The Confusion of Matthew 6:12

Let me define “religion” for you. Religion is the traditional, widespread human belief that performance of the right rules and rituals will gain a higher standing with God than would have otherwise been enjoyed. It assumes to mediate between God and humans, to speak for God and to dictate “His” demands.

There is much “religion” within Christianity. An outstanding example is religion’s interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew chapter 6. The religion in Christianity believes that God will only forgive us as and when we forgive others, and cites Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 6:12 as proof:

Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Those who accept and believe a religious interpretation of this passage unwittingly turn God’s forgiveness into a conditional act, which depends on human merit. But if God will only forgive us as and when we forgive others then His forgiveness depends on an action we must first take, and which, in turn, gives us the power to earn God’s forgiveness.

What Jesus is actually saying in this verse is that God makes it possible for us to forgive others. The only true, lasting and eternal forgiveness a human may offer another human is a gift which only God can give. Apart from God, humans are incapable of offering divine forgiveness to another. We are incapable of mustering true forgiveness from within our soul.

God does not wait to see if we will forgive others before He forgives us. If His forgiveness was conditional upon our perfect forgiveness of others, then no human would ever be forgiven by God. His forgiveness is conditioned and based on His goodness, not our own. His forgiveness is given to us by His grace, not because of any action or behavior we can humanly produce.

“But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

While suffering the most excruciating death any human could ever experience, Jesus prayed, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). But surely those who beat and tortured him, those who nailed him to the cross, and those who insulted and cursed him as he hung dying, knew what they were doing. What did Jesus mean?

I believe that Jesus was saying that they had no idea that they were actually taking the life of God the Son, God in the flesh, their own Creator, the second Person of the triune Godhead. Jesus knew that many humans had some responsibility for killing him. Yet Jesus was clearly stating that God’s forgiveness does not depend on human abilities. God’s forgiveness is unconditional – no matter how much culpability you or I may have.

That’s why you and I cannot give divine forgiveness to another human, apart from God’s grace. We cannot give what we do not possess.

We cannot participate in God’s forgiveness unless we have first accepted His grace, which itself entails an acceptance and even a surrender on our part – a realization that we do not have what it takes to forgive others, or for that matter, ourselves.

God’s limitless love means that His forgiveness is inclusive, rather than exclusive. It’s not just for people who have all their doctrinal ducks lines up, or who memorize the right creed, say the right prayer or sing the right tune.

God’s forgiveness breaks the chain of an eye for an eye, by transforming our pain. If our pain is not transformed by God’s grace, then we will transmit that pain. We will, apart from God’s grace, be consumed by the pain of what we have suffered, and it will be manifested as hatred and vengeance.

Only God can give us forgiveness, and it is on His terms of unmerited grace. Don’t let religion get you confused.

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