hamartia

Jesus, Forgiving Both Economic Debts and Personal Sins

In the Lord's prayer, our daily prayer, we pray, "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."

As we forgive our debtors.

Forgive us our debts.

In Aramaic, debt and sin are the same word, ḥōb.

So when Jesus tells a poor cripple to get up and walk, he tells him, "Your sins are forgiven," he is using the Aramaic word, ḥōb, which could mean both things. In all likelihood, he's not just forgiving a debt owed to God. He's not just healing him of his illnesses. He's forgiving his material debts, owed to other members of the community.

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