Matthew 6:12 is the twelfth verse of the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament and is part of the Sermon on the Mount. This verse is the fourth one of the Lord's Prayer, one of the best known parts of the entire New Testament. This verse contains the fifth petition to God.
The patristic scholar Henry Chadwick says that Matthew 6:12 refers to Sirach 28:2 ("Forgive your neighbor a wrong, and then, when you petition, your sins will be pardoned.").
Content
thumb|300px|Matthew 6:7–16 from the 1845 illuminated book of The Sermon on the Mount, designed by [[Owen Jones (architect)|Owen Jones.]]
In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:
:And forgive us our debts,
:as we forgive our debtors.
The World English Bible translates the passage as:
:Forgive us our debts, as
:we also forgive our debtors.
The Novum Testamentum Graece text is:
:καὶ ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν,
:ὡς καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀφήκαμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν
For a collection of other versions see BibleHub Matthew 6:12.
Analysis
The Greek word here translated as debts literally meant financial debts owed to another. However, the Aramaic word for debts could also mean sins or errors. In the Gospel of Luke the very similar prayer has the more metaphorical wording. It is thus generally accepted that this verse is talking about sins, rather than loans. This verse has thus often been translated with the word "trespasses" in place of the word debts. However, some groups have read this verse as condemning all forms of lending.
Forgiveness had a central role in the Judaism of the period, and asking for forgiveness from God was a staple of Jewish prayers. It was also considered proper for individuals to be forgiving of others, for mistakes they made. Luz notes that this verse is unique in so closely relating the two notions. To be pious one must forgive one's fellows as God forgives all. This verse presupposes universal sinfulness. Everyone, no matter how holy, has sins that need to be forgiven
The patristic scholar Henry Chadwick says that Matthew 6:12 refers to Sirach 28:2 ("Forgive your neighbor a wrong, and then, when you petition, your sins will be pardoned.").
Commentary from the Church Fathers
Cyprian: After supply of food, next pardon of sin is asked for, that he who is fed of God may live in God, and not only the present and passing life be provided for, but the eternal also; whereunto we may come, if we receive the pardon of our sins, to which the Lord gives the name of debts, as he speaks further on, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me. (Mat. 18:32.) How well is it for our need, how provident and saving a thing, to be reminded that we are sinners compelled to make petition for our offences, so that in claiming God's indulgence, the mind is recalled to a recollection of its guilt. That no man may plume himself with the pretence of innocency, and perish more wretchedly through self-exaltation, he is instructed that he commits sin every day by being commanded to pray for his sins.
References
Bibliography
- Fowler, Harold. The Gospel of Matthew: Volume One. Joplin: College Press, 1968
- Hill, David. The Gospel of Matthew. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981
- Luz, Ulrich. Matthew 1-7: A Commentary. trans. Wilhlem C. Linss. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortess, 1989.