70x7

Matthew 18:21, 22

"Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how

often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive

him? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him,

"I do not say to you seven times, but

seventy times seven."

Christ’s response was not what Peter was hoping

for. Peter thought he was being magnanimous in

offering to forgive someone up to seven times,

which was more than what the law called for. Jesus

wasn’t saying literally 490 times and then the

forgiveness ends. He was figuratively saying that

we should forgive as many times as it is asked of

us…indefinitely, just as God forgives us every time

we ask without limit. We are to forgive in the same

manner that we have been forgiven.