(Modern Greek<\/a> has the similar \u03bf\u03c6\u03b5\u03b9\u03bb\u03ae, which means \u201cdebt,\u201d with \u03bf\u03c6\u03b5\u03af\u03bb\u03c9 meaning\u201dshould\u201d or \u201cought.\u201d\u00a0 So there is a trace of the connection still.)<\/span><\/p>\nThe phrase in the Lord\u2019s Prayer literally means \u201cforgive us what we owe.\u201d<\/p>\n
But that the same word can be used in these different senses\u2013and I believe it works in some other languages as well (please inform us if you know of some)\u2013is very revealing.
\n<\/span><\/p>\nNot so much that debt should make us feel guilty, but that guilt is, in fact, a debt.\u00a0 When we transgress God\u2019s moral law, we owe something.\u00a0 As we say even in English, we need to pay<\/em> for what we did.\u00a0 Guilt even feels like an obligation, so that we often try to make up for the wrong we did by doing something good, as if we were balancing our account.<\/p>\nThe good news, though, is that Jesus has \u201cpaid\u201d for our sins.\u00a0 He has paid the price that we can never pay ourselves.\u00a0 He has \u201credeemed\u201d us\u2013bought us back, paid our ransom\u2013with His blood.\u00a0 He has forgiven our debts.\u00a0 Which, in turn, should inspire us to forgive our debtors, those who trespassed against us.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019ve read two articles on Germany\u2019s hard line against bailing out Greece that blame in part the German language.\u00a0 Says Michael Birnbaum, \u201cThis tough stance comes from a rules-oriented nation where even the language is conspiring against Greece\u2019s struggles: Germans use the same word for \u201cdebt\u201d and for \u201cguilt.\u201d\u00a0 (Harold Meyerson makes the same point.) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,25],"tags":[234,3934,3932,3933,3935,1318],"class_list":["post-21782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-language","tag-atonement","tag-forgiveness","tag-german","tag-greek","tag-greek-new-testament","tag-lords-prayer"],"yoast_head":"\n
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