Matthew 18:32-33

THE ESSENCE OF CHRISTIANITY

‘Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?’

Matthew 18:32

‘Until seventy times seven.’ Here we have the very essence of Christianity. Christianity is a spirit, not a set of rules. ‘Seventy times seven’ is a Hebrew expression. It is not a definite, but an infinite number, a number impossible. Love refuses to be trammelled. In illustration of this Christ spoke the parable of the unmerciful servant. Notice:

I. The Christian duty of confession.—The lord of the servant represents God, and the acknowledgment of the debtor to him is parallel to confession to God of sins against God. But the acknowledgment of the second debtor to his superior servant of a debt owed to him is parallel to confession made to man of sins committed against man.

(a) Duty of confession to God. The necessity for confession arises from the load of acknowledged guilt. By confession we sever ourselves from our sin, and we disown it. Such was the immediate relief of David: ‘I have sinned.’ Instantly does the answer come: ‘The Lord also hath put away thy sin: thou shalt not die.’ Confession relieves by giving a sense of honesty. So long as we retain sin unconfessed we are conscious of a secret insincerity. In confession be instantaneous. We are tempted to procrastinate; we say we cannot confess yet; we will wait till we are better. See the lesson of this parable. The servant had one warm moment, infinitely precious, before imprisonment. He seized it; it might not have come again.

(b) Confession to man of sins against man. The inferior servant freely acknowledged his debt. The first noblest attitude of man is innocence; the second noblest is apology. There is a manliness in saying, ‘I have done wrong, forgive me.’

II. The principle of Christian forgiveness.—God’s forgiveness is a type of ours. It is a free thing, yet it is suspended on the condition of our forgiveness. Forgiveness implies two things—favour and remission of punishment. A concession is not a merit. Man cannot be saved without forgiveness, but his forgiveness is not the cause of his salvation. Salvation is a state of love. An unforgiving, vindictive heart is in hell. How can it be saved? It is ‘delivered to the tormentors.’ Our forgiveness, therefore, is to be unlimited, even as God’s ‘seventy times seven.’ There is no sin which man can do which may not be pardoned. The gospel is built on unlimited forgiveness.

—The Rev. F. W. Robertson.