{Our debts} (	a opheil(886d)ata h(886d)(936e)). Luke ( Lu 11:4 ) has
"sins" (hamartias). In the ancient Greek opheil(886d)a is common
for actual legal debts as in  Ro 4:4 , but here it is used of
moral and spiritual debts to God. "Trespasses" is a
mistranslation made common by the Church of England Prayer Book.
It is correct in verse  14  in Christ's argument about prayer,
but it is not in the Model Prayer itself. See  Mt 18:28,30  for
sin pictured again by Christ "as debt and the sinner as a debtor"
(Vincent). We are thus described as having wronged God. The word
opheil(885c) for moral obligation was once supposed to be peculiar
to the New Testament. But it is common in that sense in the
papyri (Deismann, _Bible Studies_, p. 221; _Light from the
Ancient East,_ New ed., p. 331). We ask forgiveness "in
proportion as" (h(9373)) we _also_ have forgiven those in debt to
us, a most solemn reflection. Aph(886b)amen is one of the three k
aorists (eth(886b)a, ed(936b)a, h(886b)a). It means to send away, to
dismiss, to wipe off.