WLC 194: What do we pray for in the fifth petition?

Answer: In the fifth petition (which is, Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors1), acknowledging, that we and all others are guilty both of original and actual sin, and thereby become debtors to the justice of God; and that neither we, nor any other creature, can make the least satisfaction for that debt2: we pray for ourselves and others, that God of his free grace would, through the obedience and satisfaction of Christ, apprehended and applied by faith, acquit us both from the guilt and punishment of sin3, accept us in his Beloved4; continue his favor and grace to us5, pardon our daily failings6, and fill us with peace and joy, in giving us daily more and more assurance of forgiveness7; which we are the rather emboldened to ask, and encouraged to expect, when we have this testimony in ourselves, that we from the heart forgive others their offenses8.

  1. Matthew 6:12
  2. Romans 3:9-22; Matthew 18:24-25; Psalm 130:3-4
  3. Romans 3:24-26; Hebrews 9:22
  4. Ephesians 1:6-7
  5. 2 Peter 1:2
  6. Hosea 14:2; Jeremiah 14:7
  7. Romans 15:13; Psalm 51:7-10,12
  8. Luke 11:4; Matthew 6:14-15; Matthew 18:35

For further study see:

  1. WSC 105: What do we pray for in the fifth petition?

 

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