Talking to God: Forgive us!

Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

After we give God the proper respect, Jesus instructs us to pray for our daily bread, remembering that we rely on God for everything. This is a prayer for our physical needs as well as spiritual, remembering that Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never go thirsty.” (John 6:35) 

We continue today, asking for God’s intervention. Today we will begin looking at forgiveness. Forgiveness means freeing someone from guilt and its consequences, including punishment, usually as a act of compassion or love, with the aim of restoring a broken relationship. Forgiveness can involve the cancellation of both punishment and debt. Manser, M. H. (2009). Dictionary of Bible Themes: The Accessible and Comprehensive Tool for Topical Studies. London: Martin Manser.

We ask God to forgive our trespasses. Now, I don’t know how it works going from English to local languages, but in English itself, even while praying the Lord’s Prayer, different churches pray it different ways. Some people say “trespasses” while others say “debts” and others simply say “sins.” One reason why this is confusing is because in their Gospel accounts, Matthew and Luke use different words. Luke says “hamartia” which means “missing the mark” — when we sin, we miss the mark of God’s standard of righteousness.

But Matthew uses the word “opheilema” which means “moral or spiritual debts.” In this case, sin is a moral or spiritual debt to God that must be paid. 

When we ask God to forgive us we recognize that there is a debt that must be paid. Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of sin is death. The fair payment for sinning against God is death. So by rights, if we have sinned, we deserve death. That is the punishment and the debt.

We must also recognize that there is no other way we can pay our debt to God. Living without forgiveness is living under the shadow of death and justified guilt.  So forgiveness is our greatest need, because without it, we hold on to our sin, and sin separates us from God. In the here-and-now, and in eternity. 

As a result of our sin, we owe to God a debt that we are completely unable to pay. This is where Jesus comes into the equation. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. This proves God’s love for us.  When we trust Jesus Christ as our Savior, God forgives us. Our sin is transferred to Jesus, and He takes our punishment upon himself on the cross. Sin was what happened, and death was its payment. God’s wrath against sin is satisfied by Jesus’ sacrifice.

At that moment when we trust Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven. We are justified, which means we are made just as if we had never sinned. Our sin is actually taken away, and we are made right with God. That is what righteousness means — being in right relationship with God. This forgiveness comes from God’s character. God is described in Exodus 34:6 and following as, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty.’

So, since our relationship with God is made right at our salvation, what happens if we sin after we are saved? 1 John 1:8 reminds us that if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. So we’ve sinned. What do we do? Do we have to be saved all over again? No. the next verse, 1 John 1:9 continues: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive sour sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. So our response is confession. And God’s response to us is forgiveness.

God makes us right with himself, and we celebrate this fact! Next week we will look at how we are to respond to God’s forgiveness.