Our Father . . . Forgive us

• Matthew 6:12 (ESV)

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What is forgiveness?

Removal if all debt framed in a relational context.

Erase it from the ledger? No repayment for the debt or the sin.
Forgive us our Debts? Transgressions? Sins?
Mirosloav Volf : "Free of Charge"

Posture of need.

Not only a need to forgive but to also forgive others.

To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because the God has forgive the inexcusable in us. -C.S. Lewis

What does forgiveness look like in this context? Not "should I forgive."

How are we to forgive?

Without conditions
Repeatedly
With God's help.

Must be connected to a proper repentance.

Repentance is not a condition of forgiveness but is a consequence.
1 Samuel 24:16. Repentance followed forgiveness.

In going to a person to express forgiveness:
Seek to understand
Some will not allow it to be said.

Loophole syndrome - always looking for a way around Jesus's teaching.

Ephesians 4:31-32

Three-way relationship Wrong doer, Wronged and God

What happens if we do not forgive?
Then we do not fully understand the Gospel
It will hinder your prayers
We are nit forgiven

Not about how we get in to the kingdom but how we live in the kingdom

2 Corinthians 3:15

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