"Matthean Exilic Forgiveness" [A Study Of The Parable Of The Unforgiving Servant] - Matthew 18:21-35 –

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dc.contributor.authorAnthony Clifford, Lobo
dc.date.accessioned2020-10-16T09:13:28Z
dc.date.available2020-10-16T09:13:28Z
dc.date.issued2002-02
dc.description.abstractForgiveness is an important issue in any community. It was, perhaps, more important in the society of Second-Temple Judaism than in many others. This concept was so important that much of Jesus' work could be characterized as focusing on the offering of God's forgiveness. For Matthew, God's offer of forgiveness comes through Jesus and is a very important concept in the understanding of his gospel. This is shown by Matthew's statements as to why Jesus came and died, and by the implications which follow from the destruction of the temple. At the beginning of Matthew's gospel, the writer states that an angel came and told Joseph that a son was to be born and that " he will save his people from their sins" (1:21). This saving of his people from sin is a clear foreshadowing of the forgiveness that Jesus would offer to those who would follow him. This foreshadowing is more clearly brought out in 26:28 where Jesus says, "for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for the many for the forgiveness of sins". Thus, at the beginning and near the end of his gospel, Matthew states that Jesus came and died for the purpose of the forgiveness of sin. To these specific statements about the purpose of Jesus' arrival and death must be added the tension that was felt by the Jewish population at the destruction of the temple. Whether Matthew is writing after the destruction of the temple or not,1 many of those reading the gospel are reading it after this event and thus feel the tension that exists as a result of having to rethink their methods for gaining atonement and achieving forgiveness. They no longer have the physical, national symbol of God's offer of forgiveness. It has been destroyed. Now the first-century Jew must reconsider how it is that he/she finds the forgiveness of God. When read in this context, Matthew's focus on forgiveness becomes even more important. This essay will deal with one small story of forgiveness that Jesus told. The story is called the 'Parable of the unforgiving servant' (sometimes called the unthankful servant) and is found in Matthew 18:21-35. The parable deals with the question of forgiveness from the standpoint of a monetary debt that was owed and then forgiven. This story, along with the other passages in which Matthew speaks of forgiveness, is critical for a proper understanding of the Gospel and its view of forgiveness. A reading of the parable of the unforgiving servant raises a number of exegetical, herrneneutical, and theological issues. The study will attempt a detailed exegesis of the parable in an effort to understand what a first-century Jew would have thought upon hearing this story. Many "modern views are .. guided by a second-century interpretation of Matthew rather than by what the gospel narrative means in a first-century Jewish context."2 Thus most important for this essay will be N. T. Wright's work, Jesus and the Victory of God,3 where he argues that forgiveness is inextricably linked with a return from exile. An examination of Second-Temple Judaism's view of exile and its links to the exilic hope of final forgiveness, will add significantly to a proper understanding of this parable and a proper understanding of the gospel's view of forgiveness.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12342/1002
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherTangaza University Collegeen_US
dc.subjectMattheanen_US
dc.subjectExilicen_US
dc.subjectForgivenessen_US
dc.subjectUnforgiving Servanten_US
dc.subjectParableen_US
dc.subjectMatthew 18:21-35en_US
dc.title"Matthean Exilic Forgiveness" [A Study Of The Parable Of The Unforgiving Servant] - Matthew 18:21-35 –en_US
dc.typeOtheren_US
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