Lucas 11

Lucas 11

Clarke explaining - “Sin is represented here under the notion of a debt, and as our sins are many, they are called here debts. God made man that he might live to his glory, and gave him a law to walk by; and if, when he does anything that tends not to glorify God, he contracts a debt with Divine Justice.” For (gar) is a term of explanation which explains how God is able to forgive us. We ourselves also forgive (aphiemi) everyone who is indebted (opheilo) to us - Forgive here is present tense indicating this is to be our lifestyle. And in the active voice it speaks of us making a volitional choice, a choice of our will to forgive (a Christ-like attitude/action that is enabled by His Spirit indwelling believers). "An unforgiving Christian is a contradiction in terms." (MacArthur) Matthew's version says "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." Note the small word "as" (JUST LIKE) which clearly shows that God's forgiveness flows to those who forgive. Unforgiveness effectively shuts off the flow of forgiveness from our Father. It is easy to read over the "AS" but that little word is critical to understanding the paternal/familial forgiveness from our Father to us as His sons and daughters. Clearly this forgiveness does not refer to judicial forgiveness because all of our sins were laid on our Savior on the Cross and the debt we owed God was paid in full by the Son (Jn 19:30+). So clearly forgiveness is a critical issue for believers. In fact it is so important that in Matthew's longer version of the prayer, the only petition which has additional explanation is the petition dealing with forgiveness. Jesus adds this explanation... “For if you forgive (aphiemi)others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive (aphiemi) you. 15 “But if you do not forgive (aphiemi) others, then your Father will not forgive (aphiemi)your transgressions. (Mt 6:14-15+) You may be asking "Well I thought Jesus paid for all my sins on the Cross didn't He?" And the answer is of course He did. He became a curse in our place and God's righteous wrath judged our sin which was laid on Christ. So yes our position now is perfectly righteous before the Father because we are forever in Christ, the Righteous One. That is "judicial forgiveness (see MacArthur's sermon - Forgive Us Our Sins - Part 2)." But unforgiveness is a sin that creates a break in fellowship with the Father. So the issue is "paternal (or familial) forgiveness" and it is that forgiveness which is conditioned upon our willingness to forgive others their sin against us. Stated another way it is not a matter of my eternal standing before God but a matter of my present relationship with Him (cf 1 John 1:6-7+) David