Matthew the apostle wrote how Jesus asked His disciples, “if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”, and in chapter eighteen and verse twenty-one of his book, Matthew shares how Peter asked Jesus, “how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?” where we read:
Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord,
how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
The verse reads, “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, ...”. Matthew began with the word, “then” or “at that time” “came Peter” which means “approached Peter whose name means a rock or stone and was one of Jesus' disciples”“to him” or “to Jesus”, “and said” which means “uttered, declared, proclaimed and questioned”. Matthew shared how Peter approached Jesus and asked Him the following question.
The verse goes on to say, “... how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?” Matthew continued with the words, “how oft” or “how many times or how often” “shall my brother” which means “can Peter's fellow believer who is united to him by the bond of affection” “sin” or “miss the mark, err, be mistaken and do wrong” “against me” which refers to “towards Peter” “and I forgive him” or “and Peter suffer, remit and yield up to the brother who sinned against him”? “till seven times” which means “until seven repeated times”. Matthew shared how Peter questioned the amount of “times” he was to “forgive” a fellow believer in Jesus.
When we think through Matthew's words in this verse, we see Peter's attempt to know the number of times he was to forgive a “brother” who offended him, and he offered a commendable “seven times” as though it should be quite sufficient. Many surmise that Peter thought his suggestion would be thought of by Jesus as a valiant effort, however, we shall soon see his suggestion came up short. God desires a relationship with people through His Son Jesus, and His forgiveness extends well beyond “seven times”. Those who consider these things should be like Jesus and have “forgiveness” for others constantly upon their minds.
Next time Matthew shares how Jesus tells Peter, “until seventy times seven”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow…there is more…
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Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms
Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County"
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