Question 194. What do we pray for in the fifth petition?

 

Question 194. What do we pray for in the fifth petition?

Answer. The fifth petition is, And forgive us, as we forgive our debtors. Here we first acknowledge that all of us are guilty of original and actual sin, and are debtors to God's justice. Acknowledging that neither we nor any other creature can at all repay that debt, we pray for ourselves and others, that God, by his free grace, through the obedience and atonement of Christ, understood and applied only by faith, would free us from the guilt and punishment of sin, accept us in his Beloved, and continue to bestow upon us his favor and grace. By that grace, we pray that he would forgive us our daily failings, and give us more assurance of pardon, and fill us with peace and joy. For when we have the evidence of the forgiveness of others' sins in our hearts, we are bold to ask, and encouraged to expect.

"Forgive us our sins (opheilemi), as we forgive  those who sin (opheilema) against us."

The Greek word aphiemi is used to express those who have sinned against us, which means to omit or exempt. Opheilema is not sin, but rather debt. It means that we have a debt to God. Because we sinned against God in the kingdom of God, we became human beings made of dust, so we have a debt to God. In order to pay the debt, we must die to sin, but Jesus Christ paid that debt by dying in our place.

As people live, they often owe each other debts. There are debts from sins, debts from being indebted to others, debts from borrowing money and not paying them back, and so on. They even affect each other comprehensively. Beyond the problems of one individual, they affect everyone in the world, knowingly or unknowingly. All of these are debts. These debts arise because people are spiritually dead.

"Forgive us our debts, as we forgive those who debt us."καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν, ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφήκαμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν

Translated again, it says, "As God forgives us our debts (hos kai ὡς καὶ), so let us forgive our debtors." The English translation of hos kai is as also, so it is translated as "as if", but hos should be seen as a relative pronoun. Debt means sin. First, God forgives us our debts, and then we forgive our debtors.

 

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