Original scientific paper
Forgiving – heart od Lord's prayer
Marijan Vugdelija
; Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Split
Abstract
The fifth plea of the Lord's Prayer announces that God is a merciful Father who is ready to always again forgive our sins, but it also brings to light the important conditions of that forgiving: our readiness to forgive those who trespass against us. The petitioner of the fifth plea admits that we have no right to ask for forgiving of our own sins if we refuse to forgive the others. By his gentle and merciful behaviour towards us he has taught us that we are to be humane to one another. God's way of acting hold be used as a pattern for human acting. Forgiving is an opportunity for participating in God's forgiving and God's love. It is result of experience of God's goodness. Mathew speaks to the people who have already experienced God's forgiving in Jesus Christ. That's why they can and need forgive to others. Therefore, priority belongs to God, because only in imitation of Father's generous forgiving to us we can forgive to others. From the fifth plea it is evident that there is a direct relation between God's forgiving and our forgiving. But the indisputable given od the Ola and New Testament is that God's forgiving always comes first (comp. Mt 18,23-35). Therefore, our plea should not be read in the spirit of a rabbinical proverb: „As many times you take pity on others, Heaven takes pity on you“.
Keywords
God's forgiving; forgiving another; relation between God's and human's forgiving
Hrčak ID:
168293
URI
Publication date:
1.3.2007.
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