TEXT [Commentary]

3. Forgiving a sinning believer (18:21-35)

21 Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone[*] who sins against me? Seven times?”

22 “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven![*]

23 “Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. 24 In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars.[*] 25 He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt.

26 “But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ 27 Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.

28 “But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars.[*] He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.

29 “His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. 30 But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.

31 “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. 32 Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ 34 Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.

35 “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters[*] from your heart.”

NOTES

18:21-22 how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times? Peter once again spoke up, evidently for the rest of the disciples, and asked a question about forgiveness. Perhaps his question was asked impulsively and interrupted Jesus’ discourse. Peter already knew that Jesus taught forgiveness (6:12, 14-15), but he was concerned here with the extent of the longsuffering that should be shown to a brother who repeatedly sinned against another disciple. It is not clear whether this hypothetical sinner has repeatedly responded to the process outlined in 18:15-20. Even if he has not, it would seem that there is no contradiction between corporate exclusion (18:15-20) and personal forgiveness (18:21-35).

seventy times seven! Peter seemed to think that forgiving seven times was quite adequate, but Jesus’ hyperbolic answer indicates that forgiveness must be unending (cf. 5:21-26; 6:12, 14-15; m. Yoma 8:9). Whether 18:22 is translated “seventy-seven times” (NIV; BDAG 269) or “seventy times seven” (NLT), the following parable of the unforgiving servant (18:23-35) demonstrates that disciples have been forgiven by their heavenly Father of much more than they could ever forgive their fellow disciples. Thus, to be forgiven is to be freed to forgive. The response to offense mandated by Jesus is the opposite of Lamech’s vengeful boast that he would be avenged seventy-seven times upon anyone who injured him (Gen 4:24).

18:23-27 Jesus’ answer to Peter continues with a parable of the Kingdom, introduced by the common similarity formula (cf. 13:24, 31, 33, 45, 47; 20:1; 22:2; 25:1). The king’s servants are likely to be understood as his governors or officials, since it seems unlikely that slaves would be entrusted with so much money or would owe money to a king (BDAG 260).

owed him millions of dollars. The first scene of the story tells the reader that a servant was forgiven an amazingly large debt by a king who wished to settle his financial affairs. The servant owed the king an extremely large amount of money (NLT “millions of dollars”), lit. “10,000 talents” (cf. NLT mg). A talent was probably worth around 6,000 drachmas (17:24) or denarii (20:2ff; BDAG 988). A laborer was paid a denarius a day (20:2), so if this is taken lit. a laborer would have to work 60,000,000 days or roughly 193,000 years (60,000,000 days divided by 310 work days a year) to earn this much money! But the figure (“10,000”; Gr. mupioi) here is hyperbolic; Danker (BDAG 661) suggests the English slang “zillions” to translate it (cf. the large amounts found in 1 Chr 29:3-7 and Josephus Antiquities 17.320). What is meant is an incalculably large amount in contrast to the amount owed this servant by his fellow servant in 18:28.

ordered that he be sold . . . to pay the debt. The king’s plan to sell the servant and his family into slavery in order to obtain a modicum of satisfaction was evidently a legal solution (cf. 2 Kgs 4:1; Isa 50:1; Amos 2:6; 8:6), but the pleas of the prostrate servant for more time to pay touched the king’s heart and changed his mind. His compassion reminds the reader of Jesus’ compassion (9:36; 14:14; 15:32; 20:34).

forgave his debt. Instead of merely allowing his servant time to repay the enormous debt, with astonishing mercy he forgives it entirely.

18:28-30 In the second scene of the story the forgiven servant does not respond in kind to the king’s compassion (18:28-30). The language of the second scene is quite similar to that of the first.

owed him a few thousand dollars. After being forgiven an enormous debt by the king, he refused to forgive his fellow servant a comparatively small debt, lit. “100 denarii” (NLT mg), roughly four months’ work for a laborer. If our calculation in 18:24 is contrasted with the amount here, the servant was forgiven nearly 600,000 times the amount he refuses to forgive, but this is hyperbole.

put in prison until the debt could be paid in full. Despite the pleas of his fellow servant for more time, the unforgiving servant choked him and had him thrown in jail until he could repay (cf. 5:25-26; 24:49). This violent behavior is in stark contrast to the previous compassion of the king. The unforgiving servant did not do for the other as he would have had the other do for him (7:12), let alone do for the other as the king had already done for him.

18:31-34 In the third scene, other servants saw how the forgiven servant treated his fellow servants. There was a monstrous inconsistency. Should not this servant have imitated the mercy he received from the king? The servants were so horrified they told the king, who reversed his previous compassionate treatment and angrily punished the servant whom he had previously forgiven.

tortured until he had paid his entire debt. The evil servant (25:26) was to be tortured until he made arrangements for the king to be repaid. There is clear irony here in that the unforgiving servant was treated in the end as he treated his fellow servant (18:30, 34). In this way, the third scene resolves the incongruity between the first and second scenes.

18:35 That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart. The moral or application of the story comes at its conclusion: the heavenly Father’s actions toward unforgiving disciples will be like those of the unforgiving servant’s master. This was made clear in the parable when the king asked the evil servant why he did not treat his fellow servant as he had been treated by the king (18:32). If one presses the details, it will be impossible for the evil unforgiving servant ever to repay all that he owes to the king. Perhaps there is a hint here of the horror of eternal punishment (cf. 18:6-9). The connection with 6:14 is clear. Disciples dare not presume that God will forgive them if they are unwilling to forgive their fellow disciples. And this forgiveness must be genuine, from the heart, which touches on Matthew’s recurrent theme of the heart or motivation as integral to true righteousness (cf. 5:8, 28; 6:21; 12:34; 13:15, 19; 15:8, 18, 19; 22:37). Peter’s question (18:21) has been answered vividly.

COMMENTARY [Text]

Jesus answered Peter’s question about forgiveness prosaically (18:22) and poetically (18:23-35). Both answers contain striking hyperboles. Peter thought it was remarkable that he was willing to forgive someone seven times, but Jesus said that seventy-seven times is more appropriate. Then he told a story containing the striking contrast of a servant who had been forgiven a vast amount (it would have taken the earnings of several lifetimes to repay it) but refused to forgive a paltry amount that could be repaid in a few months. The forgiven servant proved to be unforgiving and was severely judged by his master. The point is that those who have genuinely received forgiveness are forgiving to others (6:14-15; cf. Luke 6:36; Eph 4:31–5:2; Jas 2:13; 1 John 4:11). But the unforgiving character of this servant indicates that his entreaty to his master was a hoax (18:26). This contrast clearly portrays the infinite grace of God in forgiving humans their many trespasses against him over against the refusal of a disciple to forgive a minor offense against him. The incompatibility of the two situations could not be clearer, and the resulting teaching is that those who have been forgiven by God can and must forgive their fellow humans. To be forgiven is to be empowered to forgive. No matter how offensively one has been treated by a fellow human, there is no comparison to the heinous rebellion of wicked humans against a holy and loving God. Anyone who has truly experienced the compassion of the heavenly Father should have little problem showing genuine compassion to a fellow human.

Perhaps it is difficult to reconcile the process of discipline laid out in 18:15-20 with the duty of unlimited forgiveness taught in 18:21-35. But both can be tied back to the controlling motif of the chapter: disciples as the little ones, brothers (and sisters) of one another, together children of the heavenly Father. Disciples dare not allow this family to be disrupted by offenses, yet they cannot resolve offenses without a forgiving spirit. In terms of another metaphor found in this chapter, a straying sheep cannot be left alone in the wilderness, but those who seek it must be willing to receive it back into the flock. When this delicate balance between discipline and forgiveness is faithfully maintained, excommunication from the church is in reality a self-imposed exile (Davies and Allison 1991:804).

Summary and Transition. In one key sense, the journey to Jerusalem has already begun with Jesus’ announcement of his suffering, death, and resurrection in 16:21, and the disciples must realistically face the grim prospects awaiting them. This will be impossible if there is a selfish preoccupation with greatness and an accompanying devaluation of others. Instead, disciples must receive each other as they would a child (18:5-10), shepherd each other as they would a lost sheep (18:12-14), deal patiently but decisively with unrepentant sinners in their midst (18:15-20), and genuinely forgive those who sin against them as many times as necessary (18:21-35). These values will strengthen the community’s relationships and enable it to withstand the rigors that lie ahead in Jerusalem and beyond.

With 19:1, Jesus begins his journey to Jerusalem. He would continue to model the values he inculcated in Matthew 18 (e.g., 19:14), and the disciples would continue to struggle with a worldly notion of greatness (e.g., 20:20-28).