OSAS And Matt. 6:14-15

Q

We’ve been studying forgiveness. Matt. 6: 14-15. How does that affect eternal security? Thank you for your help.

A

Matt. 6:14-15 is a follow up to the Lord’s prayer of Matt. 6:9-13. Here’s what it says;
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
The Lord’s prayer is a prayer only those who are already believers can pray. (Only we can call God “our Father”.)
Lots of other verses in the Bible explain that once granted, our salvation can never be revoked (John 5:24, John 10:27-30, Romans 8:38-39, 2 Cor, 1:21-22, Ephesians 1:13-14) . Therefore Matt. 6:14-15 can’t be about losing our salvation.
Failure to forgive someone who sins against us is a sin on our part. Having forgiven us everything, the Lord expects us to forgive each other (Matt. 18:32-33). When we don’t do so, it doesn’t cancel our salvation but it does interrupt our relationship with Him until we forgive the other person and confess to the Lord, at which time He will forgive us our sin and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

The Lord explained this in more detail in the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant (Matt. 18:22-35). You can read my study on this parable here .