As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
Sin or rebellion against God's Commandments established to bring peace and prosperity to every human, family and nation who live by those rules, is a most interesting reality in the sins against God and others. The charitable think that their works lift them up to a supreme position, but as most people make it a point to list their works in public or demand a continuous thank you, that charity becomes a sin, as great as the one in rich people abandoning the poor. The penalty of each in charity and non charity is having no place in God's Heaven.
Matthew 6:1
1Be careful not to perform your righteous acts before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
In the 5th Petition of the Lord's Prayer, it is interesting in the mind of God how He assembles or ranks the requests in prayer. The first is establishing God as supreme in a relationship of Love with His children. What follows then is honoring God, asking for Him to come and be with His children, establishing His Commandments in them.
It is then in the Spiritual being established that the Father, provides for the Spiritual and physical needs of the person. Once that person is satisfied, established and growing in Spirit, the reality of the societal or community human, among the Saint and the sinner is addressed, as in those interactions with God and others, offending actions occur. The biggest offender in this is you and myself, not to others, but to God.
Here am I learning things in the Spirit in growth, and while I know my faults, the most painful and hurtful of all is knowing the faults of others as I feel what God in Spirit goes through billions of times. I do not say this to judge anyone, but in knowing what God deals with in me, in all of my self righteousness and faults, it saddens me in knowing the faults or sins of others, in how much they have to heal and grow yet, and how very harmful all of that anger, hatred, fury and the need to retaliate and condemn, harms not only that person, but those around them too.
Here am I not teaching that people do not have the right to hurt, to vent, to be upset. Healing is part of this emotional outburst as people react to pain. It is when this becomes fixated in their lives that it degrades them and destroys others around them. That is the reasoning behind Jesus saying, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
It is necessary in this to first explain the word FORGIVE, as it comes from the Greek, aphiémi:
Meanings are perverted by satan in translations. In the harm done to me in several types of rape, the last thing I needed to hear was my mother, not quoting the Bible, but instead lecturing me in "forgive and forget".
The Bible teaches nothing of the sort, but that was used to torment me as I was the evil person for being hurt and not being able to deal with the torment I was in.
The English translation of forgive is horrid, and not what the Bible teaches. The English lists pardon, condone, excuse, justify. That is not what the Greek word is at all. The Greek word instead is based in the reality of Christ's teaching in you cast your cares upon Him. In other words, forgive is an action verb, where you SEND AWAY, REJECT the harm which was done to you, and you LEAVE ALONE to God, and PERMIT God, to deal with that person who hurt, harmed and wronged you.
As you will see in the definition of sin or debt, which is the word Christ utilized, that harm done to you is a DEBT, and when you place that debt with Jesus the Debt Collector, He will avenge you properly.
As you can read by the proper definitions, there is not any free sinning. It is debt to God and God deals with it. God in His Love though wants to not have you in debt to Him nor being brought to Spiritual ruin in brooding those hurts in you.
Jesus is saying in the 5th Petition, "God let go of all of my sins, which I am sorry for and trying to never repeat, because I have let go of the sins of those against me who apologized and asked for forgiveness, and I have let go of the sins of those who did hurt me and have not apologized, to be dealt with by You as You will judge them correctly."
That is almost as long as the Lord's Prayer, but it is important to explain this, as good people are unduly burdened and ripped apart inside, by an incorrect translation, which Jesus provides the correct interpretation of by examples all through the Bible.
We first rightly reject the sins of others against us, as this is not permitted, as we will not be victims, and we send those sins away for God to Judge Righteously, and not having that burden in us, we can heal in the Comfort of the Holy Ghost, and for those who apologize, we can when moved by the Holy Ghost pray for them too to not repeat their mistakes, as that pleases God, when we are ready.
aphiémi: to send away, leave alone, permit
to send away, leave alone, permit
NASB Translation
abandoned (1), allow (5), allowed (2), divorce (2), forgave (2), forgive (23), forgiven (23), forgives (1), gave...permission (1), leave (7), leaves (2), leaving (8), left (38), let (9), let...alone (6), let him have (1), neglected (1), neglecting (2), permit (6), permitted (1), permitting (1), send...away (1), tolerate (1), uttered (1), yielded (1).
Now that the correct understanding of forgiveness has been established, we now come to the reality of opheílēma, or debt, as that is how this is defined by Christ which is interesting as this is not rebellion alone against God's Commandments, but it is a debt which is mandated to be paid. In sin, the payment is your temporal life and if unrepentent it is the payment of your eternal life.
Sin is a Spiritual legal debt. It has two payment options. Either you die for your sins or Jesus died for your sins. There are not any other options Charity or good deeds will cover up a number of sins, but the penalty of sin is death. This is serious and the end game of all end games.
There are sins which are not deliberate and sins which are in open defiance of God. Sins which are repentant and sins which are unrepentant. Sins which are cancelled by Christ's death and sins which are held to the unrepentant sinner's death.
Sin is owed. You either reject that sin others have done and place it on God to deal with or those sins will destroy you by the hatred and in your making a vendetta your god, instead of Christ, He can not by your choices let go of your sins.
None of this says that you do not have the right to hurt, to cry to be upset or even angry, but always remember the caution of the Lord, "Be ye angry and sin not". Bring those emotions to God as you turn things over to Him, and He will avenge you and in time those hurts will not be felt the majority of the time, and will only be there to remind to not make the mistake again or to bring this before God again in a situation which God is again dealing with that sinner.
3783 opheílēma (a neuter noun) – the result of having a debt, focusing on the after-effect of the obligation
STRONGS NT 3783: ὀφείλημα
ὀφείλημα, ὀφειλητος, τό (ὀφείλω), that which is owed;
a. properly, that which is justly or legally due, a debt; so for מַשָּׁאָה, Deuteronomy 24:12 (10); ἀφιέναι, 1 Macc. 15:8; ἀποτίνειν, Plato, legg. 4, p. 717 b.; ἀποδιδόναι, Aristotle, eth. Nic. 9, 2, 5 (p. 1165a, 3). κατά ὀφείλημα, as of debt, Romans 4:4.
b. in imitation of the Chaldean חוב or חובָא (which denotes both debt and sin), metaphorically, offence, sin (see ὀφειλέτης, b.); hence, ἀφιέναι τίνι τά ὀφειλετα αὐτοῦ, to remit the penalty of one's sins, to forgive them, (Chaldean חובִין שְׁבַק), Matthew 6:12. (Cf. Winer's Grammar, 30, 32, 33.)
opheilétēs (a masculine noun) – a debtor; someone under obligation to pay back (discharge) a debt.
STRONGS NT 3781: ὀφειλέτης
ὀφειλέτης, ὀφειλετου, ὁ (ὀφείλω), one who owes another, a debtor: properly, of one who owes another money (Plato, legg. 5, 736 d.; Plutarch; others); with a genitive of the sum due, Matthew 18:24. Metaphorically,
a. one held by some obligation, bound to some duty: ὀφειλέτης εἰμί, equivalent to ὀφείλω, followed by an infinitive, Galatians 5:3 (Sophocles Aj. 590); ὀφειλέτης εἰμί τίνος, to be one's debtor i. e. under obligations of gratitude to him for favors received, Romans 15:27; τίνι (dative commodi), to be under obligation to do something for someone, Romans 1:14; Romans 8:12.
b. one who has not yet made amends to one whom he has injured: Matthew 6:12; in imitation of the Chaldean חַיָב, one who owes God penalty or of whom God can demand punishment as something due, i. e. a sinner, Luke 13:4.
Always remember as a child of God, that whatever is done to you, is done to God. There are no free passes to sin.
Matthew 25:40
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Remember King David in his adultery with another man's wife. His impregnating her, his having her husband murdered on the battlefield, and then his marrying the woman as she was pregnant. Remember the reckoning of God to someone who was after His own Heart, in that sin brought the death of the child as there could not be any doubt the heir to the Throne of Christ was not the woman's first husband. How God ripped David's Kingdom from him, by the hand of his own son who tried to murder him, and did defile all of David's wives and concubines, and ended in civil war and the death of that son.
The Prophet Nathan told David that Gods spared his life, as he was guilty of the death penalty, but understand that God, even with a repentant David, settled the account thoroughly in this type of heinous wrongdoing.
God did not give a free pass to King David, so God is not going to give a free pass to those who have harmed you as the blood of Jesus pays for eternal condemnation in Heaven, but that blood does not neutralize the consequences of sin in this world. It is for your own good to not harm others, and for your own good to cast off the sins of others against you, and have God wipe out your known and unknown sins.
The Fifth Petition
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
What does this mean? We pray in this petition that our Father in heaven would not look at our sins, or deny our prayer because of them. We are neither worthy of the things for which we pray, nor have we deserved them, but we ask that He would give them all to us by grace, for we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment. So we too will sincerely forgive and gladly do good to those who sin against us.
Once again this the long version of Christ's Prayer and the long version of Martin Luther's Inspired Catechism. I would that it was short too, but as here am I moved to expand the understanding, the short work I had hoped for has turned into hours of writing and attempting to help each of you.
Scripture has wonderful verses, which should now have more meaning to you in their context and meaning of all that Christ was teaching to his disciples for all of us to be free from sin and other's sins.
Let us never forget in the joy of being children of God, that we have not earned His forgiveness, but it is the gift earned by Jesus laying down His Life for our sins and others who repent, and accept Him as their only Savior.
Luke 18:13
And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
Let us remember that there is a difference between people who have harmed us, asking in remorse for us to forgive them and others who could not care they have harmed us. Christ teaches our Christian family in apologizing to us, we continue to forgive each time they offend and apologize, praying for them as this pleases God.
Matthew 18
21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
It is a number of verses but Christ teaching in this parable explains the long version above, in God forgives us first of our sins, so when people come to us begging our forgiveness, we readily forgive them and trust in the Lord's reckoning of the situation, while remembering to not place ourselves in a position to be harmed again by that person.
Matthew 18
23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.
25 But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
28 But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.
29 And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
31 So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.
32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
The following teaching from Jesus in Mark is now understood, that Jesus never expected a Christian who was soul raped to be blamed for those wounds still hurting, but instead Jesus was saying, reject the thorns of these other people's sins so they do not become festering thorns inside of you, bringing your ruin and the ruin of those you love around you. Place it upon Christ to deal with in their unrepentant sins, as the Father then deals Mercifully in Love for your repenting of hurting others.
Mark 11
25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
All Christians have sinned and none of us are worthy of being called the children of God. We can not earn a place with God, and God created the situation this way, lest any one would boast. We owe God our eternal Redemption in Christ as the Father's Gift, but we do not owe God for our sins, because Jesus paid that debt.
Luke 15:21
And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
The surest effort is to work to keep the 10 Commandments daily, to confess our sins and by the Holy Ghost grow in perfection of the Spirit of God. Then we can in Christ focus more on the secret faults we all have in rectifying those with the Holy Ghost's guidance in repentance.
Psalm 19:12
Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
While I have not written this until now, I have noticed from my teenage years, the necessity of reviewing Martin Luther's Catechism on a regular basis. I have not done this for a number of years, and I can tell of the atrophy in the lack of Spiritual exercise in not confessing and professing the meanings of Christ's teachings all through the Old and New Testaments.
I do hope the Holy Ghost blesses the work here to help those who it will help and be a stumbling block to those who parade around in self righteousness, that in falling now, they will be lifted up by Christ and not rush to a worse fate ahead.
The Spirit in me sings, in professing my Faith and the teachings behind this Faith, even in these darkest of times that I am moved to compose this work for the Glory of God to help others. Reading the Bible alone, praying alone, having been confirmed alone, sitting in Churches alone is not enough. The exercise of why we believe in Faith is a necessary component to all of our Christian lives. This is most certainly True.
Nuff Said
agtG
