Then Peter came up to him and said, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how many times should I forgive him, up to seven times?”
Peter comes to Jesus and asks to what extent he must forgive a brother who sins against him many times. The number he proposes, seven, seems like a sign of fairness and willingness to meet the other person. In the culture of that time, even forgiving “three times” was already considered generous. Yet this question reveals that Peter still understood forgiveness as something that can be counted. He is still trying to find a numerical limit between mercy and refusing to forgive, without understanding that discipleship to Christ requires a forgiving spirit, not calculation.