple in judging of the real state of things as we are in the case of the man before us? We have been forgiven (if we are Christians) as well as he; and with regard to a debt in proportion to which his was as nothing. How is it that we can look upon grace or mercy shown to others as if it were anything more than the merest righteousness on our part, from the standpoint of forgiven men?

There follows an appeal, so like his own recent one, save only in its greater reasonableness and simplicity, that it should have pierced the heart of the hardened man: “Then his fellow-servant fell down and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee. But he would not, but went off and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt.” It is the grace shown him that fully exposes the obduracy of his unmerciful heart.

(4) Plain as the matter seems, it is developed and enforced upon us. The grief of his fellow-servants who bring the account of it to their lord; who on his part summons the guilty man and puts before him the wickedness of his conduct with abhorrence. The close of the parable has the moral of it, that mercy fails for him with whom it fails: “his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due” – an impossible thing, and typical therefore of an eternal recompense.

A tremendous failure, when divine mercy fails to impress its image on the soul that has been subjected to its influence! Love that subdues not saves not, and this is, of course, the history of an unsaved soul. But the lesson that is to be learned is not to be limited by this, as the Lord’s application of it shows. His government is over sinner and saint alike; and He is the same with sinner and saint in His unchanging reprobation of sin. Communion can only be in the holiness and love of the divine nature; and through all degrees of resemblance to that which has been before us, the principle applies. “So also shall My heavenly Father do unto you, if ye forgive not every one his brother, from your hearts.”

Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary

Here St. Peter puts a question to our Saviour, how often Christians should forgive offences to their brethren professing repentance: Christ answers that there should be no end of our mutually forgiving one another, but we are to multiply our pardon as our brother manifests his repentance. Not that we are hereby obliged to take the frequent offender into our bosom, and to make him our intimate; but to lay aside all malice, and all thoughts and desires of revenge, and to stand ready to do him any office of love and friendship.

Learn, 1. That to fall often into the same offence against our brother, is a great aggravation of sin, so the multiplication of forgiveness is a great demonstration of a God-like temper in us. He that multiplies sin, doth like Satan, sin abundantly; and he that multiplies pardon, doth, like God, pardon abundantly.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Mat 18:21-22. Then came Peter When Jesus had given this advice for the accommodation of differences among his disciples, Peter, imagining it might be abused by ill-disposed persons, as an encouragement to offer injuries to others, came and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Must I go on to do it until he has repeated the injury seven times? He does not mean seven times a day, as Christ said, Luk 17:4, but seven times in his life, thinking, if a man had trespassed against him seven times, though that person were never so desirous to be reconciled, he might then lawfully and properly renounce all society with him: Jesus saith, I say not, Until seven times I never intended to limit thee in any such way; but, Until seventy times seven That is, as often as there is occasion; a certain number being put for an uncertain: for it is not the number of times in which a person may offend that is to be here regarded, but his true repentance. In short, the precept is unbounded, and you must never be weary of forgiving your brethren, since you are so much more indebted to the divine mercy than your fellow-creatures can be to yours.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

FORGIVING ONE ANOTHER

Mat 18:21-35. Then Peter, coming to Him, said, Lord, how frequently shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? until seven times? Jesus says to him, I do not say unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven. You see from this response of our Lord that our forgiveness is to be utterly illimitable. The rabbis had taught that three times were often enough. Here you see the verdict is plain and definite we are to forgive on infinitesimally.

Therefore the kingdom of the heavens is like unto a kingly man, who wished to make a reckoning with his servants. And he, beginning to reckon, one was brought to him owing him ten thousand talents. What an enormous indebtedness! One talent is four hundred dollars. The Greek word here is i.e., myriad, ten thousand but it is in the plural number; hence, tens of thousands. Now, since myriad is in the plural, though the sum is indefinitely large, its minimum is twenty thousand talents; i.e., eight millions. But as the sum is indefinitely great, we have no right to settle on the minimum. Therefore, with the convenience of round numbers, we may conclude that he owed him ten millions of dollars, whereas it might have been infinitely greater. And he, not being able to pay, the lord commanded him, his wife, and children, and all things so much as he had, to be sold, and payment to be made. Then that servant, falling down, continued to worship him, saying, Be patient with me, and I will pay thee all things. The lord of that servant, being moved with sympathy, sent him away, and forgave him the debt. And that servant, having gone out, found one of his fellow-servants, who owed him a hundred denaria [i.e., fifteen dollars; as the denarion is fifteen cents]; and seizing, throttled him, saying, Pay me what you owe me. Then his fellow-servant, falling down, continued to entreat him, saying, Be patient with me, and I will pay thee. And he was not willing; but going away, cast him into prison until he may pay the debt. Therefore his fellow-servants, seeing the things which were done, were grieved exceedingly, and having come, they explained to their lord all the things which had been done. The fellow servants here are the saints, who are always grieved when they see an unforgiving spirit among them, and immediately go and tell the Lord about it; i.e., get to praying over it in good earnest. When that is the case, something is sure to happen. Then his lord, calling him to him, says to him, Thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, since .thou didst entreat me; did it not behoove thee to have mercy on thy fellow-servant, as I also had mercy on thee? And his lord, being angry, delivered him to the tormentors until he may pay all that was due him. Thy My Heavenly Father will do unto you, if you do not each one forgive his brother from your hearts. You are not only to forgive, but to do it cheerfully and spontaneously, with brotherly love gushing up from the deep interior of the heart; as God forgives you, lovingly, freely, and fully, for Christs sake. We are not to conclude that God gets angry in the human sense, as He has no malevolent affections nor evil passions, like fallen men and demons.

The language here is an accommodation to our human apprehension, the anger of God being His righteous and holy indignation. I hope you hear, see, and understand this allegorical exegesis, which our Savior gives, in order to elucidate the infinite magnitude of Gods forgiving mercy, and the insignificance of ours, even though we do cheerfully, freely, and fully forgive all who have ever done us an injury.

Now, remember the case: The one servant was forgiven ten millions of dollars; and the other only owed him fifteen dollars, only one six- thousandth part of his indebtedness, yet seizing and throttling him, and demanding the payment of the fifteen dollars, and even casting him into prison because he couldnt pay it. Now I hope you see the beautiful and forcible meaning of the allegory. Let the people treat us as badly as they can, our Heavenly Father has actually forgiven us six thousand times as much as all we ever can forgive them all our innumerable sins, in thought, word, and deed, actually amounting to ten millions, contrasted with the fifteen dollars which some one owes us. Now, if we are too vile, selfish, and diabolical to forgive our comrades what little they may owe us, how can we expect God to forgive us the ten millions which we owe Him? Now you see, in the finale of this affair, that the ungrateful servant, who had been forgiven so much, and then refused to pardon his fellow-servant, was actually arrested, and delivered to the tormentors till he paid it all.

This is the great trouble with Churches having fallen out with one another, they refuse to forgive and make friends. Consequently they all fall under condemnation, backslide, as you see in this illustrative case, get back where they were before they were forgiven, forfeiting all the progress they had made in the Divine life, and, if they so persist, finally making their bed in hell. We find whole Churches stranded, befogged, wrecked, and captured by the devil in this way.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Mat 18:21-35. The Duty of Forgiveness Illustrated by the Parable of the Ungrateful Servant.With Mat 18:21 cf. Luk 17:4, which makes repentance a condition. The Rabbis taught (Yoma, 86b) that one must forgive ones brother (OT neighbour) three times (cf. Amo 1:3; Amo 1:6; Amo 1:9). According to Jesus, mens forgive ness should be limitless, like that of His Father in heaven. The natural man longs for limitless revenge (Gen 4:24), the spiritual mans ambition is to exercise the privilege of boundless forgiveness. The parable that follows presents no difficulty. Judgment is without mercy to him that hath showed no mercy (Jas 2:13). The Divine forgiveness is not so absolute as it seems: he who fails to observe its conditions loses even that which he seems to have. Note the vast discrepancy between the two sums, say two million pounds against ten, and cf. the beam and the splinter of Mat 7:3. The great defaulter must be one of the kings ministers, through whose hands the royal taxes passed. For the kings order cf. Lev 25:39; Lev 25:47, 2Ki 4:1, and note the subsidiary lesson that the wrongdoer involves others in the consequences of his sin. Torture (Mat 18:34) had been introduced into Juda by Herod, its mention here is a literary detail not to be pressed for interpretation.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

Verse 21

Peter’s question refers to what Jesus had said Matthew 18:15.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

18:21 {7} Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

(7) They will find God severe and not too pleased, who do not forgive their brethren even if they have been purposely and grievously injured by them.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The importance of forgiving a disciple 18:21-35

From a discussion of discipline Jesus proceeded to stress the importance of forgiveness. Sometimes zealous disciples spend too much time studying church discipline and too little time studying the importance of forgiveness.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Jesus had been talking about excluding rather than forgiving (Mat 18:17). This led Peter to ask how often he as a disciple should forgive an erring brother before he stopped forgiving. The rabbis taught that a Jew should forgive a repeated sin three times, but after that there need be no more forgiveness (Amo 1:3; Amo 2:6). [Note: Carson, "Matthew," p. 405; Lenski, p. 708.] Peter suggested seven times and probably felt very magnanimous doing so. Seven was a round number, sometimes regarded as a perfect number, obviously exceeding what the scribes taught (cf. Lev 26:21; Deu 28:25; Psa 79:12; Pro 24:16; Luk 17:4).

Jesus’ response alluded to Gen 4:24 where the ungodly Lamech said, "If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold." Lamech claimed to have taken even more revenge on the man who struck him than God had taken on Cain for killing his brother Abel. Jesus turned Lamech’s bad example around and urged his disciples to practice generous forgiveness when their brothers hurt them.

The NASB has Jesus saying "seventy times seven" whereas the NIV translators wrote "seventy-seven times." Probably the NIV is correct since Jesus quoted the Septuagint of Gen 4:24 exactly here, and it has "seventy-seven times." Even though the difference between these two translations is great numerically, it is not a very important difference. Jesus was not specifying a maximum number of times His disciples should forgive their brothers. Neither was He wiping out what He had just taught about confronting an erring brother (Mat 18:15-20). His point was that disciples who are humble should not limit the number of times they forgive one another nor the frequency with which they forgive each other. The following parable of the unmerciful servant clarified this point.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

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