Matthew 6:12

Matthew 6:12
"Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." "Debts" here means sins.

OK, so before we go any further, let's remember that this is part of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is talking to His disciples and to all of us who can honestly say "Our Father." Therefore, we know that this part of the prayer is not a prayer for salvation. This has already been settled when we initially confessed our sin and our utter helplessness to save ourselves, and we trusted Jesus that He had paid the penalty on the cross for our sin.

So what does this mean? The Bible teaches us that when we place our faith in Jesus for our salvation, we are no longer held accountable for our sins as far as eternal punishment is concerned. They are covered by the blood of Jesus, and we are born into God's family. See John 3. But just like children born into human families, we are not perfect as long as we remain on this earth. When we sin, 1 John 1:9, tells us to confess our sins to the Lord and that He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is the Father/child relationship we have with God. We are not in danger of being banished from the "family." Just as good earthly parents are quick to forgive the repentant child, so is our Heavenly Father sure to forgive us.

The next phrase has caused many to wonder. The eminent Martyn Lloyd-Jones says that it does NOT say we are forgiven because we forgive others or that we are forgiven when we forgive others. Rather "It means that the proof that you and I are forgiven is that we forgive others....The man who knows he has been forgiven, only in and through the shed blood of Christ, is a man who must forgive others. He cannot help himself. If we really know Christ as our Saviour our hearts are broken and cannot be hard, and we cannot refuse forgiveness....I say to the glory of God and in utter humility, that whenever I see myself before God and realize even something of what my blessed Lord has done for me, I am ready to forgive anybody anything." (Studies in The Sermon on the Mount, Vol. 2, pp. 75, 76.)

For our meditation:  Ephesians 4:32  "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."