Taking Jesus at His Word: What Jesus Really Said in the Sermon on the Mount

by Addison Hodges Hart

As was the case in most of the civilized ages but our own, pardoning debts was regarded as an act of virtue and righteousness. Jesus underscores this here. It is possible that this refers to forgiving sins (see below), as it appears in Luke’s shorter version of the prayer. However, it is interesting to note how Luke renders it: “And forgive us our sins [hamartias = ‘strayings’], for we ourselves forgive every one who is indebted [opheilonti] to us” (Luke 11:4, emphasis mine). In Luke it appears that our willingness to forgive others’ debts to us invites God’s forgiveness of our sins. Our acts of lifting the material burden off the shoulders of those who owe us some kind of payback in turn invites God’s lifting of spiritual burdens from our conscience. That such concern for the material welfare of others wins a spiritual reward is something that early Christians accepted as true to the nature of God. It is seen, for instance, in the passages about Cornelius, the Gentile centurion, whose prayers and contributions to the poor won for him a deeper knowledge of Jesus and his kingdom: “About the ninth hour of the day [three P.M.] he saw clearly in a vision an angel [‘messenger’] of God coming in and saying to him, ‘Cornelius … Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God’” (Acts 10:3-4, emphasis mine; see also 10:30-33). Cornelius is then told to call for Peter, who will tell him about the way of Jesus. Pardoning others their debts to us and giving freely to...