Scripture Reading: Matt. 18:21-35
Today we will consider the matter of offense and forgiveness among Christians. After we have believed in the Lord, we have to settle one question: What should we do when a brother has sinned against us? In Matthew 18:21-22 the Lord Jesus told us that if a brother sins against us, we must not only forgive him once but seventy times seven times.
Matthew 18:21 says, "Then Peter came and said to Him, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" It is to our advantage that Peter asked this question. Although his spirit was wrong, his question helps us to clarify the matter of forgiveness. The Lord seemed to be saying, "You have asked how many times you should forgive a brother who has sinned against you. You should have asked instead how many times you should be forgiven when you sin against God." If God said, "I will forgive you seven times," this would be a very low standard indeed.
When we sin against God, His feeling is hurt. Yet our feeling is not that strong. When others sin against us, our feelings are hurt, and it is hard for us to let it go. Yet God is love, and love does not seek for its own gain. Although God is hurt, His forgiving grace is unlimited. Peter's question shows that he was seeking for his own gain. He suffered because he was hurt. The price he had to pay for forgiving others was himself, that is, the suffering of being hurt. This is the reason he asked the Lord, "How often shall others sin against me and I forgive them? Up to seven times?" Peter said this to show that he was quite magnanimous. Two or three times would have been enough to him, but he made it seven times. There was, however, something wrong with his basic premise. He thought God's grace is limited. The fact is that God's grace has no bounds; it is unlimited. It follows that the forgiveness which God's children practice should also be unlimited.
In Luke 17:3-4 the Lord said to the disciples, "If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day and turns again to you seven times, saying, I repent, you shall forgive him." After the Lord spoke, the disciples followed with a prayer asking the Lord to increase their faith. They found it hard to believe in the Lord's word. They felt that it was hard to believe that a brother could sin against another seven times a day and then repent seven times. They thought that it was inconceivable that such a one could be forgiven. Hence, they said, "Increase our faith." Under such circumstances, God's children should still forgive. Whether or not those who ask for forgiveness are genuine is not our concern. As long as a man asks for forgiveness, we should forgive him. Matthew says that we should forgive our brothers not only seven times, but seventy times seven times. Luke says that if a brother sins against us seven times a day and then repents, we have to forgive him irrespective of his motive. Whether or not his repentance is genuine, we have to forgive him. As long as he comes to us, we have to forgive him. In Matthew, Peter's conversation omitted the words "in a day" and somewhat changed the meaning. Luke speaks of the same incident related to the same person, but he speaks of a man sinning seven times in a day, repenting, and then being forgiven. Peter changed the same story around. He asked the Lord if it was enough to forgive seven times. By framing the question this way, he made love, grace, and forgiveness all qualities that are limited in nature. In Luke 17 the Lord indicates that love, grace, and forgiveness are all unlimited in nature. Peter's question in Matthew 18 made love, grace, and forgiveness all limited in nature.
The Lord Jesus realized that Peter had changed the wording of the question. His answer about forgiving one's brother revealed that this was not a matter of sufficiency. It was not a question of seven times, but of seventy times seven. God's love, grace, and forgiveness are unlimited. Humanly speaking, thirty-five times of forgiveness would stretch a person to his limit. Seventy times seven is something beyond the reach of human power. It is too heavy a burden. This shows us that the power to forgive is something beyond man. At the same time, those who receive forgiveness are not receiving it from man. They receive forgiveness from another power. Matthew 18:22 says, "Jesus said to him, I do not say to you, Up to seven times, but, Up to seventy times seven." The Lord indictes that forgiveness has nothing to do with the number of times one forgives. If anyone wants a number, let it be seventy times seven.
After He answered Peter, the Lord went on with a parable in verses 23 through 27: "For this reason the kingdom of the heavens has become like a king who desired to settle accounts with his slaves. And when he began to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. But since he did not have the means to repay, the master commanded him to be sold, as well as his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. Then the slave fell down and worshipped him, saying, Be patient with me and I will repay you all. And the master of that slave was moved with compassion and released him and forgave him the loan." The kingdom of the heavens refers to God's rule on earth. It is like an earthly king ruling over a kingdom. Ten thousand talents equal approximately three hundred thousand taels of gold. This signifies that the slave owed his master an incalculably great debt. He did not have the means to repay because he did not have anything with which to repay his master. His house was empty, and he was destitute. Here the Lord shows us that a sinner's debt far exceeds what he can repay. Those who cannot forgive others do not realize the forgiveness that they have received. The debt that we owe God can never be repaid. The debt we owe God is too great in comparison to the debt that others owe us. If God's children have a right evaluation of their debt to God, they will be generous in their forgiving of their brothers.
Those who do not realize the depth of the grace they have received are prone to be short in grace themselves. We have to see the immensity of the debt we owe God before we can see the trivialness of the debt others owe us. In this parable, the master, finding that the debtor did not have anything, ordered all that he had to be sold. Actually, even if the debtor had sold all that he had, he still would not have been able to repay his debt. A sinner is judged in this world as well as in the eternal age to come. This is what it means to have all of one's possessions sold. In verse 26 the slave pleaded with the master on his knees, saying, "Be patient with me and I will repay you all." It is hard for man to know what grace is and what the gospel is. Man thinks that he may not be able to make it today, but that he will make it some day. He may not be able to fulfill the requirements today, but he will fulfill them some day. He thinks that his motive is good and that he does not have any intention of procrastinating on his repayment. Yet he does not know anything about grace. He pleads with the Lord, not for mercy but for time. He pleads for the Lord's patience but has no thought of His forgiveness.
Here we see two things. The first is the virtue of the slave, and the second is his shortcoming. His virtue was to ask for patience from the Lord. He was looking for grace through righteousness. But God begins to dispense grace only when man stops speaking to Him in terms of righteousness. It is always right for man to come to God and seek for grace. Even before a man comes under the shining of the gospel and sees his true condition, God is pleased to hear him plead for grace, and He is willing to grant grace gladly. Anyone who feels that he is indebted to God and who seeks grace will find favor in His eyes. This is the virtue of the slave. His shortcoming is that he did not know enough of his sin and indebtedness. He said that he would repay, but the very thought of a repayment is wrong. He forgot that he owed ten thousand talents. He did not see the seriousness of his own sin. This is the reason he was not able to forgive those who owed him. He did not realize his pitiful situation. Therefore, he spoke of repayment. He would not be able to repay within his lifetime. In fact, he would not be able to repay in ten lifetimes. When a man is saved, his feeling for sin is not too acute. He is not clear why he is sinful, and he does not know the depths of his depravity.
Nevertheless, the slave was willing to ask for the master's leniency. As soon as he asked, the master was moved with compassion. He was merciful to him and forgave his debts. When a master forgives and releases a slave, his intention is not for the slave to earn money to repay him but for him to be free. What God does in man far exceeds man's requests and prayer. The slave only asked for patience, but the Lord was moved with compassion and forgave him all his debts. The Lord acts according to what He has. He answers our prayer according to what He has. The gospel is God granting salvation to man according to His own pleasure; it is God bestowing His abundant mercy and forgiveness upon the sinner. God acts according to His abounding measure, not according to the sinner's need. The robber on the cross prayed to the Lord, "Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom." The Lord immediately replied, "Today you shall be with Me in Paradise" (Luke 23:42-43). Salvation is God saving men according to His own mind and His own riches. As far as propriety was concerned, the prayer of the robber who was crucified with the Lord was inappropriate, but he received God's grace just the same. The Lord does not save sinners according to their thoughts. His measure of forgiveness is according to His own riches, not according to man's need.
The Bible shows us a tax collector praying to God in the temple. He beat his breast and said, "God, be propitiated to me, the sinner!" (Luke 18:13). The tax collector knew that he was a sinner, and he asked God for mercy. His only plea was for mercy. Mercy, however, is only the starting point of God's work, not its consummation. The Lord likes to be asked to spend Himself. The man only asked for God to be propitiated to him. God heard his prayer, but He did not answer him according to his prayer. Instead, He said, "This man went down to his house justified..." (v. 14). In other words, the man went home justified. God looked at him as if he had not sinned; He considered him righteous. This was far more than what the sinner prayed for.
There is another example in the Bible — the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15. When the prodigal son was away in a far country, he prepared to go home and say to his father, "I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants" (vv. 18-19). He merely thought of convincing his father to grant him the grace to return home. He would have been satisfied to be treated as a hired servant. He dared not hope for his father to spend anything on him again. When he reached home, he only was able to say half of what he had prepared. His father fell on his neck, kissed him affectionately, and would not allow him to go on with his speech. He ordered the slaves to bring out the best things for his son (vv. 20-24). We often pray in a poor way, but God's answer is beyond what we ask or think. The gospel is God working to His own satisfaction. Whether or not man prays enough, God sheds His rich grace and mercy, not to the sinner's satisfaction, but to His own satisfaction.
The fourth example is found in Mark 2. Here we are told that four men carried a paralytic to the Lord Jesus, hoping to find healing. Being unable to bring him to the Lord because of the crowd, they removed the roof where the Lord was and lowered the mat on which the paralytic was lying. The Lord told the man, "Child, your sins are forgiven" (vv. 1-5). The man was seeking for healing, but the Lord did more than heal him. He forgave his sins. The paralytic was healed, and the sin which brought about his sickness was forgiven. God grants us much grace according to His own knowledge. The paralytic did not have enough knowledge of grace, but his very thought of securing some gain from God earned him God's favor. Nothing glorifies God more and nothing pleases Him more than giving Him the opportunity to dispense His grace. Ten thousand talents may be a debt which cannot be repaid in ten generations. God's forgiveness, however, is far greater than this debt.
Matthew 18:28-30 goes on to show us the goal of God's work on such a man. There is much grace involved. A person who has been forgiven by God should at least have a little of God's nature. He should have an inclination for generosity and a tinge of the Lord's image. Yet this slave learned nothing after experiencing so much grace; he did not have a taste of the generosity of grace. In verse 27 he was forgiven, and he should have been rejoicing. Yet when he met his companion, he went after the hundred denarii (worth about three-tenths of a tael of gold) which was owed to him. He owed his master about three hundred thousand taels of gold. He was owed only a millionth of what he owed his master, yet he took hold of the other person and choked him, saying, "Repay me what you owe." In verse 22 the Lord wanted to show Peter that the matter of forgiveness is a matter of the spirit. If we are filled with a sense of forgiveness and the joy of grace when we are saved, we will be more than happy to forgive others. Peter's word exposed one problem — he did not realize that he had been forgiven. He did not have the feeling of being forgiven. This is the reason he could not forgive. If we are filled with the feeling of being forgiven, we will not say such things as "seven times." Peter's mind was on the number seven. This is the reason the Lord purposely spoke of ten thousand talents and one hundred denarii in verses 24 and 28. The difference between these two is a million times. The Lord seemed to be saying, "God's forgiveness cannot be measured by numbers. If you want numbers, you owe the Lord a million times more than what others owe you." A man who is good at accounting is one who is poor at reckoning grace. A man will not forgive because he does not have a sense of being forgiven; he does not have a feeling that he has been graced.
The one who was threatened with the demand to repay his debt fell down and begged the slave, "Be patient with me and I will repay you." His prayer and request was the same as the slave's request. Yet the grace which was shown to the slave did not effect a compassion in him for the man's need. He tried to throw him into prison until he repaid what he owed. Here we have three persons — two are debtors and two are creditors. The Lord showed that the second person was both a debtor and a creditor. The first creditor was concerned only with grace, not righteousness. The second creditor was concerned only with righteousness, not grace. This should be condemned. When he was a debtor, he hoped for grace. Once he became a creditor, he acted according to righteousness. When he was a debtor, he looked for forgiveness. Once he became a creditor, he granted no forgiveness at all. This is unreasonable. The Lord showed Peter his own sin. He showed Peter the immensity of the forgiveness he had received. Peter omitted the words "in a day"! This is unreasonable! What the other slave owed was only one hundred denarii (three-tenths of a tael of gold). It was such a small sum. Yet he was put into prison. How "righteous" was the first slave! He wanted others to be gracious to him, yet he would not be gracious to others. Was he wrong? Should his companion have repaid him? Of course, he was right, and there was nothing wrong in putting his companion into prison for failing to repay him. It was righteous for his companion to be put into prison, but he had just received grace from another. He had just tasted the experience of grace. It was wrong for him to do such a thing; it should be condemned. We have been forgiven of our sins. If we do not forgive others, how much will we be judged?
At the beginning of verse 31 the Lord said, "Then his fellow slaves, seeing what had taken place, were greatly grieved." The Lord asked the other slaves to come forth to say a word. If a forgiven person will not forgive another, even the church will be grieved by such an act. The whole church knows that this is wrong. Everyone was grieved and came and explained this to the master. The master called the slave in and said, "Evil slave, all that debt I forgave you, because you begged me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave even as I had mercy on you?" (vv. 32-33). Among the brothers we should only speak of forgiveness, not of righteousness. We should only speak of mercy, not of repayment. We have to learn not to offend others or to take advantage of them. We have to learn to do our best to share grace with others. The Lord has been gracious to us with good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. We have received so much grace. We should be gracious to others, also with good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. The church should be filled with forgiveness. The Lord forgives us for two reasons. One is to absolve our debt, and the other is to give us the power to absolve others' debt. Should we not be merciful to our companions? Everyone who has received mercy should be merciful to others. The Lord expects us to treat others in the same way He treats us. Colossians 3:13 says, "Bearing one another and forgiving one another, if anyone should have a complaint against anyone; even as the Lord forgave you, so also should you forgive." Among God's children, we should never quibble according to righteousness. God has not reckoned our account with us; we should never reckon others' account with them.
Matthew 18:34 says, "And his master became angry and delivered him to the torturers until he would repay all that was owed." This verse means that the Lord delivers a man to God's governmental hand until he repays all that is owed. In terms of spiritual significance, repayment means forgiveness. Being delivered to the torturers means being delivered to God's governmental hand. God wants us to be filled with the spirit of forgiveness. This is the reason that verse 35 immediately follows, saying, "So also will My heavenly Father do to you if each of you does not forgive his brother from your hearts." This means that God wants us to be filled continually with a spirit of forgiveness. We have to forgive our brothers from our heart. What does it mean to forgive the brothers from the heart? If our brother owes us a hundred denarii, and we feel awkward in forgiving his debt, it means that we do not know God. We have been forgiven of a ten thousand talent debt. We should not be bound by a hundred denarii. We have received mercy from God. He has graced us with a generous and unmatched forgiveness, and He has created a generous and unmatched heart of forgiveness in us. This enables us to forgive our brothers from the heart. If a spirit of pettiness and calculation abounds in a church, trouble will increase in that church. We should submit to God's authority. His kingdom is full of the spirit of forgiveness. If we do not practice this, the church will be full of problems. May the spirit of forgiveness fill the church. May brotherly love fill the church. How glorious such a church will be!
