In the
Sermon on the Mount, Jesus instructs believers in how to pray:
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our
Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be
done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And
forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory, for ever. Amen. (Matt 6:9-13 [see
here for a discussion of the doxology of v. 13])
This is
significant as it is a text that is nonsense in light of Reformed theology. How
so? If the Lord's Prayer were reflective of Reformed theology, instead of
asking for forgiveness of present or future sins, Jesus should have instructed
his followers to pray "thank you or having forgiven all my sins," as,
in Reformed theology, at the moment of one’s justification, even one’s
then-future sins are forgiven (any sins committed after justification might
result in “fatherly discipline” but will still have been forgiven). Indeed, as
Bryan Cross pointed out:
Either
(1) The Lord's Prayer is not perfectly
theologically accurate as a prayer for those who know the gospel, because it
implies that their sins have not all been forgiven, when in fact their sins
(past, present, and future) were all forgiven at the moment of their initial
justification. Therefore the Lord's Prayer should either be improved or not
prayed by those who know the gospel.
Or
(2) The Lord's Prayer is perfectly
theologically accurate as a prayer to be prayed for those who know the gospel,
because our sins (committed after our initial justification) are forgiven on a
regular basis through our prayers and use of the means of grace, and so
Christ's work on the cross is repeatedly applied to us throughout our lives for
the forgiveness of our sins.
If Reformed Christians accept (2), then it
seems to me that they are not so different from Catholics [RB: or Latter-day Saints] in that respect. (Taken from p. 54 of
Robert Sungenis, Discussion
with Dr. R. Scott Clark of Westminster Theological Seminary and other
Protestants on David’s Justification in Romans 4:5-8)
Such is borne out in v. 12, where the Christians' forgiving others is said to be like/as (ὡς [BDAG: "gives the reason for an action as one who, because" in reference to Matt 6:12]) God forgiving the Christian; in other words, God will forgive a Christian (who, in the Reformed view, has been once-for-all forensically justified and has even his then-future sins forgiven [!]) upon the contingency of their forgiving those who have offended them. Such is nonsensical in light of Reformed soteriology, notwithstanding the mental and exegetical gymnastics apologists for this theology engage in. Furthermore, such is part-and-parcel of both Latter-day Saint soteriology (cf. D&C 74:7-14) and the rest of Jesus' teachings, such as the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (Matt 18:23-35). For a fuller discussion, see:
The Lord’s
Prayer, as recorded in Matt 6:9-13 is just another of those “un-Protestant”
biblical verses, such as 1
Cor 3:15 and even Paul’s
use of David as a model of re-justification
in Rom 4:5-8.
Further Reading