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You wrote in your book that we could receive the remission of sin once
and for all by believing in the baptism of Jesus and His bloodshed on
the Cross. Then, how do you interpret the passage, "Forgive our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us" in the Lord's Prayer?
The phrase you quoted is seemingly contradictory
to the gospel of the water and the Spirit. But, you may believe that the
Bible is perfect, and has no contradict in it.
Then, is the gospel of the water and the Spirit wrong? No, absolutely
not!
Through the entire Word, God shows us that this gospel is the only true
and perfect gospel.
There are matches in the Old and New Testament. The sacrificial system
in the O.T. is perfectly matches with the eternal sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
In sacrificial system, a lawful sacrifice needed three essential conditions:
1) sacrificial animal without blemish, 2) to lay hands on of, 3) blood
(vicarious death)
And Jesus Christ, coming to this earth born through the Virgin Mary, as
a sinless One, to accept all the sins of the world, was baptized by John
the Baptist, the representative of all mankind. Then, He went to the Cross
with all the sins of ours, and was crucified to death. But He rose again
in three days. We are now forgiven of all our sins (of past, present,
and future) by believing this truth that the Lord has completed.
Then, what about the passage "Forgive our trespasses as we forgive those
who trespass against us"?
It means that God wants us to forgive each other's insufficiencies.
Even though we are born again, we are still in our weak flesh, and do
lots of wrongs. If we condemn and rebuke each other of our transgressions
then even the power of the true gospel would be fade away, and the fellowship
of the born again would be destroyed.
You should take notice that the word 'trespasses' must be corrected into
'debts.' Actually, in the New King James Version it is written: "And
forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors" (Matthew 6:12).
In Matthew, the Lord's Prayer is directly followed by such teachings as:
"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also
forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will
your Father forgive your trespasses."
Lord Jesus did not give the Lord's Prayer for us to recite it every day
as it is. It is a collection of the important prayer subjects that we
should remember in our everyday life of faith.
Please peruse Matthew 18:21-35, then you will reach a understanding of
what is the will of God for the unforgiving servant:
"Then Peter came to Him and said, 'Lord, how often shall my brother
sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?' Jesus said to him,
'I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle
accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts,
one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he was
not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and
children and all that he had, and that payment be made. The servant therefore
fell down before him, saying, 'Master, have patience with me, and I will
pay you all.' Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion,
released him, and forgave him the debt. But that servant went out and
found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he
laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me what you
owe!' So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying,
'Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.' And he would not, but
went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his
fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came
and told their master all that had been done. Then his master, after he
had called him, said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that
debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on
your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?' And his master was angry,
and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due
to him. So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from
his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.' "
It means that we always have to forgive our brothers when they sin against
us because the Lord already forgave all our past and present and future
sins once for all through His baptism and the Cross. Therefore, if we
do not forgive our brothers even if the Lord already forgave all their
sins on His part, He will be angry with us for our unforgiving mind and
will not forgive our sins against our brothers. Only when we forgive our
brothers by believing that God already forgave all of us through Jesus'
baptism and the Cross, He will be pleased with us.
Therefore the passage can be interpreted like this. "Lord, we forgive
our brothers because You already forgave all our sins. Therefore, please
do not be angry at our sins." Jesus said like that on the premise He already
washed away all the sins of the world. The person who believes like that
can forgive his brothers when they sin against him.
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