of the teachers of the law and the Pharisees (5:20). And certainly seven times exceeded the demands of Pharisaism. Peter desired to know whether such forgiveness would be a demonstration of righteousness that satisfied Christ’s demands. THE SOLUTION In order to answer Peter’s question concerning the forgiveness that righteousness demands, Christ said that Peter should forgive “not seven times, but seventy-seven times” (Matt. 18:22). According to Jewish idiom “seventy-seven times” meant innumerable
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