Saturday Aug 6th, 2011

[cgdoc519]

NIV: Chapter 18
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
The New International Version. 2011 (Mt 18:21–22). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Note:
Jesus is not saying 77 is the magic number. What He is saying is we need to forgive far more that we want to. Think about how many times we sin in one day! If the Lord only forgave us 77 times, or his blood only washed away 77 sins....we would all be taking the crazy train straight to hell.
Tags: Mt 18:21–22

 

[Abba San]

Not just far more than we want to - I think he was saying we wouldn't even keep count that long - just keep on forgiving. Great verse and reminder - thanks.

 

[Durruck]

It's likely that Jesus was using a bit of a hyperbole. When Peter asked if he should forgive seven times, he probably expected Jesus to say that seven was not only sufficient, but far more than expected.

So when Jesus replied seven times seven times (or 7 * 70, in some translations), His point wasn't that we should forgive 49 times (or 490 times), but that we should always continue to forgive. To make another hyperbolic example, Jesus told the story of a king in the following verses that forgave a slave a 10,000 talent debt.

But to me, 10,000 talents means nothing. So I looked it up...

1 talent = 60 minas
1 mina = 3 month's wages
1 talent = 60 (minas) x (3 months' wages) = 180 months' wages
1 talent = 180 months' wages / 12 months in a year = 15 years' wages
1 talent = 15 years' wages

10,000 talents = 150,000 years' wages.

So, if we assume you were to work a 40 hour week at $8 per hour, that is:
40 (hours per week) x 52 (weeks per year) x $8 (per hour worked)
=$16,600 per year.

Now we're getting somewhere. Someone forgiving me a $16,600 debt would get my attention. But remember 10,000 minas was 150k years of debt.

That's $2,496,000,000. The king forgave a lowly worker a US $2.5 BILLION debt.

That's the level of debt that we owe Jesus - not that there is a pricetag to our salvation, but there is a debt that we owe that is insurmountable and unattainable through any other means than forgiveness.

TL;DR: What AbbaSan said. I'm just analytical and have to see things in perspective sometimes.

 

[cgdoc519]

It's likely that Jesus was using a bit of a hyperbole. When Peter asked if he should forgive seven times, he probably expected Jesus to say that seven was not only sufficient, but far more than expected.

So when Jesus replied seven times seven times (or 7 * 70, in some translations), His point wasn't that we should forgive 49 times (or 490 times), but that we should always continue to forgive. To make another hyperbolic example, Jesus told the story of a king in the following verses that forgave a slave a 10,000 talent debt.

But to me, 10,000 talents means nothing. So I looked it up...

1 talent = 60 minas
1 mina = 3 month's wages
1 talent = 60 (minas) x (3 months' wages) = 180 months' wages
1 talent = 180 months' wages / 12 months in a year = 15 years' wages
1 talent = 15 years' wages

10,000 talents = 150,000 years' wages.

So, if we assume you were to work a 40 hour week at $8 per hour, that is:
40 (hours per week) x 52 (weeks per year) x $8 (per hour worked)
=$16,600 per year.

Now we're getting somewhere. Someone forgiving me a $16,600 debt would get my attention. But remember 10,000 minas was 150k years of debt.

That's $2,496,000,000. The king forgave a lowly worker a US $2.5 BILLION debt.

That's the level of debt that we owe Jesus - not that there is a pricetag to our salvation, but there is a debt that we owe that is insurmountable and unattainable through any other means than forgiveness.

TL;DR: What AbbaSan said. I'm just analytical and have to see things in perspective sometimes.

Lol fine with me. That was interesting!