Pray Like This: Reflections on the Lord’s Prayerናሙና

Forgive Us Our Debts

Our forgiveness is often conditional. We think we have forgiven people, but we don’t always forgive them from the heart. If we live among people, there is a high probability that we will hurt each other. Since we often hurt each other, we need to frequently forgive one another. I’m sure you agree that forgiving each other is not easy. But repeatedly, we are commanded by God to forgive one another. The Lord’s Prayer talks about the importance of asking God for forgiveness and forgiving one another.

We must continually confess our sins and ask God for forgiveness. Matthew 6:12 says, “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” In this verse, the word “forgive” is in the aorist active (a verb tense in the Greek language), which calls for urgent action. We must urgently and earnestly pray that God will forgive our “debts” as we forgive our debtors. In the Bible, sin is seen as a moral debt (cf. 18:21-35; Colossians 2:14). Sin deserves punishment. But in His grace, God withheld His punishment as His Son, Jesus died on the cross for our sins. We are liberated from the power of sin. Hallelujah!

We ought to forgive others because God forgave us far more than we will ever forgive. Jesus doesn’t teach us to merely pray for our forgiveness. We must pray: “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Now, Jesus is not saying that we can earn God’s forgiveness by forgiving others. In fact, we have received forgiveness from God first (cf. 18:23-35; Colossians 3:13). We cannot pray the Lord’s Prayer if we hold grudges and harbor bitterness in our hearts. We can ask the Lord to forgive us only if we forgive others. You cannot ask God to give you something that you are not willing to give others.

Since we have received great forgiveness from God, we must be willing to forgive those who sinned against us. I’m not saying that forgiving those who hurt us will not be a struggle. It is difficult to forgive. But the Lord will help us. But if we are constantly unwilling to forgive others, it demonstrates that we have not truly experienced God’s forgiveness. We are being hypocrites. In that case, we don’t have a right to plead with God to forgive us. We cannot have a right relationship with the Lord when we hold on to grudges. We must forgive others because God forgave us far more than we will ever forgive.