Interpretation of the Fifth Petition in Relation to Justice and Forgiveness
The fifth petition of the Lord's Prayer—"Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors"—addresses sin as a debt owed to God, a forensic category that places the sinner in the position of one who cannot satisfy divine justice through personal effort. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown describe this as "a vitally important view of sin...as an offense against God demanding reparation to His dishonored claims upon our absolute subjection" [8]. The debtor-creditor metaphor underscores the legal dimension of forgiveness: sin incurs obligation, and only divine pardon can cancel the account.
The Forensic Framework
The petition presupposes the doctrine of justification, which Easton's Bible Dictionary defines as "the judicial act of God, by which he pardons all the sins of those who believe in Christ, and accounts, accepts, and treats them as righteous in the eye of the law" [2]. Charles Hodge emphasizes that justification "is something out of ourselves, something done for us, and not what we do or experience" [7]. This external ground of acceptance—Christ's righteousness imputed to the believer—means that forgiveness is not earned by our forgiving others, but rather our willingness to forgive evidences the grace already at work in us. The Heidelberg Catechism articulates this carefully: "Because of Christ's blood, do not hold against us...any of the sins we do or the evil that constantly clings to us. Forgive us just as we are fully determined, as evidence of your grace in us, to forgive our neighbors" [6].
The Condition and Its Meaning
Augustine addresses the apparent conditionality of the petition, noting that "we are convicted of having acted contrary to this rule" if we refuse to forgive others [5]. Yet he distinguishes between the ground of divine forgiveness (Christ's atoning work) and the evidence of having received it (our own forgiving posture). The petition does not establish a quid pro quo—God's mercy is not purchased by ours—but rather tests whether we have grasped the magnitude of our own debt. Calvin observes that the prayer sets "absolute perfection" before us in earlier petitions, while here acknowledging "our own weakness," so that "the two fitly correspond to each other" [4].
The Old Testament background reinforces the connection between forgiveness and restitution. Torrey's Topical Textbook notes that confession "should be accompanied with...restitution" [3], as seen in Leviticus 5:16, where the offender must restore what was wronged and add a fifth part before atonement is made [1]. Yet the New Covenant shifts the burden: Christ's blood satisfies justice fully, leaving believers to forgive freely because they have been forgiven much.
Sources
- Leviticus “He shall make restitution for that which he has done wrong in the holy thing, and shall add a fifth part to it, and give it to the priest; and the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and he will be forgiven. -- Leviticus 5:16”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Justification — A forensic term, opposed to condemnation. As regards its nature, it is the judicial act of God, by which he pardons all the sins of those who believe in Christ, and accounts, accepts, and treats them as righteous in the eye of the law, i.e., as conformed to all its demands. In addition to the pardon (q.v.) of sin, justification declares that all the claims of the law are satisfied in respect of the justified. It is the act of a judge and not of a sovereign. The law is not relaxed or set aside, but is declared to be fulfilled in the strictest sense; an”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Confession of Sin — God requires -- Le 5:5; Ho 5:15. God regards -- Job 33:27,28; Da 9:20-23. Exhortation to -- Jos 7:19; Jer 3:13; Jas 5:16. Promises to -- Le 26:40-42; Pr 28:13. Should be accompanied with Submission to punishment. -- Le 26:41; Ne 9:33; Ezr 9:13. Prayer for forgiveness. -- 2Sa 24:10; Ps 25:11; 51:1; Jer 14:7-9,20. Self-abasement. -- Isa 64:5,6; Jer 3:25. Godly sorrow. -- Ps 38:18; La 1:20. Forsaking sin. -- Pr 28:13. Restitution. -- Nu 5:6,7. Should be full and unreserved -- Ps 32:5; 51:3; 106:6. Followed by pardon -- Ps 32:5; 1Jo 1:9. Illustrated -”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 75: also to themselves and their followers, in that they encourage themselves in a carelessness diametrically opposed to the mercy of God. It is excessively childish to object, that when they long for the advent of the kingdom of God, they at the same time pray for the abolition of sin. In the former division of the prayer absolute perfection is set before us; but in the latter our own weakness. Thus the two fitly correspond to each other—we strive for the goal, 2195 and at the same time neglect not the remedies which our necessities r”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 6: Augustine — Homilies on the Gospels — CHAP. VIII.--28. The fifth petition follows: "And forgive us our debts, as we also forgives our debtors." It is manifest that by debts are meant sins, either from that statement which the Lord Himself (part 2): as we also forgive;" but if you pardon it, you see how he who is enjoined to offer such a prayer is admonished also with respect to forgiving a money debt. 29. That may indeed be construed in this way, that when we say, "Forgive us our debts, as s we also forgive," then only are we convicted of having acted contrary to this rule, if we ”
- Heidelberg Catechism (Reformed) “Heidelberg Catechism (Reformed, 1563), Q. What does the fifth petition mean?: Q. What does the fifth petition mean? A. “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” means: Because of Christ’s blood, do not hold against us, poor sinners that we are, any of the sins we do or the evil that constantly clings to us.1 Forgive us just as we are fully determined, as evidence of your grace in us, to forgive our neighbors.2 1 Ps. 51:1-7; 143:2; Rom. 8:1; 1 John 2:1-2 2 Matt. 6:14-15; 18:21-35 Lord’s Day 52 Q & A 127”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 19: of the law and accepts us as righteous in his sight, is something out of ourselves, something done for us, and not what we do or experience, then it of necessity follows that justification is not subjective. It does not consist in the infusion of righteousness, or in making the person justified personally holy. If the “formal cause” of our justification be our goodness; then we are justified for what we are. The Bible, however, teaches that no man living can be justified for what he is. He is condemned for what he is and for what he does.”
- Matthew (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Matthew 6:12: And forgive us our debts--A vitally important view of sin, this--as an offense against God demanding reparation to His dishonored claims upon our absolute subjection. As the debtor in the creditor's hand, so is the sinner in the hands of God. This idea of sin had indeed come up before in this discourse--in the warning to agree with our adversary quickly, in case of sentence being passed upon us, adjudging us to payment of the last farthing, and to imprisonment till then (Mat 5:25-26). And it comes up once and again in our Lord's subsequent teaching--a”