February - the Free Presbyterian church of Scotland

The
Free Presbyterian Magazine
Vol 118 February 2013 No 2
The Full Price Paid
Peter once asked his Master how often he could be expected to forgive his
brother: “Till seven times?” To Peter this must have seemed the limit of
what was reasonable, but Jesus made clear that he must be prepared to forgive
much oftener. He told a parable about a King who examined the accounts
of his servants and found one who was in debt to the tune of 10 000 talents,
a vast amount of money. Out of compassion, the King cancelled the debt.
Yet that servant later demanded repayment from a fellow servant who owed
him a mere 100 pence and refused to show the least compassion when the
other man was unable to pay. The parable was intended to illustrate the reasonableness
of forgiven sinners forgiving their fellows and indeed, before God,
their obligation to do so. Peter, having been forgiven by God, must be willing
to forgive his brother, no matter how often his brother wronged him.
Clearly the parable implies also the vast extent to which sinners are in debt
to the great King whose subjects we all are. When a sinner is brought to feel
his guilt before God, he must realise that he cannot repay that debt; the debt
is far too great, for each individual sin deserves eternal punishment. The sinner
may try to bargain with God and offer some degree of payment – some reduction
in his level of sinning, or some good works: prayer, for example, or
Bible reading or acts of kindness. The first difficulty is that his good works
are themselves imperfect; there is sin in everything he does, for he cannot
meet God’s standard of perfect holiness – which requires us to do everything
to God’s glory. So, instead of reducing his guilt to God by his good works,
the sinner is in fact adding to his debt. The further difficulty is that, if he is
to pay off his debt to God, he must pay it in full, he must pay Him “the
uttermost farthing” (Mt 5:26).
This is what the Bible teaches, and what many a sinner has discovered by
experience. He is in debt, but he cannot begin to pay off the debt. There is
only one other possibility: to find someone who can pay the debt for him.
Clearly that cannot be a fellow human being, with a debt of his own which
is beyond his power to pay. If we were left to our own devices, we could
never discover anyone both willing and able to pay off our debt. But we are