Man is in need of bread in order that he may live. Therefore the Lord has taught us to pray for bread. Bread is not the most essential matter, however, for man has a rational, immortal soul which innately knows God and cannot be satisfied except with God Himself. A natural man is indeed satisfied with earthly things—if he is able to acquire them. This is recorded in Ps 17:14, where we read: “Men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly Thou fillest with Thy hid treasure.” And God will not permit them to depart from this life without having done them good: “Nevertheless He left not Himself without witness, in that He did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14:17). That is the extent of God’s dealings with them. However, God has laid away something greater for His own. Furthermore, He has also given them a heart which is not satisfied with earthly things, but they desire the Lord and choose Him as their portion. With their whole heart they make the words of Asaph their own: “Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. But it is good for me to draw near to God” (Ps 73:25-26, 28). With their entire heart they offer themselves to the service of God; however, at the same time they understand that God does not wish to be served by the ungodly who are His enemies. God says to them: “What hast thou to do to declare My statutes, or that thou shouldest take My covenant in thy mouth” (Ps 50:16). The godly perceive that sin, which makes a separation between God and man, must be removed in order for God to reveal Himself to them, and for them to approach unto God with boldness and with a peaceful heart. Therefore they are very desirous to be reconciled with God, praying time and again for the forgiveness of sins. This the Lord Jesus teaches us to pray in the fifth petition: “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”
This petition consists first of all in a request: “Forgive …” Secondly, the disposition of the supplicant is added: “As we forgive our debtors.” In this petition we are to note the object: “Debts—our debts,” and the requested action toward these debts: “Forgive us.”
The Object of this Petition: Our Debts
Let us consider the word “debts” (in Luke 11:4 we read “sins”). Sin incurs debt, and in order to know what debt is, we must take note of three matters:
First, man is entirely and in every respect bound to God as Creator. Thus, his being, life, spiritual faculties, and physical strength are from God. This must not be understood as a singular act once performed, man thereafter being his own master as well as self-existent. Rather, he exists and moves by the continual influence and preserving power of God. It is for this reason that man is obligated to exist for God with his entire being—not only as a matter of gratitude, but on account of an obligation which is more binding than we can imagine. He is also obligated to God by virtue of the covenant of works, established with the human race in Adam, whereby salvation was promised upon condition of obedience—a covenant to which man has fully committed himself. Thus, there is an obligation upon man to be submissively obedient. He is also bound to God as being his lawgiver, who has power to command, and to whom man is inherently obligated to render obedience (Luke 17:10). Man approves of this obligation, and irrespective of whether he breaks those bonds, there is nevertheless no one who would dare to say, or who will say, that he is not under obligation to God.
Secondly, this binding relationship, however much it may have been approved of, has been broken by man and he still breaks it daily by withdrawing himself from obedience to God and by continually resisting this obligation. The Holy Scriptures refer to this as:
(1) sinning: “Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight” (Ps 51:4);
(2) transgressing against the Lord: “I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me” (Isa 1:2);
(3) the transgression of the law: “Yea, all Israel have transgressed Thy law” (Dan 9:11); (4) the transgression of the covenant: “But they like men have transgressed the covenant” (Hos 6:7); (5) the rending asunder of God’s laws: “These have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds” (Jer 5:5);
(6) the forsaking of God, His law, and His covenant: “They have forsaken the Lord” (Isa 1:4); “… because they have forsaken my law” (Jer 9:13); “They have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God” (Jer 22:9);
(7) being disobedient: “But unto them that … do not obey the truth” (Rom 2:8).
Sin is all the more serious in light of the majesty of God and man’s dependence upon Him—as well as its voluntary and deliberate nature, and its continuance and frequency. Furthermore, the greater the measure of light and the livelier the conscience, the greater the sin will be.
Thirdly, due to man’s breach of obligation, he incurs debt; that is, he is worthy of punishment. “Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy” (Heb 10:29); “… receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet” (Rom 1:27). Sin begets debt and places us under bondage of eternal condemnation: “… for the judgment was by one to condemnation” (Rom 5:16). Through sin man has come under the curse which is expressed as follows: “Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them” (Deut 27:26). He is therefore at enmity with God, worthy to be cast away and to endure eternally the unbearable wrath of God. “Neither shall evil dwell with Thee” (Ps 5:4); “… indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil” (Rom 2:8-9); “Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord” (2 Thess 1:9).
Such is the nature of the debt, and this debt is acknowledged by all men. It is acknowledged by the heathen: “Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death” (Rom 1:32). This is acknowledged by all who live under the ministry of the Word: “And all the people shall say, Amen” (Deut 27:20). Believers acquiesce in this: “… that Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou judgest” (Ps 51:4); “I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him” (Mic 7:9). Sincere prayer for the forgiveness of sins necessitates that a person know his guilt, be grievously sensible of it, acknowledge himself to be worthy of this punishment, and justify God in executing judgment upon him.