{"id":1318,"date":"2025-02-07T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/?p=1318&2025"},"modified":"2025-02-05T04:30:36","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T11:30:36","slug":"conditional-forgiveness-matthew-18-15-35","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/conditional-forgiveness-matthew-18-15-35\/","title":{"rendered":"Conditional Forgiveness: Matthew 18:15-35"},"content":{"rendered":"
Focus Passage: Matthew 18:15-35 (NCV)<\/div>
\r\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a015<\/sup> \u201cIf your fellow believer sins against you, go and tell him in private what he did wrong. If he listens to you, you have helped that person to be your brother or sister again. 16<\/sup> But if he refuses to listen, go to him again and take one or two other people with you. \u2018Every case may be proved by two or three witnesses.\u2019 17<\/sup> If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen to the church, then treat him like a person who does not believe in God or like a tax collector.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 18<\/sup> \u201cI tell you the truth, the things you don\u2019t allow on earth will be the things God does not allow. And the things you allow on earth will be the things that God allows.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 19<\/sup> \u201cAlso, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about something and pray for it, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20<\/sup> This is true because if two or three people come together in my name, I am there with them.\u201d<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a021<\/sup> Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, \u201cLord, when my fellow believer sins against me, how many times must I forgive him? Should I forgive him as many as seven times?\u201d<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a022<\/sup> Jesus answered, \u201cI tell you, you must forgive him more than seven times. You must forgive him even if he wrongs you seventy times seven.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 23<\/sup> \u201cThe kingdom of heaven is like a king who decided to collect the money his servants owed him. 24<\/sup> When the king began to collect his money, a servant who owed him several million dollars was brought to him. 25<\/sup> But the servant did not have enough money to pay his master, the king. So the master ordered that everything the servant owned should be sold, even the servant\u2019s wife and children. Then the money would be used to pay the king what the servant owed.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 26<\/sup> \u201cBut the servant fell on his knees and begged, \u2018Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything I owe.\u2019 27<\/sup> The master felt sorry for his servant and told him he did not have to pay it back. Then he let the servant go free.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 28<\/sup> \u201cLater, that same servant found another servant who owed him a few dollars. The servant grabbed him around the neck and said, \u2018Pay me the money you owe\u00a0me!\u2019<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 29<\/sup> \u201cThe other servant fell on his knees and begged him, \u2018Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything I\u00a0owe.\u2019<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 30<\/sup> \u201cBut the first servant refused to be patient. He threw the other servant into prison until he could pay everything he owed. 31<\/sup> When the other servants saw what had happened, they were very sorry. So they went and told their master all that had happened.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 32<\/sup> \u201cThen the master called his servant in and said, \u2018You evil servant! Because you begged me to forget what you owed, I told you that you did not have to pay anything. 33<\/sup> You should have showed mercy to that other servant, just as I showed mercy to you.\u2019 34<\/sup> The master was very angry and put the servant in prison to be punished until he could pay everything he owed.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 35<\/sup> \u201cThis king did what my heavenly Father will do to you if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Read Matthew 18:15-35<\/a> in context and\/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!<\/p><\/div><\/div>\r\n

When teaching the disciples the importance of forgiving each other, Peter asks Jesus how many times we should forgive, and the answer Jesus gives surprises the whole group. Jesus then follows up this response with a parable about a servant who was forgiven an impossible-to-repay debt.<\/p>\r\n

However, while it isn\u2019t stated in the terms of this servant\u2019s forgiveness, Jesus\u2019 parable continues by showing how this servant chooses to not extend forgiveness towards a fellow servant who owed a very payable debt. The other servants see what happened and report the details back to the master\/king. The parable ends with the original servant\u2019s debt being reinstated and him being locked up until he repay the impossible-to-repay debt \u2013 or in other words, this servant would be locked up for the rest of his life.<\/p>\r\n

Jesus finishes the parable with a one-sentence explanation: \u201cThis king did what my heavenly Father will do to you if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.<\/strong>\u201d (v. 35)<\/p>\r\n

This parable is probably one of Jesus\u2019 most challenging parables because the implication is clear: If we don\u2019t forgive each other after learning how God has forgiven us, God will cancel the forgiveness He extended towards us and we will be left with an impossible-to-repay debt<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\r\n

Because of this, we can conclude that while God offers forgiveness freely through Jesus, the forgiveness we are given comes with a condition: we must extend this forgiveness towards each other. Nothing we can do will ever come close to repaying God for His generosity, but we can show God we are grateful for what He has given to us by extending forgiveness towards each other. This will look different for each person and each situation, but at its heart, we are called to forgive like God forgave \u2013 which means that we forgive those who may even still be actively hurting us and there is no indication that will ever change.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Jesus entered a world that was hostile to God and His message and He was killed by humanity. When we forgive like God forgave, we must acknowledge that many times we will be called to forgive people who don\u2019t deserve to be forgiven \u2013 and we can trust that God will sort out those who truly deserve forgiveness from those whose forgiven status will be cancelled because they lived an unforgiving life.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Forgiveness means we don\u2019t hold a grudge and we don\u2019t seek or expect the other person to pay back the debt we feel they owe. Forgiveness does not mean we blindly stay in a place where are being abused or hurt. Reconciliation is where we bridge and heal broken relationships, and while this concept is closely related to forgiveness, nothing in Jesus\u2019 parable or teaching says that we must always reconcile a broken relationship when we forgive the person who hurt us.<\/em><\/p>\r\n

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus<\/strong> \u201cReflective Bible Study\u201d package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here<\/a> and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!<\/em><\/p>

Subscribe<\/a> to this blog and never miss an insight.<\/em><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When teaching the disciples the importance of forgiving each other, Peter asks Jesus how many times we should forgive, and the answer Jesus gives surprises the whole group. Jesus then follows up this response with a parable about a servant who was forgiven an impossible-to-repay debt. However, while it isn\u2019t stated in the terms of […]","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-text"],"nelio_content":{"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"efiAlt":"","efiUrl":"","followers":[2],"highlights":[],"isAutoShareEnabled":false,"networkImageIds":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[],"series":[],"suggestedReferences":[]},"yoast_head":"\nConditional Forgiveness: Matthew 18:15-35 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/conditional-forgiveness-matthew-18-15-35\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Conditional Forgiveness: Matthew 18:15-35 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When teaching the disciples the importance of forgiving each other, Peter asks Jesus how many times we should forgive, and the answer Jesus gives surprises the whole group. Jesus then follows up this response with a parable about a servant who was forgiven an impossible-to-repay debt. However, while it isn\u2019t stated in the terms of […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/conditional-forgiveness-matthew-18-15-35\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reflectivebiblestudy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-07T10:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cam\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@godstruthhisway\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@godstruthhisway\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/conditional-forgiveness-matthew-18-15-35\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/conditional-forgiveness-matthew-18-15-35\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cam\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aa6c062baad6d28cd49429d13dee5e3\"},\"headline\":\"Conditional Forgiveness: Matthew 18:15-35\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-07T10:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/conditional-forgiveness-matthew-18-15-35\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1111,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Written Journal Entries\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/conditional-forgiveness-matthew-18-15-35\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/conditional-forgiveness-matthew-18-15-35\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/conditional-forgiveness-matthew-18-15-35\\\/\",\"name\":\"Conditional Forgiveness: Matthew 18:15-35 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-07T10:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aa6c062baad6d28cd49429d13dee5e3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/conditional-forgiveness-matthew-18-15-35\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/conditional-forgiveness-matthew-18-15-35\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/conditional-forgiveness-matthew-18-15-35\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Conditional Forgiveness: Matthew 18:15-35\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/\",\"name\":\"Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\",\"description\":\"Your Life. God's Truth. His Way.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aa6c062baad6d28cd49429d13dee5e3\",\"name\":\"Cam\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/avatars\\\/2\\\/b94b7ad9f3de7c191324b19a0e9c49a1-bpfull.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/avatars\\\/2\\\/b94b7ad9f3de7c191324b19a0e9c49a1-bpfull.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\\\/gospeladventure\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/avatars\\\/2\\\/b94b7ad9f3de7c191324b19a0e9c49a1-bpfull.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Cam\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Conditional Forgiveness: Matthew 18:15-35 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/conditional-forgiveness-matthew-18-15-35\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Conditional Forgiveness: Matthew 18:15-35 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure","og_description":"When teaching the disciples the importance of forgiving each other, Peter asks Jesus how many times we should forgive, and the answer Jesus gives surprises the whole group. Jesus then follows up this response with a parable about a servant who was forgiven an impossible-to-repay debt. However, while it isn\u2019t stated in the terms of […]","og_url":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/conditional-forgiveness-matthew-18-15-35\/","og_site_name":"Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reflectivebiblestudy\/","article_published_time":"2025-02-07T10:00:00+00:00","author":"Cam","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@godstruthhisway","twitter_site":"@godstruthhisway","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/conditional-forgiveness-matthew-18-15-35\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/conditional-forgiveness-matthew-18-15-35\/"},"author":{"name":"Cam","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/#\/schema\/person\/6aa6c062baad6d28cd49429d13dee5e3"},"headline":"Conditional Forgiveness: Matthew 18:15-35","datePublished":"2025-02-07T10:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/conditional-forgiveness-matthew-18-15-35\/"},"wordCount":1111,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["Written Journal Entries"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/conditional-forgiveness-matthew-18-15-35\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/conditional-forgiveness-matthew-18-15-35\/","url":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/conditional-forgiveness-matthew-18-15-35\/","name":"Conditional Forgiveness: Matthew 18:15-35 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-02-07T10:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/#\/schema\/person\/6aa6c062baad6d28cd49429d13dee5e3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/conditional-forgiveness-matthew-18-15-35\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/conditional-forgiveness-matthew-18-15-35\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/conditional-forgiveness-matthew-18-15-35\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Conditional Forgiveness: Matthew 18:15-35"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/#website","url":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/","name":"Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure","description":"Your Life. God's Truth. His Way.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/#\/schema\/person\/6aa6c062baad6d28cd49429d13dee5e3","name":"Cam","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-content\/uploads\/avatars\/2\/b94b7ad9f3de7c191324b19a0e9c49a1-bpfull.jpg","url":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-content\/uploads\/avatars\/2\/b94b7ad9f3de7c191324b19a0e9c49a1-bpfull.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-content\/uploads\/avatars\/2\/b94b7ad9f3de7c191324b19a0e9c49a1-bpfull.jpg","caption":"Cam"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}