Explanation:

Peter asks Jesus how many times he ought to forgive his brother, wondering specifically if seven is the limit. To understand why Peter offers the number seven, it’s helpful to know that there was a tradition among the rabbis that one ought to forgive his brother three times. For example, in the Talmud we read, When a person commits a transgression for the first time, he is forgiven; a second time, he is forgiven; a third time, he is forgiven; but the fourth time, he is not forgiven.³ Most likely Peter thought himself to be big-hearted by suggesting he forgive his brother seven times, which is more the twice the number required by the rabbis.⁴

Counterargument:

While it is possible that Peter had the teaching of the rabbis in mind, it is also possible that he was leaning on the significance of the number seven. And if he was leaning on the significance of the number seven, he may not have had a literal number of instances of forgiveness in mind. For it was common amongst the Jews to treat the number seven as a round number.⁵ For instance, in Leviticus 26:21 God warns that if the people do not listen to him, he will strike them sevenfold. The number seven is this case is to be taken not literally but in the sense of completion, or as appropriate according to the crime. Another example comes from Proverbs 24:16 where we learn that the righteous falls seven times but rises up again. The point is that no matter how many times a righteous person falls, he will rise up again.

When it comes to Peter’s use of the number seven in Matthew 18:21, this view holds that Peter has a literal seven times in mind for forgiveness, because he is contrasting his view with the rabbis’. Still, the passage does not mention the rabbis’ or any other tradition Jewish view on forgiveness. This is not trivial, for Peter could have said, Lord, should we forgive more than the teachers? Instead, he asks if he should forgive seven times. Given that the number seven was generally considered a round number, it is likely that Peter uses it symbolically, not literally.

Response to counterargument:

The problem with this counterargument is it does not take seriously the historical context in which Peter asks his question. Peter lived in a Jewish culture that was controlled in many ways by the teachers of the law and other religious leaders. It likely would have been common knowledge that one was to forgive his brother up to three times. Peter can sense that Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness is different from that of the teachers of the law, but it is not far-fetched that he has in mind a finite number for how many times to forgive someone. For how does it make sense to forgive someone infinitely many times? So, Peter uses seven, maybe in part because seven is a round number, but also because he thinks a finite number of times to forgive is reasonable.

Explanation:

We know from earlier in Matthew’s Gospel that Peter has already heard Jesus’ teachings on forgiveness. For example, in Matthew 5:21–25, Jesus teaches the importance of quickly resolving issues between brothers. Also, when Jesus teaches his disciples the Lord’s Prayer, he explains that if one forgives others, he will be forgiven by the Father, but if one does not forgive, he will not be forgiven (Matthew 18:21).⁶ Peter would have been familiar with these teachings on forgiveness.

In the context of Matthew 18:21, Jesus has just explained the process of church discipline, but he opens the discussion by saying that if a brother sins against you, talk to him, and if he listens, you have gained your brother. This is at least the third time that Jesus has taught about forgiveness, and now Peter wants to know how many times he should forgive his brother. Peter understands that he ought to forgive, but at what frequency? To find out, he asks Jesus what he thinks of forgiving a brother seven times.⁷

Counterargument:

That Peter has already learned Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness does not entail that when he asks Jesus if he should forgive his brother seven times, he has a literal number in mind. Rather, it might be that Peter wants to understand the nature of forgiveness more clearly, so he puts a number on the table in order to initiate a response from Jesus. The literal number is not relevant to Peter, instead, his purpose is to begin a discussion.⁸

Response to counterargument:

The problem with this counterargument is that, if Peter’s only concern is to understand the nature of forgiveness, he could have simply asked Jesus about the nature of forgiveness. For example, he could have asked Jesus how many times he is supposed to forgive his brother, and then let Jesus answer. Instead, he asked if he is supposed to forgive his brother up to seven times. It is not surprising that Peter has a specific number in mind, given the legalistic Jewish culture that generally taught that one ought to forgive a person three times.

Possible weaknesses:

The one problem with this view is that there is another instance in Scripture when the numbers seven and seventy times seven are used symbolically. In Genesis 4:24 Lamech uses the number seven to characterize Cain’s revenge, and he refers to his own revenge as seventy times seven. In this instance, Lamech does not have the literal number seven in mind but uses it to symbolize Cain’s revenge. Peter seems to do something similar in Matthew 18:21.

Explanation:

When Peter asks Jesus whether he should forgive his brother seven times, his aim is to understand the nature of forgiveness. We can detect that this is Peter’s aim because the number seven is traditionally thought to be the number of perfection.¹⁰ In light of this, it cannot be that Peter chooses the number seven arbitrarily. Rather, he likely equates seven with perfection, so that we can interpret his question to Jesus as, Is perfect forgiveness expected of me?¹¹

Counterargument:

Even if seven was an important number in Judaism, it is hard to see why Peter would ask Jesus whether perfect forgiveness was expected of him by asking if he should forgive his brother seven times. If by using the number seven Peter meant to ask Jesus whether perfect forgiveness was expected of him, we would expect Jesus to simply answer Yes. Instead, Jesus answers by saying that Peter should forgive seventy times seven. His answer implies that Peter had a maximal number in mind, but in reality there is no maximal number for forgiveness. Jesus’ point is that as long as a brother repents, followers of Christ are obligated to forgive an unlimited number of times.

Response to counterargument:

That Jesus answers with seventy-seven times instead of Yes, does not imply that Peter did not have perfection in mind. Rather, it implies that Jesus answers Peter by saying that not only should his forgiveness be perfect, but it should be maximally perfect. The answer is somewhat hyperbolic rather than practical.¹² Further, we can pick up a similar instance of such language from Genesis 4:24. There Lamech, a descendant of Cain, explains that he is maximally vengeful by saying that if Cain’s revenge is sevenfold, his is seventy-sevenfold. In other words, if Cain’s revenge was robust, Lamech’s is even more so. Jesus likely has this verse in mind when he responds to Peter. Peter asks if perfect forgiveness is required, to which Jesus responds that maximal perfect forgiveness is required.

Explanation:

Jesus has just explained to the disciples that they have authority in the church to exercise discipline and even excommunicate. That the disciples have such power is an important responsibility, so it makes sense that Peter wants to understand this responsibility more fully. To get at the nature and extent of forgiveness as it relates to church discipline, Peter asks Jesus whether he should forgive his brother seven times. Peter’s point is not to find out if there is a maximum number of times that he should forgive his brother. Rather, he is likely throwing out a number in order to get Jesus talking about the nature and extent of forgiveness.¹³

Counterargument:

Given that Peter uses the number seven, which was traditionally a number of perfection, or completion, it seems that there is a sense in which Peter simply wants to know the nature and extent of forgiveness. At the same time, we have to remember that Peter lived under Jewish leaders who emphasized works of the law. And we know from historical records that Jews were taught to forgive their brother up to three times. Thus, from a cultural perspective, it would not be foreign for Peter to connect forgiveness with some quantity. So while Peter might want to know the nature and extent of forgiveness, he likely thought the nature and extent of forgiveness had to do with some finite number.

Possible weaknesses:

The only problem with this view is that Peter is asking a straightforward question about the number of times he should forgive. The natural reading of the text suggests that Peter thinks seven is a good limit. While he may have landed on seven because he believed seven was a special number, this does not imply that he did not have it in mind as the literal number of times to forgive. It simply means that Peter was thoughtful when he decided on the number seven.