Matthew 6:14–15

Matthew 6:14–15 are the fourteenth and fifteenth verses of the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament and is part of the Sermon on the Mount. These verses come just after the Lord's Prayer and explain one of the statements in that prayer.

Matthew 6:14–15
← 6:13
6:16 →
A crucifix on an open Bible showing Matthew 6 with the Lord's prayer (Matthew 6:9–13).
BookGospel of Matthew
Christian Bible partNew Testament

Content

In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly
Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their
trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

The World English Bible translates the passage as:

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly
Father will also forgive you. But if you don’t forgive men their
trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

For a collection of other versions see BibleHub Matthew 6:14-15.

Analysis

The Lord's Prayer is appended by two verses on forgiveness.[1] Allison notes a similar sequence in Mark 11:23-25 and Luke 17:3-6 and proposes a traditional connection between prayer and forgiveness, where prayer is efficacious when members of the community are reconciled to each other.[1]

These verses parallel Matthew 6:12, but while that one speaks of debts this one speaks of trespasses. It states that for a person to earn God's forgiveness they must also be willing to forgive others. Those who do not forgive will not be forgiven by God. It is also similar and becomes clearer in subject matter to the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant found in Matthew (18:21-35).[2] Coogan comments that "reciprocity is vital in the economy of God".[3]

gollark: I am not sure I trust your knowledge of law.
gollark: Once you decide on your answers to the basic trolley problem, I have a wide selection of different variants conveniently available as memes somewhere.
gollark: Ghosts don't actually exist, though, unless approved by the UN.
gollark: Kantian ethics is the system Kant came up with, which I don't know that much about.
gollark: Deontological systems have rules like "do not kill people", and many deontologists would *not* divert the trolley because they feel like they're killing people one way and not the other.

References
  1. Allison 2007, p. 856.
  2. France 1994, p. 913.
  3. Coogan 2007, p. 16 New Testament.

Sources
  • Allison, Jr., Dale C. (2007). "57. Matthew". In Barton, John; Muddiman, John (eds.). The Oxford Bible Commentary (first (paperback) ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 844–886. ISBN 978-0199277186. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  • Coogan, Michael David (2007). Coogan, Michael David; Brettler, Marc Zvi; Newsom, Carol Ann; Perkins, Pheme (eds.). The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books: New Revised Standard Version, Issue 48 (Augmented 3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195288810.
  • France, R. T. (1994). "Matthew". In Carson, D. A.; France, R. T.; Motyer, J. A.; Wenham, G. J. (eds.). New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition (4, illustrated, reprint, revised ed.). Inter-Varsity Press. pp. 904–945. ISBN 9780851106489.

Further reading
  • Schweizer, Eduard. The Good News According to Matthew. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1975
Preceded by
Matthew 6:13		 Gospel of Matthew
Chapter 6		 Succeeded by
Matthew 6:16
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