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icr-ais.)V;oieleehu*nheeifi.8t\.rBFor Our Church Paper.The Fifth Petition of The Lord’s Prayer.Men may affect, as much as they jplease, to look with indifference, oreven worn, upon whatfre,shall here say about the matter* the fact still remains the same, that the departure from the written Wqrel of God by theW argreat body of English worshipers in the use of the Lord’s Prayer, is a matter of profouml curiosity, to say theleast. While there is no controversyin which it is contended by an oppo-liot doing what we should do. And we should ask God only to forgive us pur trespasses or sins of doing and committing, and leave out the enormous bulk of our sins of omiNsion f Here doubtless nothing but eternal wrath could be the terrible result.Yes, who among us can tell which isthe greatest, the guilt of the sins of commission (trespasses), or the guilt of the sins of omission, (debts, obligations not complied with)f If any one thinks he can be saved through the pardon of perhaps one half of hissition, that the Lord’s Prayer ip; not sins, let him try it.' » I * 1 f • I ‘ • n i wcorrectly translated, neither is there a controversy as to whether it ip correctly given by St. Matthew, or correctly recorded in the sixth chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel, except the weak cavilling against the Conclusion of the Prayer; yet the by farAnd neither are we to forgive only the trespasses committed against us by our fellowraen, but also every in-L * I . ■ t I * # # . t 4 I ‘ 1 lt;» | *debtedness on account of duties toward us which were not discharged or performed by those wdio were required by the law of God to do so to-greater bulk ol English books ot wor- warf] MH. p0r the forgiveness whichship and many books of religious in struction do not contain the Lord’s Prayer as it is recorded in the gospel of St. Matthew, chapter 6: 9—13.We have never lonnd anything, after all our searching, that could stand as a reason, for instance, for the noun 44trespasses,” and the verb 44trcspass,” to be in the fifth |etition in this Prayer, instead of the two nouns “debts” and “debtors” as given in the English translation of St. Matthew’s Gospel, and the New Testament. We find in the original awe ask of God, as directed by Christ with the word “debts,” embraces our sins both of omission and of commission. Yes, as well for falling behindhand in the performance of obligations devolving upon us, as for the actual and direct violation of those obligations. As we wish to be forgiven, so arc we to forgive—fully, freely.But those English books of worship and of instruction (Catechisms, lt;*.), with their “trespasses” in the Lord’s Prayer are, in this matter, notword in this same sixth chapter of only contrary to the English transla-Matthew’s Gospel, in the next two tion of the New Testament, but converses after the end of the Lord’sPrayer, in both of which verses thatword is translated “trespasses,” andthat word is ■Ku^anrhixa.ra; but thisword is not in the Lord’s Prayer, butan entirely different word is there,namely, rAe/mra, jxanslated “debtsJ’i 4ujd.v. *»lt;1 An v ana wctLruc, “debtors.7! ontr Keep mIn order therefore legitimately to find the word “trespasses” in Sie Lord’s Prayer, we must find there xapatro/ia-tolj or its equivalent, which oycUwara is not. The one word is not a syno nym ol the other word. Each lias its own particular meaning; the oue word meaning one thing, and the other another and different thing.And there is therefore.wlieti properlyconsidered, a manifest difference lie tween the two words. OfiueftuTa, meaning our indebtedness to God for sins of commission and omission-* and implying obligation. And has reference in this filth petition to obligations not complied with or neglected, as well as obligations violated by direct act. And in confirmation of this, we need but notice this word as it is used in other places in the Scriptures. In lion*. 1: 14, St. Paulsays: 44I am debtor” (i^ediTcc) “bothto the Greeks aud to the Barbarians,”c.; but not a trespasser, but thereis a duty obligatory upon him, Aud he is a debtor to do it. In chapter 8: 12, he says, 44we are debtors” o?ec/c-ral “not to the flesh,” «•; and Gal. o: 3, “a debtor” ofstttrtz “to do the whole law.” And so on in. ever so many places.For tin4 sake of brevity we will sum up this part of the niattdr after this manner, namely: We acknowledge our obligation, both toward God and toward man, to do, on the oue hand, that which is right and good and beneficial; and on the other hand to abstain from that whiok to wrong and bad and injurious; and we ask for forgiveness for the evil we have done, and for the good We have neglected ; and we promise to lorgi verbose who have sinned against us both by commission aud by omission—our debt-fcrary likewise to all the translations of the Lord’s Praver into other lah-guages, as far as I have yet seen. Aud yet, why is all this f Is it not a caricature of the Prayer f And is it uot humiliating to hear men vocifer-self to tue written Word of God, then to hear them with tlieir “and ever,” in the Conclusion of this Prayer! And then vaunt themselves as though they were theological giants, aud those who differed from them were nothing but pigmies. We willcoutent ourselves with having the written word of God ou our side. Aud filially: Whether anyother prayer, composed by man or God, has been subjected to such alterations as the Lord’s Prayer has been, is a question to which 1 have at present no definite answer.H. Wetzel.ors.b-eriiiyn.o.But a tre»pa»H is aopnething done — wrongfully (lone—(lone to or agaiuetanother or liin rights or his interests;, »it is au act or performance—a doiug; it therefore does uot consist in refraining or abstaining from doiug or actiug, or omitting it—not au omission ; it is found on the side of sius of commission or sins committed; but does not embrace sins of omission, But, bow aboat our sins of omission 1 We are not only required and bound by the law of God to not trespass Against God and our fellowwan, bul with equal earnestness and force are we also required and bouud to an ac tivity to do (and believe) those thing* which God has eujoined upon us How fearfully great therefore areour sins of omission, which are nol trespasses indeed, bat a horrible am terrible indebtedness before God foi
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Our Church Paper
New Market, Virginia, US
Wed, Feb 08, 1888
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