Matthew 18:21-22

Matthew 18:21-22

[21] Then  came  Peter  to him,  and said,  Lord,  how oft  brother  sin  against  and  I forgive  him?  till  seven times?  [22] Jesus  saith  unto him,  I say  not  Until  seven times:  but,  Until  seventy times  seven. 

What does Matthew 18:21-22 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

Jesus had been talking about excluding rather than forgiving ( Matthew 18:17). This led Peter to ask how often he as a disciple should forgive an erring brother before he stopped forgiving. The rabbis taught that a Jew should forgive a repeated sin three times, but after that there need be no more forgiveness ( Amos 1:3; Amos 2:6). [1] Peter suggested seven times and probably felt very magnanimous doing so. Seven was a round number, sometimes regarded as a perfect number, obviously exceeding what the scribes taught (cf. Leviticus 26:21; Deuteronomy 28:25; Psalm 79:12; Proverbs 24:16; Luke 17:4).
Jesus" response alluded to Genesis 4:24 where the ungodly Lamech said, "If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold." Lamech claimed to have taken even more revenge on the man who struck him than God had taken on Cain for killing his brother Abel. Jesus turned Lamech"s bad example around and urged his disciples to practice generous forgiveness when their brothers hurt them.
The NASB has Jesus saying "seventy times seven" whereas the NIV translators wrote "seventy-seven times." Probably the NIV is correct since Jesus quoted the Septuagint of Genesis 4:24 exactly here, and it has "seventy-seven times." Even though the difference between these two translations is great numerically, it is not a very important difference. Jesus was not specifying a maximum number of times His disciples should forgive their brothers. Neither was He wiping out what He had just taught about confronting an erring brother ( Matthew 18:15-20). His point was that disciples who are humble should not limit the number of times they forgive one another nor the frequency with which they forgive each other. The following parable of the unmerciful servant clarified this point.