And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. The forgiveness petition connects God's forgiveness of the petitioner to the petitioner's forgiveness of others — the most theologically dense and potentially uncomfortable petition in the prayer. As we also have forgiven does not suggest that our forgiveness earns God's; it suggests that the two are inseparable in the kingdom's economy: the person who has genuinely received God's forgiveness cannot withhold forgiveness from others. Matthew 18:23–35 dramatizes this connection in the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant. Colossians 3:13 commands forgiving one another as the Lord has forgiven you — the direction of the flow is from received forgiveness to given forgiveness, not the reverse.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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