Seventy Times Seven

It is a question Peter asks Jesus that leads to the parable of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18.  In this parable, nothing is taught that contradicts the logically necessary truth of how mercy is not deserved, for it is by nature optional.  That is, it is optional unless someone asks for it in sincerity, as Jesus describes in Luke 17:3-4.  In that case, it is Biblically obligatory, he teaches, for to treat someone who is genuinely repentant and seeking to acknowledge their error like someone who has no concern for disregarding truth and morality is itself erroneous.  However, otherwise, mercy is good but not mandatory at best, and it is logically impossible for it to be any other way even if some deity other than Yahweh exists and there is a very different set of moral obligations in existence than the ones prescribed in the Bible.

This is because to show mercy is to withhold true punitive justice, justice being that which people should uphold.  Extending mercy to an unrepentant person is to not treat them as they deserve, rather than to treat them as they do deserve.  I have already written about how the parable of the unmerciful servant agrees with all of this by comparing God to a king who shows mercy even to the point of cancelling a great debt--when he is asked.  After all, God does not forgive anyone without their desire/request for him to do so (see 1 John 1:9).  This is affirmed over and over in the Bible by the way that its doctrines on forgiveness are worded.  Here, in Matthew 18's parable of the unmerciful servant, as well as in Ephesians 4:32, it is taught by analogy (or by direct statement in the latter) that we are to forgive as God does, but he does not forgive us involuntarily.

How many times are we to forgive when asked, though?  When Peter asks Jesus before the telling of the aforementioned parable, saying, "'Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?  Up to seven times?'" (Matthew 18:21), Jesus tells him that it is not seven times, but seventy times seven times (18:22).  He also states in Luke 17:4 that we should forgive someone when they ask us even if they sin against us and come to us repentantly seven times in the same day.  Now, in Luke 17:4, Jesus is not saying that after seven times in one day, one should no longer forgive them until the next morning, even if all seven instances are related to the same person and happened one after the other within the same 24 hours.  Jesus already mentioned a much higher number in Matthew 18.

Similarly, in Matthew 18, in light of Luke 17, Jesus is not saying that after 490 times, there is never an obligation to forgive the truly repentant.  He teaches in Luke that we must forgive when someone sincerely asks us.  He goes so far as to claim in Matthew 6:14-15 that withholding forgiveness--obviously, this only applies to withholding it when it is required of us in a very specific context, not when someone has sinned and remained apathetic or unwilling to apologize--will be met by Yahweh withholding forgiveness from us.  Those who forgive, in contrast, are said to be shown forgiveness by God.  In neither the case of Matthew 18:22 nor Luke 17:4 is the seemingly totally arbitrary number of times meant to convey a fixed maximum amount past which forgiveness is not owed when someone is repentant.  God is willing to forgive the repentant, and thus we should be too, for it is his nature that grounds moral obligation to begin with.

While the New Testament is where elaborations on how being unforgiving will incur lack of divine forgiveness and other such things are clarified, the Old Testament does not teach the lack of forgiveness often ascribed to it even with its many prescriptions of particular punishments for miscellaneous sins--and these punishments, which correspond to God's unchanging moral nature (Malachi 3:6, James 1:17), are not revoked in the New Testament (Matthew 5:17-19, 15:3-9, Hebrews 2:2, and so on), which would entail a massive philosophical contradiction if the alternative was taught.  There is also a great deal of forgiveness embedded into obedience to Mosaic Law or in the narratives of the Old Testament.  For instance, Numbers 15:22-29 elaborates on how Israelites could go to the Levitical priests to receive forgiveness for unintentional sins on a community or individual level.  In 2 Samuel 12:13, the prophet Nathan tells David on Yahweh's behalf that he is forgiven for his sins of adultery and murder.  God shows a distinct willingness to forgive people of even grave sins if only they repent in Ezekiel 18:21-29 and 33:12-20.  Forgiveness, even up to seventy times seven times or more, is not introduced in the New Testament by any means.