Jesus said to him, “I do not tell you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”
Jesus corrects Peter’s understanding of forgiveness as something limited in number by giving a mathematically improbable measure, “seventy times seven” (that is, 490), in order to show that true forgiveness should not have a quantitative limit. The number “seventy times seven” is used here figuratively, as a call to forgive without limit. In essence, Jesus says that forgiveness is a constant trait of a Christian’s character, not an action restricted by compulsion. This word also reveals the nature of divine forgiveness, which is inexhaustible and without limit.