Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Matthew 6:12

ἀφήκαμεν for ἀφίεμεν or ἀφίομεν: this important change has the highest support (אBZ). See notes.

12. ἄφες ἡμῖν τὰ ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν. ἀφιέναι and ἄφεσις are the words used in the N.T. to express the act of forgiveness whether on the part of God or of man. It is important to fix as precisely as possible the meaning of terms intimately bound up with the thought of the Atonement. To the Jewish mind the figure would connect itself with the year of jubilee or release (ἔτος or ἐνιαυτὸς τῆς� or simply ἄφεσις, Leviticus 25:31; Leviticus 25:40; Leviticus 27:24) in which all debts were remitted. See Trench, N.T. Syn. p. 131. To the Greek mind it would denote the thought of ‘letting go’ from a charge (ἐγκλήματα, φόνον, Demosth. passim), or from penalties (πληγάς, Aristoph. Nubes, 1426), but also the idea of forgiveness of debt and generally of condoning faults: ἀπῆκέ τʼ ἂν αὐτῷ τὴν αἰτίην, Hdt. VI. 30.

ὀφειλήματα. Sin is a debt—a shortcoming in the service due to God or a harm to fellow-men that requires reparation. St Paul gives vivid expression to the thought Colossians 2:14, ἐξαλείψας τὸ καθʼ ἡμῶν χειρόγραφον, ‘the bond against us’—‘the account standing against us.’ It is contemplated as a thing left undone, rather than an act of transgression.

ἀφήκαμεν. The force of the aorist (see Crit. Notes) is that the act of forgiveness on man’s part is past before he prays to receive forgiveness. Cp. ch. Matthew 5:23-24, also the parable of the Unforgiving Servant, ch. Matthew 18:23 seqq.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Matthew 6:12

Old Testament

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