Read Matthew 18:21-22 in your personal Bible or at the link provided.
Discover
1. What is the theme of Peter’s question?
2. What does it reveal about Peter?
3. How does Jesus’ response reveal God’s character?
Respond
Forgiveness is a theme throughout Scripture, and in today’s verses, Peter questions Jesus to test His expectations. During this time period, it was taught by church leaders that you should forgive people three times. By upping it to seven times, Peter believed he’d landed on an extra generous number. But Jesus flipped it all upside down.
His answer of seventy times seven meant that we shouldn’t even count how many times we forgive. We should forgive freely because “love keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Cor. 13:5, NIV). This is what it means to really forgive someone – to not just say it to keep the peace or pretend to mean it to make ourselves look good – but to genuinely forgive and not keep track.
Is there someone you need to forgive? Have you really forgiven them or just paid lip service to it? Confess any tendencies to keep track, both of wrongs done to you and the times you’ve forgiven others. Spend time praying for God to shape you as you dive deeper into this topic throughout the week.
Want to go deeper? Visit this link for further commentary on the phrase “seventy times seven.”
*TPCC does not necessarily endorse all “Want to go deeper” sources. They are simply meant to be a helpful tool.