The Small Catechism – part 175
Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Scripture Text: Revelation 19:11–13
Series: Lessons in the Lutheran Confessions
Click for audio of today's lesson.
From the Confessions: The Small Catechism
The Fifth Petition
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
What does this mean?
We pray in this petition that our heavenly Father would not hold our sins against us and deny our prayers because of them. We know we have not earned, nor do we deserve, those things for which we pray. But we ask that he would grant us all things through grace, even though we sin every day and deserve nothing but punishment. And so we, too, will heartily forgive, and gladly do good to those who sin against us.
Pulling It Together: We are not forsaken (Isaiah 62:12; 2 Corinthians 4:9), for we have a righteous deliverer, riding in on the horse of a champion and conqueror. The war he wages is cosmic, a battle with death itself. He does not engage the forces of flesh and blood but all the armies of evil and the devil. He fights with the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17), the word of his mouth, the invincible “it is written” (Matthew 4:7) over which even hell’s general is unable to prevail. It is by this Word of God that we are absolved. His word is enough. Those who believe in Christ Jesus, The Word of God, triumph with him (2 Corinthians 2:14) since by that Name we are forgiven of the sin that would have defeated us. When we pray, “forgive us our trespasses,” we are asking the Father to deliver us from sin, death, evil, and the devil. He hears our prayer before we can ask it, opening heaven, and answering with the only solution in all of heaven: The Word of God.
Prayer: Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, for your righteous victory over my sin. Amen.
Click here for resources to learn the Ten Commandments.
Share this post
Author
Rev. Dr. Mark E. Ryman has served as Pastor for St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Salisbury, NC, since 2021. Previously, Pastor Ryman served congregations in North Carolina and Ohio, as well as a call to specialized ministry with Sola Publishing.
Click Here For Content Archives