Biblical commentary on the New Testament - The Christian ...

322 Matthew VI. 7-13.
implied, wliicli is expressed in the f/th petition, and from wliich the
desire proceeds to see all hindrances arising thence taken away by
forgiving love. That the prayer is that of a believer, is evident
from " as tve also forgive ;" in wliich words forgiveness is again (see v.
7) made dependent on the forgiving love in the heart, which alone
permits us to believe in forgiveness, without denying that this love
is itself the gift of grace.* The idea of debt is taken very widely,
comprehending sin in general, which, even in believers, contracts
new debts, that need continual forgiveness
{. e., blotting out. See
the similes, v. 25, and Luke vii. 41, ff. ; and in ver. 14, immediately
below. A lively perception of sin is accompanied by a sense of
weakness, such as may not only disobey God's command occasionally,
but even fall from it altogether. This is the view taken in the sixth
petition. (On -neipd^eiv, see note on Matth. iv. 1.) The dangerous
nature of temptation, from which the children of God beg to be de-
livered, lies in the disproportion between the power of the new life,
and that of evil. The fear of God, therefore, in the believer begs
for the removal of the cup.f The Saviour having been already led
into one temptation at the beginning of his ministry, and having
overcome it to the saving of men,| prays himself (for he became in
all things like us, only without sin), in the second temptation, at
the close of his ministry : "if it be possible, let this cup pass from
me." (Matth. xxvi. 39.) In this petition, therefore, the assurance
* The words, " as we also forgive," must not be understood as determining the measure
of forgiveness ; for if God did not forgive men in a higher degree than they themselves
shew forgiveness, no one would be forgiven. God always forgives completely and
absolutely ; while man oftentimes, even when honestly struggling, can forgive partially
only—that is, so as that something yet remains in the mind. The words are rather to be
taken as a proof how much God is forgiving love, since he not only forgives the believer
his own sin, but also enables him to forgive others. Being able to forgive others, is accordingly
a token to the believer of his being in a state of grace ; and the petition may
therefore be thus paraphrased :
—
" Forgive us our sins—that is, reveal the entire fulness of
thy forgiving love unto us, as thou givest us to taste it in this, that in thy power we can
forgive." Moreover, we must not overlook, that forgiving sins toward man is alone spoken
of; for we cannot and ought not to forgive sins against God. Thus David forgives Shimei's
eiu against himself, but on his deathbed he retains the sin against the Lord; and thus
does the Apostle Paul also, according to 2 Tim. iv. 14-1 G.
lYeipaaiing, temptation, trial,
f may be (a) the trial to which God puts his people tor
their good (Rom. v. 3; James i. 2-4; 1 Pet. i. 6, f), for whose removal the Christian vrill
not pray • (b) temptations of personal lust, James i. 12 ; to this ." lead us not into temp-
tation," is not appt :able (c) the malicious assaults of Satan from which God preserves us
;
if we pray to oiiri. This is here the only appropriate meaning, and to this corresponds
the following, "but deliver us," etc.—[E.
\ See in the Epistle to the Hebrews ii. 18 : "For in that he himself hath sufered be-
ing tempted, ho is able to succour them that are tempted.'''' And again, 1 Cor. x. 13, were
Tveipaa/io^ dv6pur:ivog seems to be placed in contrast with another—namely, Oeloc, in
which God himself, as in the cases of Abraham, Job, and other distinguished believers,
and particularly in that of the Saviour, led into temptation ; at such trials nature shudders.
To le led into temptation must, however, be carefully distinguished from presumptuous
determined entering into it, which is one with tempting God.