Imagine the limit was seven times, as Peter speculates. He would certainly be keeping count and saying to himself, ‘You now have three more chances left.’ His mind would be going forward to the eighth time, when he would no longer have to forgive, and he could then exercise his inclination to reject that brother permanently. But how would that ever work in the kingdom of heaven on earth? God has accepted each one and is bringing us all to glory, and yet while we are on earth we continue to have two natures, and sin – including sin against each other – is certain to be an ongoing reality. If God has accepted us, then we must accept one another. If offences occur between us, and we were to reject each other on the basis of them, then we would be making a judgment that was in opposition to God’s judgment. We are called, in other words, to exercise as much patience towards each other as the Lord exercises towards us, and to our brothers and sisters. Seven times seems a lot to Peter, but the parable following shows that it is nothing like enough. In fact there is no such thing as enough, given what we have been forgiven. This is the real calculation we ought to be making: how does what I am being required to forgive compare with what God has already forgiven me?
The question is about ‘my brother’, a fellow believer. We are talking about Christians. We may also forgive those in the world who apologise, but the motivation for doing so is not the same, nor is the extent of the forgiveness. Even if they do not apologise, we must find a way of continuing to live peaceably among them. When we forgive them, it is to restore a measure of peace between us, but in forgiving the believer we are recognising his or her status as a child of God, whom God has chosen to be our eternal companion. We forgive them because we are called to love them as fellow believers. Without forgiveness we cannot obey the command to love one another. We have an eternal commitment to each other to go on forgiving. God has accepted my brother as well as me, and we will both share the experience of having the body of this death removed. Forgiveness is a grace which is peculiar to this world. There will be no more need of forgiveness once we have put off the sin nature and are incapable of offending against one another. Nevertheless we forgive now because we have the world to come in mind, where there will be perfect harmony between us, and we are working towards that.