Lord's Prayer: Forgive UsSample

Depending on how you learned the Lord’s Prayer and the translation of the Bible you’re using, the wording might be different. “Forgive us our…” Trespasses? Sins? Debts? Wrongs? Each has its own merit.

“Trespasses” is an older word. You won’t find it in modern translations of the Bible where Jesus teaches the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6; Luke 11). It stems from William Tyndale’s translation of the Bible all the way back in 1526 and was used in the Book of Common Prayer shortly thereafter. It still seems to be the most widespread way it’s prayed today.

Despite its age and archaic quality, the word carries a good nuance. To trespass is to cross a line our boundary into somewhere we’re not supposed to go. God has lines and boundaries. These are his commands. There are certain lines he tells us not to cross. But we do.

Jesus knows that. And he knows it violates something in our relationship with God. It encroaches on a level of trust God extends. We’re guilty. And it’s not as though God doesn’t realize this. Better than any CCTV, God sees. Just because he doesn’t sound the alarm or release the dogs doesn’t mean he’s unaware.

It’s really awkward to cross a line with someone but never speak about it. They know. And you know that they know. And they know that you know that they know. But left unspoken, it remains as some kind of white elephant in the room. Things like this put a wedge between people and damage relationships.

So Jesus tells us to come to God, admit the lines we’ve crossed, and ask him to forgive us. “Forgive us our trespasses.”

Different words are used in various translations of the Lord’s Prayer too. In Matthew 6, when Jesus teaches the Lord’s Prayer, he tells us to pray, “Forgive us our debts.” Debts are something we owe. We owe a lot to God. In this context, not so much in response to the gracious gifts he gives us (though this is certainly true), but more in the sense that when we sin, we rob him. We take something from others, or from his creation, or from his plan. How are we going to pay God back for all the ways we’ve taken from him? How do we square the ledger and make it right again? We can find ourselves so out of pocket that we can never repay. We’re in so deep, we need God and his mercy.

Jesus tells us to come to God, admit the ways we’ve sinned and the debt we owe him, and ask him to forgive us. “Forgive us our debts.” Don’t hold it against us!

In Luke 11, Jesus puts it another way. Here, he substitutes the word “debt” with the general word “sin” in the first part of the phrase. So Jesus teaches us to pray, “Forgive us our sins, because we also forgive everyone who owes us.” It’s almost like Jesus is clarifying what he means when he talks about “debts.” These are sins. Sin is all the things we do that God tells us not to do, and all the things we don’t do that God tells us to do. It’s also all the corruption of soul and character. All the ways we’re just not right.

So Jesus tells us to come to God, lay all these sins before him, and ask him to forgive us. “Father, there’s something not right here. I know I’ve wronged you. Forgive us our sins.”

Consider this today…

Realizing that we cross lines with God, owe him a debt, and sin against him is what initiates asking God to forgive us. How can you live with repentance and radical honesty instead of minimizing your sin and making excuses? Using words like trespass, debt, and sin, evaluate how you’ve crossed lines with God, taken from God, owe God, and are not right with God. Let it drive you to God. You can’t make this right on your own. Ask him for his mercy.