Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
Peter came asking how often he must forgive a brother who sins against him, proposing as many as seven times. Christ's answer of seventy times seven extends forgiveness far beyond seven, meaning it must not be limited by a count but given continually again and again. God's freely given pardon of sin through Christ is the ground, example, and measure for forgiving others, showing compassion freely because mercy has been received. A forgiving spirit does not earn God's forgiveness but is indispensable to receiving it, so those forgiven must forgive from the heart or forfeit pardon. Forgiveness is to be given when the offender repents and confesses, freely and completely as though the offense had never been done, without judging whether repentance is sincere enough.
Place in Matthew 18
Matthew 18:21 belongs to the Saviour's instruction on how God's people are to deal with erring church members. It belongs to Christ's instruction on how His followers are to act toward one another, teaching humility and concern for others. The chapter's principles rule out striving for supremacy and make inward excellence, rather than position or authority, the measure of greatness. It is most positive among the oracles of God and gives the principles for acting in all cases and under all circumstances for all who claim to be disciples of the meek and lowly Jesus, so that doing the wrongs pointed out there dishonors God and mars His cause.
In Christ's spiritual kingdom greatness is not position, outward splendor, or authority, but spiritual excellence manifested in true conversion, learned by ever learning from Christ and taking His yoke of submission and obedience. The teaching calls for turning from self and showing sympathy and love, especially by making personal efforts to help those who are outside of Christ. It warns that a spirit of lording it over God's people closes the gates of heaven. It teaches that self-sufficiency, standing back on dignity when one's judgment and capabilities are not appreciated, taking satisfaction in the deficiencies of brethren, and inward concealed and outward manifest strife for the supremacy and to be first must be cleansed from the soul temple.
Self interposed between men and God grieves the Saviour, hinders the work, turns men who ought to be a blessing into a curse that retards instead of advances the work, and keeps the Lord from manifesting His power and grace. The whole eighteenth chapter of Matthew is a practical lesson to be hung in the chambers of the mind, kept in memory, often read and pondered and obeyed, and woven into Christian experience. The lesson requires obeying the holy law of God by loving God with all heart and soul and mind and strength and loving neighbor as self, which are the only terms for securing eternal life.
Practicing it means cultivating the garden of one's own soul, removing every weed and every tare Satan has sown there, instead of being occupied finding weeds in a neighbor's garden. It means taking one's own garden under personal stewardship, purifying one's own thoughts by bringing them into captivity to Jesus Christ, and not scattering words recklessly without careful consideration of where they lodge and what result they produce. The instruction is on how His work is to be done, calling for self to be kept under the control of the great Teacher and for Bible teachings to be practiced.
The chapter exposes the causes of disaffection and the harm they bring, so that reading it helps trace how discord arises and leads to evil consequences. It is needed to address dissension and alienation, for conflicts could have been healed if those corrected had received reproof and turned from their wrong course.
Peter's Question Explained
Peter came asking how often he must forgive a brother who sins against him, proposing forgiveness as many as seven times. The question raises how many times a person should forgive a brother who sins against them, and it introduces and begins Christ's teaching in the following verse that forgiveness must extend far beyond that proposed limit. That teaching is an enduring spirit of tenderness, compassion and forbearance toward others, reflecting Christ's forgiving love and requiring those forgiven by God to show compassion and forgive others from the heart. His proposal reflected the rabbis' limit of three offenses, which he thought to extend and go beyond with seven, supposing seven to be generous because seven signified perfection.
The proposal was prompted by the earlier teaching on church discipline. It reflected Jewish precepts requiring forgiveness of five offenses, with seven thought to reach the limit of human patience.
Unlimited Forgiveness Commanded
Peter proposed seven times as the measure of forgiveness, thinking he was going beyond the rabbis' limit of three offenses, for seven signified perfection. Christ answered not seven times but seventy times seven, extending forgiveness far beyond seven. Forgiveness must not be limited by a count or grow weary, but must be given continually and repeated again and again. It is Christlike forgiveness without limit, reflecting Christ's forgiving love in an enduring spirit of tenderness, compassion, and forbearance toward others. Applied to dealing with church members at fault, this calls for Christlike sympathy and love that can soften a cold heart and bring a heavenly atmosphere to the church.
The command means a brother who sins repeatedly is to be forgiven when he repents, even if the sin is repeated seventy times seven. Forgiveness is required again and again, as often as he turns back in repentance, even repeatedly in one day. It is to be offered without taunting or resentment, and not withheld until reform is proved.
The limit of divine forbearance is far beyond that of humanity. If God dealt with the human family as men deal with one another all would have been consumed, but He is longsuffering, of tender pity, merciful and gracious, forgiving transgression and sin. There is forgiveness with God, and God multiplies His pardons. When sought with the whole heart He will be found, and when sinners repent and confess He is faithful to forgive their sins and cleanse them from all unrighteousness. This instruction that forgiveness is not to stop after a set number of offenses brings relief, courage, and hope.
Ground in Divine Mercy
God's freely given pardon of sin through Christ is the ground, example, and measure for forgiving others, so those who have received mercy are to give it freely. Peter's question about how often to forgive a brother arose from the earlier teaching on church discipline, and his proposal of seven times was thought to reach the limit of human patience beyond the Jewish precept requiring forgiveness of five offenses. Those who have the divine mind and are imbued with the divine spirit forgive without limit. Divine love, which is the plan and ground of salvation, is to be carried out by the human family, especially by followers in their dealings with one another in church relationship. This corrects the narrow evils taught and practiced in the precepts and examples of the interpreters of Scripture at that time.
The parable that follows Christ's answer shows the ground and obligation of forgiveness. A servant forgiven an enormous debt was required to show compassion to a fellow servant who owed far less. His refusal brought judgment. The danger of an unforgiving spirit is thus set forth as the counterpart to unlimited forgiveness.
A forgiving spirit does not earn God's forgiveness, but it is indispensable to receiving it. Those forgiven by God must show compassion and forgive others from the heart, sincerely, repeatedly, and without restriction to a set number. Refusing mercy to others after receiving God's mercy brings judgment, rejects the mercy shown, and forfeits pardon. This duty applies in church, business, and every relation in life.
Heaven cannot be reached by human merit but only through God's wonderful mercy and forbearance toward those who can render no equivalent and without an equivalent payment from the sinner. Final acceptance rests not on one's own righteousness but on Christ's righteousness and God's mercy and forbearance. The depth of repentance, rather than the greatness of sin, brings God's pardoning love to the heart, reflecting His far greater love. If Christ limited mercy, compassion, and forgiveness to a certain number of sins, few would be saved. His mercy in forgiving iniquities therefore teaches free forgiveness of wrongs and sins committed by fellow men, requiring those blessed by God's mercy to exercise the same forbearance and forgiveness toward the Lord's family.
Forgiving Others in Practice
Forgiveness is not to be refused because an offender errs again and again, nor is it to be held back until reform is proved or until repentance looks sincere or humble enough, for the heart cannot be read. The question about forgiving seven times is answered by the command to forgive far beyond that count, even seventy times seven, meaning forgiveness again and again without a set limit. This duty follows the measure of God's own free pardon in Christ, forgiving as often as God forgives, and while a forgiving spirit does not earn pardon it is indispensable to receiving it.
Forgiveness is required whether the brother asks humbly or not, to be granted in the heart and shown in word and action. When the offender repents and confesses, forgiveness is to be free and complete, treating the offense as though it had never been done. There is to be no taunting or resentment, no pressing the case too hard, no remaining severe after repentance, and no censuring where censure is no longer deserved. The burden of reproof laid on the wrongdoer is to be taken off, and mercy and compassion are to comfort and help the erring mind with tender thoughtful care that can save from mental ruin, while a naturally overbearing spirit guards itself against severity.
Forgiving a brother does not mean leaving his sin untouched. It means not hating him in the heart, not talebearing, not avenging, and not bearing a grudge, but loving him as self by faithfully rebuking him and seeking to save him from his sin. Failure to rebuke leaves guilt unremoved and implicates the one who withholds reproof.
Those who have been hurt and are still being hurt must pray not only for themselves but for those who hurt them, with humble importunate prayer that gives God no rest. When they earnestly desire that souls who trespassed against them may be helped, they themselves receive help, as Job's captivity was turned when he prayed for those opposing him. Those who forgive must also try to lead the sinner to remove personal wrongs, so his faulty character is educated to overcome by pursuing a right course and becoming like Christ in this world in order to have a welcome in a world that will not tolerate a sinner.
This duty applies in church, in business, and in every relation in life, and it is instruction for churches and institutions in dealing with those in fault. Applied to church members at fault, it calls for Christlike sympathy and love, which can soften a cold heart and bring a heavenly atmosphere to the church. Walking in its counsels removes difficulties to contend with, requiring an entire change of action so that the sympathy and love of Christ melts the still, cold heart. Refusing mercy to others after receiving God's mercy brings judgment.
Workers are called to love as brethren and to be tenderhearted, pitiful, and courteous, and learning and practicing this lesson of forgiveness and brotherly love is for their present and eternal good. It supports unity rather than criticism and grievance, condemning a spirit of resentment and anger toward a fellow servant of God. No one is to draw apart from brethren, hinder and repress one who is doing a good work, accuse another, seek removal of a fellow worker, think evil or speak evil, or devise separation, for such plans are the enemy's devices to be met and condemned. Harshness and self-superiority are to give place to a merciful, forgiving spirit.
Those yoked with Christ are co-partners with Him in saving souls and must act in a Christlike manner toward a soul in spiritual danger who falls into sin, not pushing him away, driving him to desperate positions, or discouraging every effort to recover himself, but forgiving without limit to help him recover. Repentance and confession are to be encouraged, and refusing fellowship and forgiveness when a brother seeks it is contrary to Christ's teaching and calls for one's own repentance. Withdrawing from brethren to labor alone keeps a selfish, unholy, hard, unforgiving spirit instead of obeying the command to forgive.
The instruction belongs to daily practical life and must be put into daily practice, requiring spiritual life, self-reform, and unity as branches in the same vine under Christ as head. Its practice means showing perfect love, compassion, tenderness, and deep interest in reforming youth, because those youth are the property of Jesus Christ. Their faults do not make them hopeless, and when they acknowledge their wrong they are to be treated patiently and freely forgiven.
The verse speaks directly to the reader as one of Christ's lessons to be read, received, and practiced as a learner in the school of Christ. It disciplines the reader to stop criticizing and accusing brethren, to take self in hand and chastise and humble self, to wear Christ's yoke of submission instead of manufacturing a galling yoke, and to lay aside selfish unsanctified imaginings and retained defects of childhood in order to be fit to preach the Word. Daily humbling of self before God and overcoming temptation are required, and no one is fit to preach the Word, handle sacred things, or enter upon ministerial work until this forgiveness and humility are learned. Parents should teach children to be patient under injuries and to forgive others as they desire to be forgiven, for whoever possesses the Spirit of Christ never grows weary of forgiving.
Confession is to be made, wrongs repaired, and bitterness and alienation ended, for those who have received God's great pardon must show mercy to others, and refusing to forgive from the heart forfeits pardon. Forgiveness is opposed to magnifying small grievances, treating one person as the sole offender, and responding with suspicion or evil speech instead of compassion and restraint.
Peter came asking how often he must forgive a brother who sins against him, proposing as many as seven times. Christ's answer of seventy times seven extends forgiveness far beyond seven, meaning it must not be limited by a count but given continually again and again. God's freely given pardon of sin through Christ is the ground, example, and measure for forgiving others, showing compassion freely because mercy has been received. A forgiving spirit does not earn God's forgiveness but is indispensable to receiving it, so those forgiven must forgive from the heart or forfeit pardon. Forgiveness is to be given when the offender repents and confesses, freely and completely as though the offense had never been done, without judging whether repentance is sincere enough.
Place in Matthew 18
Matthew 18:21 belongs to the Saviour's instruction on how God's people are to deal with erring church members. It belongs to Christ's instruction on how His followers are to act toward one another, teaching humility and concern for others. The chapter's principles rule out striving for supremacy and make inward excellence, rather than position or authority, the measure of greatness. It is most positive among the oracles of God and gives the principles for acting in all cases and under all circumstances for all who claim to be disciples of the meek and lowly Jesus, so that doing the wrongs pointed out there dishonors God and mars His cause.
In Christ's spiritual kingdom greatness is not position, outward splendor, or authority, but spiritual excellence manifested in true conversion, learned by ever learning from Christ and taking His yoke of submission and obedience. The teaching calls for turning from self and showing sympathy and love, especially by making personal efforts to help those who are outside of Christ. It warns that a spirit of lording it over God's people closes the gates of heaven. It teaches that self-sufficiency, standing back on dignity when one's judgment and capabilities are not appreciated, taking satisfaction in the deficiencies of brethren, and inward concealed and outward manifest strife for the supremacy and to be first must be cleansed from the soul temple.
Self interposed between men and God grieves the Saviour, hinders the work, turns men who ought to be a blessing into a curse that retards instead of advances the work, and keeps the Lord from manifesting His power and grace. The whole eighteenth chapter of Matthew is a practical lesson to be hung in the chambers of the mind, kept in memory, often read and pondered and obeyed, and woven into Christian experience. The lesson requires obeying the holy law of God by loving God with all heart and soul and mind and strength and loving neighbor as self, which are the only terms for securing eternal life.
Practicing it means cultivating the garden of one's own soul, removing every weed and every tare Satan has sown there, instead of being occupied finding weeds in a neighbor's garden. It means taking one's own garden under personal stewardship, purifying one's own thoughts by bringing them into captivity to Jesus Christ, and not scattering words recklessly without careful consideration of where they lodge and what result they produce. The instruction is on how His work is to be done, calling for self to be kept under the control of the great Teacher and for Bible teachings to be practiced.
The chapter exposes the causes of disaffection and the harm they bring, so that reading it helps trace how discord arises and leads to evil consequences. It is needed to address dissension and alienation, for conflicts could have been healed if those corrected had received reproof and turned from their wrong course.
Peter's Question Explained
Peter came asking how often he must forgive a brother who sins against him, proposing forgiveness as many as seven times. The question raises how many times a person should forgive a brother who sins against them, and it introduces and begins Christ's teaching in the following verse that forgiveness must extend far beyond that proposed limit. That teaching is an enduring spirit of tenderness, compassion and forbearance toward others, reflecting Christ's forgiving love and requiring those forgiven by God to show compassion and forgive others from the heart. His proposal reflected the rabbis' limit of three offenses, which he thought to extend and go beyond with seven, supposing seven to be generous because seven signified perfection.
The proposal was prompted by the earlier teaching on church discipline. It reflected Jewish precepts requiring forgiveness of five offenses, with seven thought to reach the limit of human patience.
Unlimited Forgiveness Commanded
Peter proposed seven times as the measure of forgiveness, thinking he was going beyond the rabbis' limit of three offenses, for seven signified perfection. Christ answered not seven times but seventy times seven, extending forgiveness far beyond seven. Forgiveness must not be limited by a count or grow weary, but must be given continually and repeated again and again. It is Christlike forgiveness without limit, reflecting Christ's forgiving love in an enduring spirit of tenderness, compassion, and forbearance toward others. Applied to dealing with church members at fault, this calls for Christlike sympathy and love that can soften a cold heart and bring a heavenly atmosphere to the church.
The command means a brother who sins repeatedly is to be forgiven when he repents, even if the sin is repeated seventy times seven. Forgiveness is required again and again, as often as he turns back in repentance, even repeatedly in one day. It is to be offered without taunting or resentment, and not withheld until reform is proved.
The limit of divine forbearance is far beyond that of humanity. If God dealt with the human family as men deal with one another all would have been consumed, but He is longsuffering, of tender pity, merciful and gracious, forgiving transgression and sin. There is forgiveness with God, and God multiplies His pardons. When sought with the whole heart He will be found, and when sinners repent and confess He is faithful to forgive their sins and cleanse them from all unrighteousness. This instruction that forgiveness is not to stop after a set number of offenses brings relief, courage, and hope.
Ground in Divine Mercy
God's freely given pardon of sin through Christ is the ground, example, and measure for forgiving others, so those who have received mercy are to give it freely. Peter's question about how often to forgive a brother arose from the earlier teaching on church discipline, and his proposal of seven times was thought to reach the limit of human patience beyond the Jewish precept requiring forgiveness of five offenses. Those who have the divine mind and are imbued with the divine spirit forgive without limit. Divine love, which is the plan and ground of salvation, is to be carried out by the human family, especially by followers in their dealings with one another in church relationship. This corrects the narrow evils taught and practiced in the precepts and examples of the interpreters of Scripture at that time.
The parable that follows Christ's answer shows the ground and obligation of forgiveness. A servant forgiven an enormous debt was required to show compassion to a fellow servant who owed far less. His refusal brought judgment. The danger of an unforgiving spirit is thus set forth as the counterpart to unlimited forgiveness.
A forgiving spirit does not earn God's forgiveness, but it is indispensable to receiving it. Those forgiven by God must show compassion and forgive others from the heart, sincerely, repeatedly, and without restriction to a set number. Refusing mercy to others after receiving God's mercy brings judgment, rejects the mercy shown, and forfeits pardon. This duty applies in church, business, and every relation in life.
Heaven cannot be reached by human merit but only through God's wonderful mercy and forbearance toward those who can render no equivalent and without an equivalent payment from the sinner. Final acceptance rests not on one's own righteousness but on Christ's righteousness and God's mercy and forbearance. The depth of repentance, rather than the greatness of sin, brings God's pardoning love to the heart, reflecting His far greater love. If Christ limited mercy, compassion, and forgiveness to a certain number of sins, few would be saved. His mercy in forgiving iniquities therefore teaches free forgiveness of wrongs and sins committed by fellow men, requiring those blessed by God's mercy to exercise the same forbearance and forgiveness toward the Lord's family.
Forgiving Others in Practice
Forgiveness is not to be refused because an offender errs again and again, nor is it to be held back until reform is proved or until repentance looks sincere or humble enough, for the heart cannot be read. The question about forgiving seven times is answered by the command to forgive far beyond that count, even seventy times seven, meaning forgiveness again and again without a set limit. This duty follows the measure of God's own free pardon in Christ, forgiving as often as God forgives, and while a forgiving spirit does not earn pardon it is indispensable to receiving it.
Forgiveness is required whether the brother asks humbly or not, to be granted in the heart and shown in word and action. When the offender repents and confesses, forgiveness is to be free and complete, treating the offense as though it had never been done. There is to be no taunting or resentment, no pressing the case too hard, no remaining severe after repentance, and no censuring where censure is no longer deserved. The burden of reproof laid on the wrongdoer is to be taken off, and mercy and compassion are to comfort and help the erring mind with tender thoughtful care that can save from mental ruin, while a naturally overbearing spirit guards itself against severity.
Forgiving a brother does not mean leaving his sin untouched. It means not hating him in the heart, not talebearing, not avenging, and not bearing a grudge, but loving him as self by faithfully rebuking him and seeking to save him from his sin. Failure to rebuke leaves guilt unremoved and implicates the one who withholds reproof.
Those who have been hurt and are still being hurt must pray not only for themselves but for those who hurt them, with humble importunate prayer that gives God no rest. When they earnestly desire that souls who trespassed against them may be helped, they themselves receive help, as Job's captivity was turned when he prayed for those opposing him. Those who forgive must also try to lead the sinner to remove personal wrongs, so his faulty character is educated to overcome by pursuing a right course and becoming like Christ in this world in order to have a welcome in a world that will not tolerate a sinner.
This duty applies in church, in business, and in every relation in life, and it is instruction for churches and institutions in dealing with those in fault. Applied to church members at fault, it calls for Christlike sympathy and love, which can soften a cold heart and bring a heavenly atmosphere to the church. Walking in its counsels removes difficulties to contend with, requiring an entire change of action so that the sympathy and love of Christ melts the still, cold heart. Refusing mercy to others after receiving God's mercy brings judgment.
Workers are called to love as brethren and to be tenderhearted, pitiful, and courteous, and learning and practicing this lesson of forgiveness and brotherly love is for their present and eternal good. It supports unity rather than criticism and grievance, condemning a spirit of resentment and anger toward a fellow servant of God. No one is to draw apart from brethren, hinder and repress one who is doing a good work, accuse another, seek removal of a fellow worker, think evil or speak evil, or devise separation, for such plans are the enemy's devices to be met and condemned. Harshness and self-superiority are to give place to a merciful, forgiving spirit.
Those yoked with Christ are co-partners with Him in saving souls and must act in a Christlike manner toward a soul in spiritual danger who falls into sin, not pushing him away, driving him to desperate positions, or discouraging every effort to recover himself, but forgiving without limit to help him recover. Repentance and confession are to be encouraged, and refusing fellowship and forgiveness when a brother seeks it is contrary to Christ's teaching and calls for one's own repentance. Withdrawing from brethren to labor alone keeps a selfish, unholy, hard, unforgiving spirit instead of obeying the command to forgive.
The instruction belongs to daily practical life and must be put into daily practice, requiring spiritual life, self-reform, and unity as branches in the same vine under Christ as head. Its practice means showing perfect love, compassion, tenderness, and deep interest in reforming youth, because those youth are the property of Jesus Christ. Their faults do not make them hopeless, and when they acknowledge their wrong they are to be treated patiently and freely forgiven.
The verse speaks directly to the reader as one of Christ's lessons to be read, received, and practiced as a learner in the school of Christ. It disciplines the reader to stop criticizing and accusing brethren, to take self in hand and chastise and humble self, to wear Christ's yoke of submission instead of manufacturing a galling yoke, and to lay aside selfish unsanctified imaginings and retained defects of childhood in order to be fit to preach the Word. Daily humbling of self before God and overcoming temptation are required, and no one is fit to preach the Word, handle sacred things, or enter upon ministerial work until this forgiveness and humility are learned. Parents should teach children to be patient under injuries and to forgive others as they desire to be forgiven, for whoever possesses the Spirit of Christ never grows weary of forgiving.
Confession is to be made, wrongs repaired, and bitterness and alienation ended, for those who have received God's great pardon must show mercy to others, and refusing to forgive from the heart forfeits pardon. Forgiveness is opposed to magnifying small grievances, treating one person as the sole offender, and responding with suspicion or evil speech instead of compassion and restraint.