My pal Mike Humphrey got a question at his web site CPATS:
In the "Our Father" it says: "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us."When we sin against a perfect God it takes that perfection to forgive that sin; so why would I ask God to forgive as I forgive, when as an imperfect creature the best I could do is forgive imperfectly?
Sincerely yours,
--Someone who has way too much time on his hands
The questioner has a real point. This prayer has a hook to it, a condition that perhaps we can't fulfill.
I could quibble with the idea that as imperfect creatures, we could *only* forgive imperfectly. After all, we aren't operating on our own unaided strength, but do have divine assistance. Our Lord wouldn't give us an assignment that's beyond the strength He gives.
When we're friends of God, friends of Jesus Christ, we are redeemed, and this redemption is not just an external imputation of righteousness (as in Luther's somewhat exaggerated expression about snow on a dunghill), but also a change that sanctifies us interiorly. Our Lord lives in us: He makes us "sharers of the divine nature" (2 Pet. 1:4) and strengthens our good acts with the supernatural virtues He places in us. He enables us to perform acts that are truly virtuous and whole. He empowers us to forgive fully with the help of His mercy.
We're called to do that, and occasionally we do; but alas, we often don't. We often don't cooperate fully with divine grace; we don't live up to the condition in that prayer, and yet we're stuck praying it, because that's what Jesus gave us to pray! He's revealing to us what the Father is like: he is holy, mighty, immortal, and merciful. We can live that mercy too toward others, precisely because He is holy, mighty, and immortal.
This is from the paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer by Saint Francis of Assisi. I hope it helps...
AND FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES,
in your immeasurable mercy,
by virtue of the passion of your Son,
and through the intercession of Mary,
and all your saints.
AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US,
and if we do not forgive perfectly,
Lord, make us forgive perfectly,
so that, for love of you,
we may really forgive our enemies,
and fervently pray to you for them,
returning no one evil for evil,
but trying to serve you in everyone.
I have always understood the 'as' to have a meaning closer to 'because' than to 'in the same way'.
You may as well ask, "Why does God stoop from infinity to give us the unutterable grace of being co-creators with Him -- in marriage, in our daily lives, in touching the lives of others -- our dignity is that of those destined to share totally with the 3 Persons of the Most Blessed Trinity. God did it that way out of pure Love.
Why does God, WHO could save all with a word, instead chose to rely upon us to evangelize?
"Forgive us . . . . as we forgive", however, does not mean, "lower your standards, God, to ours." but rather "I don't expect YOU to forgive me unless and until I have -- like YOU -- forgiven all those who have sinned against me." Ouch. The heaviest burden of all for our pride, anger, resentments. As God makes the rain to fall on the just and unjust alike, so He asks us to bless all.
This is Jesus's Perfect Prayer to teach us how to pray.
The Greek word that is translated "as" (hos) is one of those words that can mean a great many things, but "because" is not one of them. It is the same word used in the prior verse ("on earth as in heaven") and nearly always means "in such a way".
I was wondering about that "hos": there are some constructions in which it means "in order that".
I stand corrected. Gingrich and Danker's "Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature" (University of Chicago, 1979), gives as one of the many entries for hos (III:1.b.3) "only in isolated instances does hos show causal force when used w. a finite verb 'for'", and cites Matthew 6:12. Meaning, in this particular case, that these scholars are of the opinion that "hos" can mean "because".
This is a good example of why we need people to study the original languages. The Our Father has a couple of famous instances of shades of meaning which were argued over for a long time ('daily bread' and 'deliver us from').
I like that: "forgive us... for we forgive those who have trespassed against us."
It's not a deal about us forgiving people in the future, and the Father forgiving us afterward. It assumes that we already forgive: we already have forgiven. We have gone to our brother who has offended us, forgiven and been reconciled, so that then we can bring our offering to the altar.