SEV Biblia, Chapter 18:35
Así tambin har con vosotros mi Padre celestial, si no perdonareis de vuestros corazones cada uno a su hermano sus ofensas.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Matthew 18:35
Verse 35. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you] The goodness and indulgence of God towards us is the pattern we should follow in our dealings with others. If we take man for our exemplar we shall err, because our copy is a bad one; and our lives are not likely to be better than the copy we imitate. Follow Christ; be merciful as your Father who is in heaven is merciful. You cannot complain of the fairness of your copy. Reader, hast thou a child, or servant who has offended thee, and humbly asks forgiveness? Hast thou a debtor, or a tenant, who is insolvent, and asks for a little longer time? And hast thou not forgiven that child or servant? Hast thou not given time to that debtor or tenant? How, then, canst thou ever expect to see the face of the just and merciful God? Thy child is banished, or kept at a distance; thy debtor is thrown into prison, or thy tenant sold up: yet the child offered to fall at thy feet; and the debtor or tenant, utterly insolvent, prayed for a little longer time, hoping God would enable him to pay thee all; but to these things thy stony heart and seared conscience paid no regard! O monster of ingratitude! Scandal to human nature, and reproach to God! If thou canst, go hide thyself-even in hell, from the face of the Lord! Their trespasses.] These words are properly left out by GREISBACH, and other eminent critics, because they are wanting in some of the very best MSS. most of the versions, and in some of the chief of the fathers. The words are evidently an interpolation; the construction of them is utterly improper, and the concord false. In our common method of dealing with insolvent debtors, we in some sort imitate the Asiatic customs: we put them in prison, and all their circumstances there are so many tormentors; the place, the air, the company, the provision, the accommodation, all destructive to comfort, to peace, to health, and to every thing that humanity can devise. If the person be poor, or comparatively poor, is his imprisonment likely to lead him to discharge his debt? His creditor may rest assured that he is now farther from his object than ever: the man had no other way of discharging the debt but by his labour; that is now impossible, through his confinement, and the creditor is put to a certain expense towards his maintenance. How foolish is this policy! And how much do such laws stand in need of revision and amendment! Imprisonment for debt, in such a case as that supposed above, can answer no other end than the gratification of the malice, revenge, or inhumanity of the creditor. Better sell all that he has, and, with his hands and feet untied, let him begin the world afresh. Dr. Dodd very feelingly inquires here, "Whether rigour in exacting temporal debts, in treating without mercy such as are unable to satisfy them-whether this can be allowed to a Christian, who is bound to imitate his God and Father? To a debtor, who can expect forgiveness only on the condition of forgiving others? To a servant, who should obey his Master?-and to a criminal, who is in daily expectation of his Judge and final sentence?" Little did he think, when he wrote this sentence, that himself should be a melancholy proof, not only of human weakness, but of the relentless nature of those laws by which property, or rather money, is guarded. The unfortunate Dr. Dodd was hanged for forgery, in 1777, and the above note was written only seven years before! The unbridled and extravagant appetites of men sometimes require a rigour even beyond the law to suppress them. While, then, we learn lessons of humanity from what is before us, let us also learn lessons of prudence, sobriety, and moderation. The parable of the two debtors is blessedly calculated to give this information.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 35. So likewise shall my heavenly Father , etc.] This is the accommodation and application of the parable, and opens the design and intent of it; showing that God, who is Christs Father, that is in heaven, will act in like manner towards all such persons, who are cruel and hard hearted to their brethren, and are of merciless and unforgiving spirits; for so it is said, he will do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses . The phrase, their trespasses, is omitted by the Vulgate Latin, the Arabic, and the Ethiopic versions, but is in all the Greek copies; and designs not pecuniary debts, though these are to be forgiven, and not rigorously exacted in some cases, and circumstances; but all injuries by word or deed, all offences, though ever so justly taken, or unjustly given; these should be forgiven fully, freely, and from the heart, forgetting, as well as forgiving, not upbraiding with them, or with former offences, and aggravating them; and should also pray to God that he would forgive also. It is certainly the will of God, that we should forgive one another all trespasses and offences. The examples of God and Christ should lead and engage unto it; the pardon of sin received by ourselves from the hands of God strongly enforces it; the peace and comfort of communion in public ordinances require it; the reverse is contrary to the spirit and character of Christians, is very displeasing to our heavenly Father, greatly unlike to Christ, and grieving to the Spirit of God.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 21-35 - Though we live wholly on mercy and forgiveness, we are backward to forgive the offences of our brethren. This parable shows how muc provocation God has from his family on earth, and how untoward his servants are. There are three things in the parable: 1. The master' wonderful clemency. The debt of sin is so great, that we are not able to pay it. See here what every sin deserves; this is the wages of sin to be sold as a slave. It is the folly of many who are under stron convictions of their sins, to fancy they can make God satisfaction for the wrong they have done him. 2. The servant's unreasonable severit toward his fellow-servant, notwithstanding his lord's clemency towar him. Not that we may make light of wronging our neighbour, for that is also a sin against God; but we should not aggravate our neighbour' wronging us, nor study revenge. Let our complaints, both of the wickedness of the wicked, and of the afflictions of the afflicted, be brought to God, and left with him. 3. The master reproved his servant' cruelty. The greatness of sin magnifies the riches of pardoning mercy and the comfortable sense of pardoning mercy, does much to dispose ou hearts to forgive our brethren. We are not to suppose that God actuall forgives men, and afterwards reckons their guilt to them to condem them; but this latter part of the parable shows the false conclusion many draw as to their sins being pardoned, though their after-conduc shows that they never entered into the spirit, or experienced the sanctifying grace of the gospel. We do not forgive our offendin brother aright, if we do not forgive from the heart. Yet this is no enough; we must seek the welfare even of those who offend us. Ho justly will those be condemned, who, though they bear the Christia name, persist in unmerciful treatment of their brethren! The humble sinner relies only on free, abounding mercy, through the ransom of the death of Christ. Let us seek more and more for the renewing grace of God, to teach us to forgive others as we hope for forgiveness from him __________________________________________________________________
Greek Textus Receptus
ουτως 3779 ADV και 2532 CONJ ο 3588 T-NSM πατηρ 3962 N-NSM μου 3450 P-1GS ο 3588 T-NSM επουρανιος 2032 A-NSM ποιησει 4160 5692 V-FAI-3S υμιν 5213 P-2DP εαν 1437 COND μη 3361 PRT-N αφητε 863 5632 V-2AAS-2P εκαστος 1538 A-NSM τω 3588 T-DSM αδελφω 80 N-DSM αυτου 846 P-GSM απο 575 PREP των 3588 T-GPF καρδιων 2588 N-GPF υμων 5216 P-2GP τα 3588 T-APN παραπτωματα 3900 N-APN αυτων 846 P-GPM
Robertson's NT Word Studies
18:35 {From your hearts} (apo twn kardiwn h-mwn). No sham or lip pardon, and as often as needed. this is Christ's full reply to Peter's question in #18:21. this parable of the unmerciful servant is surely needed today.
