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Matthew 18:21–35
“Out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt” (v. 27).
We will not rightly understand what Christ did on the cross unless we first know the problem that God intended the cross to solve. The church has long understood that the problem to be solved is the problem of sin, but what is sin exactly? Scripture uses a variety of images to explain the nature of sin to us, and one of the most prevalent of these is that sin is a debt.
God’s Word tells us that God is “the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Tim. 6:15). This means that our Creator has authority over all that He has made, since kingship entails the right to impose obligations on one’s subjects. The Lord has imposed obligations on us. He has given us commands that we must obey. We owe Him a debt of obedience. In fact, we owe Him a debt of perfect obedience, since Jesus tells us that we must be perfect as God is perfect (Matt. 5:48).
Because all of us (except Jesus) have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, none of us has paid the debt of perfect obedience (Rom. 3:23). Moreover, because we have sinned against the infinitely good God, we now owe this debt with a penalty—an infinite penalty because we have violated the law of an infinite being. We are finite creatures, however, so we cannot pay this infinite debt that we owe our Creator for our transgressions. Thus, Scripture reveals that we are debtors who cannot pay our ultimate creditor, the Lord God Almighty, who is perfect in holiness and justice (Deut. 32:4). We see a picture of this in today’s passage, where the king represents God and the unforgiving servant a sinner. The servant owed a debt of ten thousand talents to the king, a sum that was unpayable. No matter what that servant did, he could never repay what he owed. The only way forward was for the king to forgive that unpayable debt (Matt. 18:21–27).
So it is with us. We are servants of the Great King, and we owe Him restitution for our sin, for our failure to pay our debt of obedience, but we cannot hope to repay it. Thankfully, God in His grace has provided a way for this debt to be repaid on our behalf through the atoning work of His Son, Jesus Christ. He sent Jesus to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). God did not owe this to us. It is a gift of sheer grace to the undeserving. Thus, we must never think that God owes us forgiveness. All sinners deserve punishment, but He has freely given mercy instead to believers in Christ.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
People will see their need of the atonement that Christ alone can offer only if they first understand that they have incurred an infinite debt that they cannot pay. This is one reason that we must stress the infinite holiness and righteousness of God as we share the gospel with unbelievers and educate people in the church. We are sometimes tempted to water down God’s demands, so we must always be reminded of His high standards.
For further study
- Psalm 51:4
- Daniel 9:1–19
- Luke 7:36–50
- Colossians 2:13–14
The bible in a year
- Daniel 3–4
- 1 John 3