Matthew 6:12 asks God to forgive the wrongs we have done, and it links that request to our own willingness to forgive people who have wronged us. In plain terms, Jesus teaches that we should ask for God’s pardon in the same spirit we extend pardon to others. Jesus says this as part of the model prayer he gives his listeners during the Sermon on the Mount, so the words are addressed to his disciples and to the crowds gathered on the hillside in Galilee.
Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.
Matthew 6:12 (WEB)
What Matthew 6:12 Means
The word “debts” is a picture drawn from money. Each sin is treated as something we owe to God that we cannot repay on our own. Asking God to “forgive” our debts means asking him to cancel what we owe, to release us from the obligation rather than to make us pay it off. The verse does not describe a bargain in which God forgives only after we have earned it. Jesus is teaching us to come to God as people in need of mercy.
The phrase “as we also forgive our debtors” uses the word “as” to show a pattern and a practice. The verse does not say that our forgiveness earns God’s forgiveness. Elsewhere Jesus makes the connection clearer, but here he is describing the kind of heart that a forgiven person begins to have. Those who have received mercy tend to show mercy, and a prayer for forgiveness that refuses to forgive others sits uneasily on the lips.
What the verse does not promise is that forgiving others will be easy or that it will erase the harm done to us. It also does not suggest that we must trust people who have not repented. Forgiveness is a release of the debt we hold against someone, while reconciliation and restored trust may take much longer and depend on the other person’s response.
The Context of Matthew 6:12
Matthew’s Gospel was written for a community of Jewish Christians, most likely in the later first century, and it presents Jesus as the teacher who fulfills the law and the prophets. The Sermon on the Mount, in chapters 5 through 7, sets out what life in God’s kingdom looks like. Verse 12 sits inside the prayer Jesus gives his followers, which begins with honoring God’s name and praying for his kingdom to come before turning to daily needs.
Verses 14 and 15 come directly after the prayer and explain the connection in Matthew 6:12 more plainly. Jesus says that if we forgive people their trespasses, our heavenly Father will forgive us, and if we refuse, the Father will not forgive us. Reading these together shows why the verse matters so much. Forgiveness given and forgiveness received are bound together, so the prayer is a training ground for a forgiving heart as well as a request for mercy.
Key Phrases in Matthew 6:12
Colossians 3:13
Bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do.
(WEB)
Paul makes the same connection that Jesus makes in Matthew 6:12, urging believers to bear with one another and forgive as the Lord forgave them. The verse grounds forgiveness in the pattern of God’s own mercy toward us.
Matthew 18:21-22
21 Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I don’t tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven.
(WEB)
Peter asks how often he must forgive, and Jesus answers with a number that signals limitless mercy. This passage shows that the forgiveness described in Matthew 6:12 is meant to be a continual practice rather than a single act.
A Short Prayer From Matthew 6:12
Father, you know the debts I carry and the ones I have held against others. I confess that I have fallen short of your holiness and need your mercy every day. Thank you that you cancel what I owe through Jesus Christ. Help me to release the people who have wronged me, even when the hurt still aches. Soften my heart where it has grown hard, and let the forgiveness I have received flow out to those around me. Amen.
