Most Bible versions translate the Greek word opheilema (ὀφείλημα) as debts, some as sins, a few as trespasses. Now I ask for your indulgence here on the use of Greek. I am not a Greek scholar and have forgotten more of the Greek than I learned – I remember just enough to be dangerous. However, original language word study is important and can often bring nuances otherwise missed as I believe is the case here. So please, aphiemi (forgive) me and bear with me (yes there is a similar root of forgive and debt – so much to explore so little room).
Many of us probably have recited the prayer as “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that have trespassed against us”. While all are valid interpretations, I believe that the use of the words ‘our debts’ has the most original intent. The weight of the word debt, I believe, communicates a deeper aspect of the request ‘forgive us our debts’, than ‘forgive us our trespasses’ or forgive us our ‘sins’ can. Certainly I need my trespasses and sins forgiven – but again, we tend to individualize and internalize this request – and the focus is me…me…me. Two things I notice here - that again, the request is communal “forgive us”. ‘Forgive me’ of my sins, which I need as well, is an important aspect; but here it appears that it is communal debt, of which I as an individual am a part, that is to be forgiven. This in no way lessens or removes personal sinfulness and the need of individual right standing with God. It is just that in the mindset of the 1st century Jewish mind, they thought and functioned in community. They saw much more their collective responsibility to and with God.
The idea of ‘debt’ evokes a monetary feel intentionally. It is not just a sin or trespass that we have committed, but a debt that has incurred. The accumulation of debt is not just sin that is committed, but that right action has been omitted. “We” owe that debt – we share both blame and responsibility (that has both a good news/bad news kind of deal).
To understand this idea of debt more fully, we need to connect this prayer request with the parable that Jesus told about the two debtors (Matt 18:23-35). The parable begins “the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. As Jesus told the parable, the people were drawn into the story in a dramatic way. They understood exactly what Jesus was talking about because they saw this played out in real life. Life was difficult – between taxes and the cost of materials often sold at highly inflated prices - it was hard to make ends meet. A small landowner would get a loan from a wealthy landowner or even a well-to-do religious leader. These loans would come at a high interest rate. Inevitably, what would happen was that the small landowner would default on his payment and the interest would compound resulting in an astronomical un-payable debt (by design). The lender would demand full payment which the lendee could not pay and for which there was little or no legal recourse. It was the legal right of the lender to then take possession of the land in question, plus have the lendee and his family put into debtors prison until such time that the lendee could pay his full debt, which by the way was still accumulating interest debt (much like my Visa). It was a double whammy – you lost both your land and you still owed the debt! Often the only option was to ‘sell’ yourself and your family members into a type of slavery to work off the debt which of course was impossible because it would continue to accumulate. To add insult to injury, that same wealthy land owner, or well-to-do religious leader would put you to work on the same land you once owned – but now as a slave to him.
As the listeners took in the story – it was one they knew well. What was surprising was first, the generosity of the King; second, the actions of the one who owed a great opheilema (debt) and third, the surprise ending. They themselves would have longed to encounter such a forgiving king – The crowd would have become uniformly angry at the man forgiven of such a great debt demanding payment of the lesser debt.
However, one more shock is yet to be revealed. Matthew 18:35 35"My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart". Essentially Jesus tells the listeners, and us by extension: “you are the man forgiven of great debt”. We are going to expand on this theme next post.
An additional important question is ‘what is the debt’ owed by us? It’s a deeper question than we can fully explore here, but I want to raise one portion of the answer to that larger question. Remember the line before this one “Give us our daily bread”? I think a significant portion of that debt is this – where we have not shared our bread with those most in need. We have consumed and horded and have ignored the unmet ‘daily bread’ needs of those around us – and are daily accumulating that debt. It is both our individual communal responsibility to both repent and respond. It is not enough to simply realize that we have sinned in this area – we need communal repentance - “we have sinned against You Oh Lord”. For the sake of space, time and your patience with me, I will not go into another Greek diatribe, but want to point this out – repentance, which is an essential part of forgiveness (on our part) is an action. True repentance is the leaving of the thing that is wrong and the doing of the thing that is right. When we are forgiven, it means that we are released to go and do the right thing. I better quit here because I feel a full-blown sermon coming on.
Anyway, I was just thinking,
Neil
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