Matthew 18:21-22 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?… Suppose a man were to put the question, How often must I admire what is beautiful and great in creation? how often must I cherish affection for my child? how often must I honour God? how often must I practise the duty of kindness? or how often must I feel sympathy for the unhappy and the suffering? You will see that any answer which could be given to such a question would be misleading, simply because the question proceeded on a false notion of what admiration, or affection, or sympathy is. To give a direct answer to such questions, you could only say, in Christ's words, "Until seventy times seven "i.e., numbers have nothing to do with the matter. Forgiveness is a simple state of mind, like admiration of God's creation, for which all that a man needs is a sense of beauty and order in his nature, Forgiveness is a state of heart, just as affection or sympathy is. And no man thinks of determining how often and how far he must feel sympathy, or how often and how far he must love those who are dear to him. The sympathy is always there, the love is always in the heart, and it requires only to be appealed to and touched to come forth. You could not imagine a man of genuine tenderness of heart making up his mind and calculating whether he should feel pity for a case of distress or not. You could not imagine a friend debating with himself whether he would sympathize with his friend in some calamity. Sympathy is free and spontaneous; it does not come and go at one's call: love is only love; sympathy is only sympathy, when it can't help itself. (A. Watson, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? |
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