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"And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone forgive him, so
that your Father in heaven may forgive your sins" (N.I.V.).
And in Matt. 18: 35 this is strongly enforced by the parable of the unmerciful
servant who did not forgive, and the conclusion by the Lord Jesus is:
"This is how My heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your
brother from your heart",
and this forgiveness was cancelled because of an unforgiving spirit. All the time we must
keep in mind the conditions laid down in Matthew's Gospel for entering the Kingdom or
being shut out.
When we read Eph. 4: 32 we have the opposite:
"And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for
Christ's sake hath forgiven you."
Here we are urged to forgive, not in order to obtain forgiveness by God, but because
we have already been forgiven by Him. As Col. 2: 13 expresses it: "having forgiven
you all trespasses". It is a question of keeping verses in their contexts and interpreting
strictly with these contexts in view.
No.13.
6: 13 - 7: 5.
pp. 205 - 209
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. The temptation
mentioned here does not mean temptation to sin. James 1: 15 denies that God ever
tempts any person to sin. The word means trial or test and in His wisdom God tests in
order to challenge us, so that our faith in Him grows from "little faith" to "great faith".
It is impossible to say whether the Greek means "evil" or "the evil one"; it can mean
either and both senses are found in the N.T. If it is "the evil one", Satan, then we should
remember for our comfort that God has provided a sure shield against his attacks. It is
the shield of faith (Eph. 6: 16).
The doxology of verse 13 is placed in the margin of most modern versions. It is not
found in the oldest manuscripts. The earliest forms of it vary very much; some are
shorter and some longer than the one in the A.V. It would appear that the use of a
doxology arose when this prayer began to be used as a liturgy to be recited in public
worship and it was probably derived from I Chron. 29: 11.
There is no reason, however, why this doxology cannot be used, for it is quite
Scriptural and gives a conclusion to the prayer (end of verse 13).