Twenty-Second Sunday after Trinity (1891)

Matthew 18:23-35 Christians may bear hatred in their hearts against no one and proceed against no one in enmity.1 They are to love their enemies and therefore should bless those who curse them, do good to those who hate them, and pray for those who insult and persecute them, as children of the heavenly Father.2 Even those who persevere in hostility against them still need to forgive that they do not merely reward evil with evil, refrain from all revenge, but rather repay evil with good3, but also retain a conciliatory disposition towards them in their hearts.4 But in particular Christians should forgive from their hearts the faults of their brethren. The Lord Jesus reminds us of this in today's Gospel in the parable of the king who wanted to take account of his servants. Therefore, let me now present according to the parable: What Should Move A Christian To Forgive His Brother His Faults from the Heart? For this purpose, our text should above all move two things, namely 1. that God wants and has compassion on him, that He also has compassion on his servant. a. God has compassion on him5, . the man owes God 10,000 denarii6, these are many and damnable sins, . if God begins to reckon with him in his law, then the man becomes aware with horror that he cannot pay and must be lost forever7; . God laments of such a miserable servant; He lets the gospel preach to him what Christ has done for him, releases him and even waives his debt8, b. Therefore God wills that such a person also have mercy on his fellow servant9, . even Christians still sin against each other10, . the flesh is intolerable and provokes him to demand such debt from the brother11, . The Christian, however, who has experienced the mercy of God, should also be merciful toward the brother who asks him12, and do to him as God has done to him, forgive him, namely his debt and faults.

1 2

Colossians 3:8; Galatians 5:20; Ephesians 4:31. Matthew 5:44-45. 3 Romans 12:17, 19-20. 4 Romans 12:21. 5 Matthew 18:27. 6 Matthew 18:24. 7 Matthew 18:24-26. 8 Matthew 18:27. 9 Matthew 18:33. 10 Matthew 18:24a. 11 Matthew 18:28b. 12 Matthew 18:29.

This is not merely the reaction that God's mercy should have on him, but it is also the express will and command of God.13 2. that God becomes angry and therefore also does this to him, if he will not forgive his brother his faults from the heart; a. God becomes angry when a Christian will not forgiven his brother his faults from the heart14, . God has mercy on us in Christ and lets us learn his compassion in our sinful distress; as it must therefore infuriate him, when a man according to obtained mercy still shuts his heart against his brother.15 . Nevertheless, God, Who is offended by us so hard16, has forgiven us: how He must, therefore, be angry with those to whom so much is forgiven, and yet not even would abate a small debt.17 What is 100 denarii to 10,000 talents? Man's debt against God is infinitely large; the one fellow servant against his brother compared so low. . God, who has the most right to demand payment from us, has nevertheless forgiven us, from free compassion: how He must, therefore, be angry toward those who refuse his brother's forgiveness, those who owe Him according to God's command as their fellow servant.18 b. God will therefore do to him, who will not forgive his brother his faults from the heart19, . to the one dead in irreconcilability He deprives His grace and again imputes to him his sins20, . He hands him over at last to the infernal tormentors, that he pays for eternity what he owes. Chr. K.

13 14

Matthew 18:33; Colossians 3:12-13. Matthew 18:34. 15 Matthew 18:30. 16 Matthew 18:24. 17 Matthew 18:28, 30. 18 Matthew 18:30. 19 Matthew 18:35. 20 Matthew 18:32-33.