The Lord's Prayer (Pt. 5)

 

[Jesus said] “Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Matthew 6:9-13 ESV).

 

The fourth petition in the Model Prayer instructs us to make confession and practice forgiveness. Different traditions use different words here—trespasses, debts, sins—but no matter how we say it, we are saying to God that we have done wrong and that we need forgiveness. We also recognize that we are a people called and empowered to forgive others. We must both receive and offer forgiveness. 

 

All people have sinned against God (cf. Romans 3:23). If we believe that we have not sinned, then we are only deceiving ourselves. In confessing our sins to God, we acknowledge this truth with the confidence of those who are assured of God’s gracious forgiveness (cf. 1 John 1:8-9). Jesus regularly called people to repent, which means turning away from sin. This is what we are doing in asking forgiveness for our sins; we are turning away from the ways we have wronged God, people, and the world, and aligning ourselves with the way of Christ. We are admitting to having made mistakes and making an effort to live according to God’s commands. As we have seen this is an “us” thing. While we consider our personal, individual sins and ask for forgiveness, we are also asking God to forgive all of humanity. We are asking that God forgive us for our societal, communal sins and the ways we are implicated in and influenced by those corporate or systemic sins. We are also asking God to forgive others for their sins. We don’t ask for forgiveness only for ourselves, but we petition God to forgive humanity collectively. 

 

As we ask God to forgive “us,” collectively asking for the forgiveness of the sin of all people, we confess that we are called to forgive all those who sin against us as well. As Christians, we regularly sin against God, and we sin against other people as well. Each of us can think of a time when someone did us wrong. We can all recall a truly hurtful act that another person carried out against us. This is how God loves us; God does not give us what we deserve according to our actions, but forgives us out of an abundance of grace. As followers of Christ, we pray this prayer as a reminder and a call to action: Lord, help us to forgive those who have sinned against us.