Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 18:35

"So shall also my heavenly Father do unto you, if ye forgive not every one his brother from your hearts." — Matthew 18:35 (ASV)

My heavenly Father — The adjective is slightly different in form from what is commonly used, suggesting the thought of the “Father in heaven.”

Do also unto you — These words cut through the meshes of many theological systems by which people have deceived themselves. People have trusted in the self-assurance of their justification or in the absolving words of a priest, as if they were final and irreversible.

The parable teaches that the debt can come back. If faith does not work by love, it ceases to justify. If a person binds himself once again to his old, evil nature, the absolution is annulled. The characters of the discharge are traced (to use another analogy) as if in sympathetic ink, appearing or disappearing according to the greater or lesser glow of the pardoned debtor’s faith and love.

From your hearts — A verbal, formal forgiveness does not satisfy the demands of divine righteousness. God does not forgive that way, and neither should we.

Every one his brother their trespasses — The last two words are not in some of the best manuscripts, and have probably been added to make the verse correspond with Matthew 6:14–15.