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The Parable of the
Unforgiving Servant

Matthew 18:21-35

Good News Translation (GNT)

21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, if my brother
   keeps on sinning against me, how many times do I have
   to forgive him? Seven times?"
22 "No, not seven times," answered Jesus, "but seventy
   times seven,
23 because the Kingdom of heaven is like this. Once there
   was a king who decided to check on his servants'
   accounts.
24 He had just begun to do so when one of them was
   brought in who owed him millions of dollars.
25 The servant did not have enough to pay his debt,
   so the king ordered him to be sold as a slave, with his wife
   and his children and all that he had, in order to pay
   the debt.
26 The servant fell on his knees before the king. 'Be patient
   with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay you everything!'
27 The king felt sorry for him, so he forgave him the debt
   and let him go.
28 "Then the man went out and met one of his fellow
   servants who owed him a few dollars. He grabbed him
   and started choking him. 'Pay back what you owe me!'
   he said.
29 His fellow servant fell down and begged him, 'Be patient
   with me, and I will pay you back!'
30 But he refused; instead, he had him thrown into jail until
   he should pay the debt.
31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they
   were very upset and went to the king and told him
   everything.
32 So he called the servant in. 'You worthless slave!' he said.
   'I forgave you the whole amount you owed me, just
   because you asked me to.
33 You should have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as
   I had mercy on you.'
34 The king was very angry, and he sent the servant to jail
   to be punished until he should pay back the whole
   amount."
35 And Jesus concluded, "That is how my Father in heaven
   will treat every one of you unless you forgive your brother
   from your heart."

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Commentary taken from
'The Applied New Testament Commentary' (Kingsway)

The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant

According to Luke 17:4, Jesus earlier had said: "If your brother sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent', forgive him." This was a new teaching for the disciples.

Perhaps Peter had not been present when Jesus said those words, and so had doubts about Jesus' meaning.

So Peter came to Jesus and asked how many times he had to forgive his brother. "Up to seven times?" Peter was looking for an easy rule to follow.

And Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times." Jesus didn't mean that we should forgive our brother only seventy-seven (or 490) times and then stop. Jesus' meaning was this: No matter how many times our brother sins against us or how great his sins are, we must keep on forgiving him - even more than seventy-seven (or 490) times.

And in these verses Jesus doesn't even say that our brother has to repent in order to obtain our forgiveness.

Sometimes we must forgive our brother for several different sins:- for one sin committed over and over. We must forgive him over and over for one sin committed just once.

Perhaps we have forgiven our brother for a particular sin on one day, but the next day an unforgiving spirit comes upon us.

If so, we must forgive him for that sin again - and again and again. Maybe we will have to forgive our brother seventy-seven times for that one sin!

In the Old Testament, the rule was an eye for an eye. But in the kingdom of heaven, the rule is: "Forgive your brother and you will be forgiven."

The king in this parable is God, and His servants represent believers.

This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart (verse 35).

God keeps an account of the debts (the sins) of all men. The debt we owe God because of our sin is like the debt of the first servant - very large. We can never pay it back no matter how many good works we do. But God in His mercy forgives us completely.

How can we, then, who have received such great forgiveness, not show mercy to others? Let us, therefore, forgive our brother, not just in words but from our heart.

This parable teaches that if we do not forgive our brother, God will withdraw the mercy He has shown to us. Some Christians say that anyone who does not show mercy to others has himself never received the mercy of God; that is, he was never a true Christian to begin with (Luke 7:41-43,47).

But others believe that having received mercy and forgiveness from God, it is possible to lose it by refusing to forgive others.

Other versions are available here

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