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你知道“quid pro quo”这个短语吗？这是拉丁文，意思是“如果……那么……”——或换句话说，“如果你为我做这事，我就为你做那事。”

乍一看，这就像主祷文的第五个祈求的意思：“免我们的债，如同我们免了人的债。”（太 6:12）或“赦免我们的罪，我们也赦免凡亏欠我们的人。”（参路 11:4）

我们可能会说：“且慢——神的恩典和赦免不是无条件的吗？如果我们必须饶恕别人才能被赦免，那不就是‘如果……那么……’附带了条件吗？”不是的。圣经教导说，我们在神面前都有罪，不能靠自己赢得宽恕。耶稣站在我们的位置上，在十字架上为我们的罪承受了刑罚。藉着耶稣，我们得与神和好，这是白白的恩典。这的确是个福音！

我们自己无法赢得宽恕，但我们的生活方式显出我们是否愿意敞开，被神的恩典改变。因着我们得到赦免，耶稣也呼召我们饶恕那些得罪我们的人。如果我们拒绝饶恕他人，就是固执地拒绝承认我们自己同样需要被饶恕。

当我们祷告说：“赦免我们的罪，因为我们也赦免……”这并不是“如果……那么……”，而是更像是“因为……所以……”。因为我们被赦免了，所以我们能饶恕他人。

Do you know the phrase quid pro quo? It's Latin, and it means "this for that"—or, in other words, "Do this for me, and I'll do that for you."

At first glance, that may seem to be the meaning of the fifth petition of the Lord's Prayer: "Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" (Matthew 6:12), or "Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us" (Luke 11:4).

And we might say, "Wait—aren't God's grace and forgiveness unconditional? If we must forgive to receive forgiveness, isn't that a quid pro quo?" No. The Bible teaches that we are all guilty before God, and we can't earn our forgiveness. Jesus stood in our place and bore the punishment for our sins on the cross. Through Jesus, we are made right with God, an act of pure grace. This indeed is good news!

We can't earn our forgiveness, but the way we live shows how much we are open to being changed by the Lord's grace. As we have been forgiven, Jesus calls us to show forgiveness toward people who sin against us. If we refuse to forgive others, we are stubbornly refusing to see that we ourselves need forgiveness.

When we pray, "Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive . . ." it's not "this for that" but more like "this out of that." Because we are forgiven, we can show forgiveness to others.