Lord's Prayer (4) - God Forgives

THE LORD’S PRAYER

(4) GOD FORGIVES

During Lent this year, we are looking at the Lord's Prayer, and today we are focusing our attention upon those familiar words "And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us".

I say familiar, because those are the words used in the Book of Common Prayer of 1662 on which most of us were brought up. They were first introduced in the worship of the Church of England by Henry VIII when he chose to use the Tyndale translation of the Bible in his Prayer Book of 1541.

However, you may have noticed that the word "trespasses" has disappeared in recent years from the service books since the word " trespasses” is not an accurate translation of the original Greek word in the New Testament. In fact, of all the modern translations, only that of Ronald Knox continued to maintain Tyndale's use of the word "trespasses".

If we go back to the New Testament, we will find that there are two versions of the Lord's Prayer, one in St. Matthew's gospel - which is the one that has been traditionally used in Christian worship over the centuries and thought to be closer to the original words of Jesus - and one in St. Luke's gospel.

The Authorised Version, the Revised Version and the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible translate St. Matthew's version with the words as:

"And forgive us our debts As we also have forgiven our debtors"

Whereas they translate St. Luke's version with the words:

"And forgive us our sins for we ourselves also forgive everyone that is indebted to us"

In other words St. Luke uses the word “sins” for “debts”.

Incidentally the New English Bible and the Revised English Bible use the word "Wrong" for "debt":

"Forgive us the wrong we have done as we have forgiven those who have wronged us".

The Alternative Service Book using a modified form of the International Consultative Ecumenical Text, uses the word "sin" instead of the word "debt".

In other words, whichever translation we use, and whichever version of the Lord's Prayer we use, the word “trespasses is not used. Hence that great New Testament scholar, the late William Barclay has concluded "linguistically speaking there is no justification whatever for the use of the word 'trespasses' to render the Greek word 'Opheilema'".

Therefore, if we are to understand this clause of the Lord's Prayer, we need to focus our attention upon the words "debt" or "sin" and not upon the word “trespasses”.

The word "debt", used by St. Matthew, comes from the Greek word "Opheilema" which is a translation of the Aramaic word "Choba" and we must remember that Jesus spoke in Aramaic. This is basically a financial metaphor and refers to the piling up of an overdraft which God writes off and cancels.

The verb "to owe” derived from the noun “debt” is possibly best translated with our English word "ought". It occurs eight times in the New Testament in the sense of owing money, and twenty-five times in the sense of moral or religious obligation. In other words, it is about our failure to pay our moral or religious duty to God.. This duty the Jews interpreted in terms of obedience to God and so when we fail to obey God, we are in debt to him.

St. Luke on the other hand uses the Greek word “harmartias” for the Aramaic word "choba" which he translates as "sin". "Harmartias" means to miss the mark, just as a javelin, or an arrow, or a blow misses its mark. In this sense, sin is a failure to hit the mark. The mark at which we aim is to live the kind of life God intended for us, and which we see revealed in human form in the life of Jesus Christ.

In other words, there is little difference between the meaning of the word "debt used by St. Matthew, and the word "sin" used by St. Luke. Professor Christopher Evans notes that it is the only place in the Bible where the word "debt" is used for "sin".

So we pray that God will "forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us". This is the only petition in the Lord's Prayer which has a qualifying clause attached to it.

I don't think we need bother ourselves too much about the difference between St. Matthew's and St. Luke's translation of this clause whereby the former uses the past tense and the latter uses the present tense, since it makes very little difference to its meaning.

The point that Jesus is making is simply this: we have no right to expect God to forgive us if we do not forgive other people. This is a very painful truth and often hurts. Little wonder that St. Chrysostom of the fourth century tells us that in his day there were many who omitted this clause when saying the Lord's Prayer. I am sure there are times when we too would also prefer to omit the clause, we want the forgiveness of God, but are not happy about showing similar forgiveness to those who have wronged us.

Jesus recognises this natural human weakness as he made plain in the parable of the unforgiving debtor. Do you recall it?

In answer to the question of how many times a person should forgive, Jesus told the story about a "king who decided to settle his account with his servants". The first owed him a million pounds. After listening to the man's plea for mercy he set him free and cancelled the debt.

However, the same man went out immediately and found a person who owed him only a few shillings and demanded immediate payment of this very small debt. But when he pleaded to be shown similar mercy, the servant "refused and went out and had him put in prison until he should pay the debt".

When the king heard about this he said "Didn't I cancel all that debt when you begged me to do so? Ought you to have taken pity on your fellow servant as I, your master, took pity on you?” And the king in anger handed him over to the jailers till he should repay the whole debt.

And Jesus concludes: "This is how my heavenly Father will treat you unless you each forgive your brothers from your heart".

Yes, there is a link between our willingness to forgive and our acceptance of God’s forgiveness.

This also finds an echo in the Old Testament Book of Ecclesiasticus.

"Forgive your neighbour the hurt he does you and when you pray your sins will be forgiven. If a man nurses anger against another, can he then demand compassion from the Lord? Showing no pity for a man like himself, can he plead for his own sins? Mere creature of flesh, he cherishes resentment; who will forgive him his sins?"

Again we are reminded that our relationship with God, is a reflection of our relationship with our fellow men. Perhaps the supreme example of a willingness to forgive, by one who was himself without sin, is found in the words of Jesus from the cross: “Father, forgive them: for they know what they are doing".

Now there is a danger that we think God’s willingness to forgive is dependent upon our willingness to forgive others. In other words God’s forgiveness is conditional.

Such an approach may at first sight appear to go contrary to what we learn elsewhere in the New Testament.

For instance, in the parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Lost Son, it is God who takes the initiative and goes out seeking for the sinner who is lost. And, as St. Paul observes elsewhere, it was "while we were yet sinners that he died for us".

I think the words of the late Dean Matthews of St. Paul's Cathedral may be helpful in enabling us to come to grips with this apparent contradiction.

He suggests that we should "distinguish between forgiveness and reconciliation. In one sense,forgiveness is a one-sided affair. I may forgive wrongs done to me by laying aside all resentment and holding fast to sincere goodwill towards the doer of the wrong.

"But" he goes on to say "reconciliation is a two-sided affair, and my forgiveness will be ineffective unless there is some response; we shall remain estranged, though not by my wish or fault. The word forgiveness is often used in a wider sense to include reconciliation, and so I think it is here".

In other words " God’s forgiveness of me cannot issue in my reconciliation with him unless I respond, and I cannot respond so long as my heart is full of hatred and malice”..

"When I forgive those whom, perhaps, justly, I regarded as enemies and ill wishers, I have appropriated the divine forgiveness and show that I am reconciled with God by doing to others what he has done to me".

And so we pray "forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us”.

Next week we shall look at that controversial clause: "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil".