The Prayer of the Lord: 7

I once saw a report about a study of guilt complexes among students at various universities and colleges. The study was designed to reveal the anxiety levels of people with respect to unresolved guilt problems. One of the schools in this study was a Christian college, and to my astonishment, the students at this college ranked in the ninety-ninth percentile of people who are walking around with unresolved guilt. I couldn’t help wondering how it could be that students at a Christian college would have such a high degree of guilt. If any people should have freedom from guilt, it should be Christians, for Christians understand grace, the cross, and the Father’s forgiveness of our sins.

I suppose part of the explanation for the results uncovered by this study is that in the secular colleges people have so repressed their guilt feelings that they don’t feel all that bad about their behavior. When a person becomes a Christian, he or she becomes more sensitive to the obligation we have to obey God, and so his or her conscience can be more easily troubled. Still, something seems wrong here. If these students had been following Jesus’ mandate in the Lord’s Prayer, I don’t believe they would have had so much guilt on their hearts.

I’m thinking, of course, of the fifth petition of the Lord’s Prayer, where Jesus taught His disciples to say, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (

Matt. 6:12

). As I mentioned in the previous chapter when I discussed the A-C-T-S acrostic, which serves to help us remember the elements of prayer and their proper priority, confession of sin is to be a regular part of our prayer lives, and so it is no surprise that we find Jesus teaching us to seek the Father’s forgiveness.

The text of the fifth petition that I cited above is taken from the New King James Version. Like the NKJV, most English translations of the Scriptures use the word debts here in

Matt. 6:12

. However, in some churches, when the Lord’s Prayer is recited, a slightly different wording is used: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Which of these options, debts or trespasses, is the correct one? The answer, of course, is either. Both debts and trespasses are accurate synonyms for the word sins, which is what Jesus is addressing here.

In Debt to God

Nevertheless, debts is a good word choice here, because when the New Testament addresses sin, one of the main ways in which sin is described is as a debt. When we sin, we put ourselves into debt to God; we incur an obligation; we come to owe Him something. Thus, when we ask for His forgiveness, we are asking that He forgive our debt.

We usually think of debt in monetary terms. However, there are also moral debts. Imagine a little boy who walks into an ice cream parlor and orders an ice cream cone with two scoops. The waitress dutifully prepares his ice cream cone, then says, “That will be two dollars.” When he hears this, the little boy begins to cry. He looks helplessly to the waitress and says, “But my Mommy only gave me one dollar.” What would you do if you saw this taking place? You would do what anyone would do—you would say, “Let me satisfy the young man’s debt,” then you would reach into your pocket, take out some money, and pay the waitress the extra dollar. Since the money you are offering is legal tender, the waitress would have to accept that in payment, and the little boy could then go home and enjoy his ice cream cone.

But suppose that when the little boy was told his ice cream cone would cost $2 he turned and ran from the store without paying—right into the arms of a police officer on his beat while the waitress is crying out, “Stop, thief.” The officer would bring the boy back into the store and ask the waitress what had happened, and she would explain that the boy had just stolen the ice cream cone. Once again, you see all this happen, so you say, “Wait a minute, officer, please don’t put this boy in jail, I’ll pay for his cone.” In this scenario, the waitress does not have to accept your money because now the boy has a moral debt, not just a monetary debt.

The distinction between a monetary debt and a moral debt is important because it can give us a deeper understanding of what took place on the cross. When we sinned, we fell into a moral debt to God. Jesus paid our debt at the cross, but because it was a moral debt, the Father was not required to accept the Son’s payment. However, in His mercy and His grace, He allowed Jesus to pay our moral debt.

An Impossible Debt

We need to be eternally thankful that the Son stepped in to pay our debt to the Father, for as the Bible also makes clear, our debt was so great we could not possibly pay it. If someone told me I owed him $10,000 and I would have to go to jail unless I came up with it within a week, I think I could find the money so I could keep myself out of jail. But if the person were to say that I owed him $10 billion, my situation would be hopeless. I don’t think the combined assets of all the people I know would amount to $10 billion. But our moral obligation to God is far greater than a $10 billion monetary debt.

What is the nature of our debt to God? He has commanded us to be holy, even as He is holy; to be perfect, even as He is perfect. With one sin, one transgression, we fall hopelessly short of that standard, placing ourselves in a position of indebtedness we can never escape. You’ve heard the adage that everyone’s entitled to one mistake. That’s part of the entitlement mentality of the United States, where we think we have rights to all kinds of things. In truth, the only thing we’re entitled to is everlasting punishment in hell. God never said we are entitled to one mistake, and if we were, how long ago did each of us use up our one mistake? We have sinned against God and His perfect holiness multiple times since we got out of our beds this morning. How great is our debt after a lifetime of sin?

The apostle Paul, speaking about unbelievers, said, “In accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God” (

Rom. 2:5

). Paul was saying that every day a person lingers in this life without falling on his knees and asking God to forgive his debts, he is increasing that “treasury of wrath.” The problem is that the mercy and patience of God convince impenitent people that since they have escaped the judgment of God so far, they will escape it forever. These are the kinds of people who say to me again and again, “It’s nice that you’re a Christian, but I don’t feel the need for Jesus.” When I hear that, I want to weep. I want to say: “Don’t you understand that what you need more desperately than anything in the world is Jesus? Don’t you feel the weight of that debt that you can’t possibly pay?” I want to help them see that when that debt is called, it will be the most severe crisis they have ever faced, for they won’t be able to pay.

Jesus loved people enough to warn them and to teach them to beg God for forgiveness. That’s why Jesus said, “In this manner, therefore, pray: … Forgive us our debts.”

Sin as Crime and Enmity

As I mentioned, one of the main ways in which the New Testament describes sin is as a debt. But it also speaks of sin as a crime and as a state of enmity. I believe it is worth considering these descriptions of sin briefly so that we understand what is at stake when we come to the Father to seek His forgiveness.

First, sin is described as a crime. Imagine a man who is brought to trial on charges of first-degree murder. When he was arrested, he was holding a smoking gun. A video camera recorded his bloody act. Witnesses are ready to testify that, before the crime, he boasted of his intent to murder. All the evidence indicates the guilt of the accused, but when he is asked for his plea, he says, “Not guilty.” He then says to the judge, “I can’t be guilty because I don’t feel guilty.” Is the judge likely to heed such a defense? No. The question of the accused man’s guilt is not a question of feeling. It is something objective, not something subjective. It is a question of whether that person has, in fact, broken the law.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “What is sin?” It then answers, “Sin is any want of conformity to, or transgression of, the law of God” (Q/A 14). Sin, therefore, is a transgression or violation of the law. If a proven violation of man’s law constitutes a crime, so does a proven violation of God’s law.

Scripture often describes God as the Judge. He certainly will not judge us by our feelings. He will judge us by His law. His judgment will be perfect, absolutely just. He must punish violations of His law. Thus, we will certainly be found guilty of our crimes—unless someone else acts as a substitute for us, to take the penalty we deserve.

Second, sin is described as a state of enmity or estrangement. Human beings, by nature, are the enemies of God. In our natural state, Scripture tells us, we are estranged from our heavenly Father, the one who made us and sustains us. People may not think they bear any hostility toward Him, but the Bible makes it clear that in our hearts, prior to our regeneration, we hate Him. We need to be reconciled to Him. We need to be at peace with Him.

Why Do Men Hate God?

Many years ago, I read a sermon by Jonathan Edwards titled “Men Naturally Are God’s Enemies.” In that sermon, which was based on

Rom. 5:10

, Edwards explored the reasons we are hostile toward God. He identified a few aspects of God’s nature that provoke hostility within us.

First and foremost, God is holy and we are not. People who are not holy do not appreciate a standard that reveals their unrighteousness. If God were not so holy, and we were not so sinful, perhaps we could get along. But God’s perfect holiness and our sinfulness combine to create a breach we cannot close. It can be closed only by the mediating work of the Savior, who offers forgiveness for our sin.

Second, God is omniscient. Because God sees and knows all, we cannot hide from Him. We can hide from the gaze of humans in our private sin, but there is no way to avoid the gaze of God. When I was a little boy, my mother worked at the office with my father, and I had a lot of free time without supervision. She would say to me, “I can’t watch you today, but God’s watching you.” It was worse than Santa Claus making his list and checking it twice. Well, I grew up and went to college, went to seminary, and did doctoral studies, so I learned some theology. In time, I realized that the simple way in which my mother talked about God looking at me all the time was exactly right. Nothing escapes His notice. As David said, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there” (

Ps. 139:7–8

). Likewise, Jesus said we will have to give account for every “idle word” we speak (

Matt. 12:36

). God will be able to require this account because He knows every idle word that falls from our lips. I can imagine standing before the bar of God’s justice and hearing a recording of every offensive thing I’ve ever said. I don’t want that to happen. I want my sin to be covered long before I get to that point.

Third, God is omnipotent. If He were holy and knew everything about us but was impotent, we would have nothing to worry about. But He is all-powerful; there is no force in heaven or on earth that can subdue His strength. As the psalmist declares: “The kings of the world set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.’ He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision” (

Ps. 2:2–4

). The plots against the sovereignty of God were so useless as to be laughable. Jeremiah wrote, “O Lord, You induced me, and I was persuaded; You are stronger than I, and have prevailed” (

Jer. 20:7

). If God puts forth His strength, He will prevail. Nothing can defeat the power of God.

Fourth, God is immutable. He does not change. When I read this point in Edwards’ sermon, I thought to myself, I can understand why we don’t like God’s holiness, omniscience, and power, but what would make me be hostile toward His immutability? Edwards anticipated my mystification. He noted that God’s immutability means that not only has He been absolutely holy from everlasting to everlasting, there is no hope that He will ever stop being holy. Sometimes we root for righteous people to fail, so that we won’t be embarrassed by their excellence. God’s holiness, by contrast, is an immutable holiness. He will never cease to be anything other than perfectly holy.

Neither can we hope that God’s omniscience will fail Him someday. God promised through Jeremiah that “I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (

Jer. 31:34

). We sometimes think this kind of statement means God “forgives and forgets,” that once He’s forgiven us, He never recalls that we once sinned. That’s not what this passage means at all. God knows every sin I’ve ever committed and every sin of mine He’s ever forgiven, and He will always have that knowledge, because His knowledge is immutable. When the Bible speaks of God forgetting our sins, it means that He remembers them against us no more. Though He’s fully aware of our transgressions, He doesn’t remind us, He doesn’t call them to mind, He doesn’t hold them against us. That’s the essence of forgiveness, and we need to imitate that in this world. When I say to someone, “I forgive you,” I am making a commitment to that person never to bring it up again.

Finally, there’s no hope that God will ever lose any of His power. His right arm will not wither. He always will be omnipotent.

This all teaches us what a formidable opponent God is. When we are hostile toward Him, when we are estranged from Him, we’ve entered a battle we cannot possibly win. The only way the battle can end is by our unconditional surrender. That’s what I do when I get on my knees and say, “Forgive me my debts.” I’m giving up. I’m saying: “God, I can’t fight You. I don’t want to be estranged from You. I want to be restored to You. I want to be able to love You, not hate You. I want You to love me, in spite of my hostility toward You.” Praying the fifth petition of the Lord’s Prayer is to sue for peace.

A Frightening Condition

Notice, however, that Jesus attaches a condition to this petition. He doesn’t simply tell us to pray, “Forgive us our debts.” Rather, we are to ask God to forgive us “as we forgive our debtors.” In my opinion, that’s one of the most frightening lines in the Lord’s Prayer. If this condition is to be taken literally, we are finished. Manifestly, if God forgave me in exact proportion to the manner in which I distribute forgiveness to other people, I would perish. I just cannot be as forgiving as God; none of us can. But thank God that this is an aspiration rather than a condition, that Jesus is teaching us to aspire to mirror and reflect the kindness of God, to stand ready to forgive anyone who has sinned against us or offended us when they repent.

Jesus makes this point in His parables, stressing that since we are forgiven much, we should have a deep spirit of charity toward other people. How can we refuse to forgive someone who has offended us when the whole reason we are able to live in the kingdom of God is that we have received forgiveness? Forgiveness is the only way we can stand in the presence of God. Since God is willing to forgive us when we have sinned so much more radically and egregiously against Him than anyone has ever sinned against us, how can we not be willing to forgive?

There is a warning I want to give. I think there’s a serious misunderstanding in the Christian world about forgiveness. So often I hear people say that if anyone sins against you, you are required by God to forgive him or her unilaterally and immediately, whether the person repents or not. I don’t find that in the Scriptures, though I do see Jesus doing that, when He prayed for the forgiveness of His executioners even though they had not repented. Of course, we may forgive those who have offended us without their repentance. We are not to be vindictive or vengeful in our attitudes, and if someone harms me, I should be ready and willing to absorb it in the name of love. However, there are injuries that are so serious that there are provisions both in the Old Testament and the New Testament to involve the church authorities. If someone sins against you, and you go to see that person to try to bring about reconciliation but he or she refuses to repent, there’s a process that you are to follow. You are to take another person with you to see the offending person, then, if necessary, appeal to the church (

Matt. 18:15–17

).

It is at this point that church discipline occurs. Church courts exist to settle grievances and to bring justice to the relationships among Christians. If we are obligated in every situation to forgive immediately, directly, and unilaterally, there is no need for the whole process of discipline in the church. Since God gives these measures of discipline to the church, I think it follows that we are not absolutely obligated to forgive everyone who sins against us if they remain impenitent.

The point is that I should be as gracious toward others as God has been to me, so that if someone does sin against me and then he acknowledges his guilt, repents, and apologizes, I am duty bound to forgive. Jesus said we are to forgive our brothers “seventy times seven” (

Matt. 18:22

) if they sin against us that many times. If they keep repenting over and over again, we have to keep forgiving over and over again, because that’s the basic relationship that we have with God.

Still, as I said, it is terrifying to pray, “O God, please forgive me proportionately to the way in which I forgive people who have offended me.” That scares me, because I know I have not been anywhere near as gracious in dealing with people who have offended me as God has been in dealing with me, nor am I capable of being so gracious. I will be in deep trouble if God provides forgiveness for me only to the degree that I am willing to provide it to others.

This petition, then, reminds us of the depth of our sinfulness, our need for daily confession, and our need for forgiveness, but also of our Christian duty in our interpersonal relationships on the human level. We are to keep short accounts not just in our vertical relationship with God, but in our horizontal relationships with others.

Yes, my sins have all been paid for, once and for all, on the cross. But Jesus taught us to pray for forgiveness as part of our ongoing communion with God. We need a fresh understanding, a fresh experience, of His grace and of His forgiveness every day. There is no greater state than to get up from your knees knowing that in God’s sight you are clean, that He has forgiven every sin you’ve ever committed. Without that grace, without that forgiveness, I don’t think I could live in this world for another sixty seconds. This is something we all desperately need, and we have but to ask for it.