Forgiveness and temptation

This week's questions

What do we pray for in the fifth petition? In the fifth petition, which is, And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors, we pray that God, for Christ's sake, would freely pardon all our sins; which we are the rather encouraged to ask, because by his grace we are enabled from the heart to forgive others.

Question 105

What do we pray for in the sixth petition? In the sixth petition, which is, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, we pray, that God would either keep us from being tempted to sin, or support and deliver us when we are tempted.

Question 106

The prayer that asked for bodily bread last week now asks for the soul's needs: pardon for the sins behind us, and protection in the temptations ahead. With these two the petitions end; next week the conclusion and the Amen close the course.

Forgive us our debts

Matthew's word for our sins here is opheilēma (ὀφείλημα), a debt. Jesus pictured that debt in the servant who owed ten thousand talents and could not pay, whose master had compassion on him and forgave the debt (Matthew 18:24-27). In this petition, says the Larger Catechism, we acknowledge "that neither we, nor any other creature, can make the least satisfaction for that debt" Larger Catechism, Q. 194. So we ask as the answer does: "for Christ's sake", "freely". The proof text is David's prayer:

Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving devotion; according to Your great compassion, blot out my transgressions. Wash me clean of my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

Psalm 51:1-2

"As we forgive our debtors" does not make our forgiving the price of God's. Question 105 says that our being able to forgive is itself "by his grace", and so it encourages us to ask the more boldly. The Heidelberg Catechism, too, speaks of finding in ourselves "this witness of thy grace", the full purpose heartily to forgive our neighbour Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 126. Yet Jesus warned those who will not forgive "your brother from your heart" (Matthew 18:35; 6:14-15), and Paul bids us forgive "just as in Christ God forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32). Matthew Henry, the English minister, says it plainly: "We must forgive, as we hope to be forgiven" Matthew Henry.

Since we break God's commandments daily in thought, word and deed (Question 82), this is a daily prayer; see Sin, repentance, forgiveness. Forgiving is not pretending that nothing happened, and it does not mean going back to someone who goes on doing harm without repentance. No one who has suffered abuse or violence should carry it alone; a pastor, someone you trust and, where needed, trained help belong beside you. How is forgiveness possible? goes further.

Lead us not into temptation

James is plain that God tempts no one to sin; we are drawn away by our own desires (James 1:13-14). Yet "Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil" (Matthew 4:1), and God left Hezekiah to test him and know his heart (2 Chronicles 32:31). The Larger Catechism confesses that God, "for divers holy and just ends, may so order things, that we may be assaulted, foiled, and for a time led captive by temptations" Q. 195. So Question 106 asks two things: keep us from temptation, or hold us and bring us through it. Jesus said to his sleeping disciples:

“Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

Matthew 26:41

Paul's prayer shows the second way: he asked to be spared the thorn, and God left it and upheld him with grace that was sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). Either way, God makes a way through (1 Corinthians 10:13). Augustine, bishop of Hippo in North Africa, says we do not ask never to be tempted, but not to be led into it: "As if one who was to be burnt alive should pray not that he should not be touched by fire, but that he should not be burnt" Augustine.

"Deliver us from evil": the BSB has "the evil one", the KJV "evil", and the Greek can be read either way. The Heidelberg Catechism names our enemies as "the devil, the world, and our own flesh" Q. 127; see Through temptation and trouble.

Churches count the petitions differently. The Reformed, with the Heidelberg and Westminster catechisms, take "lead us not" and "deliver us" as one petition and count six. Augustine divided them and counted seven Augustine, Enchiridion 115–116, as does the Catechism of the Catholic Church Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2803, and Martin Luther's Small Catechism, taught in the Lutheran churches, gives them as the sixth and seventh Small Catechism, the sixth petition. The counting differs; the prayer is the same. If you fear a sin that cannot be forgiven, read What is the unforgivable sin?

To ponder this week

Is there someone you need to forgive from the heart this week, and where do you need to pray before temptation comes rather than after? If forgiving is still hard, tell God so honestly. Then think of a time or place where you often fall, and pray "lead us not into temptation" before it comes.

Practice