{
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  "oid": 165324,
  "revision": 1,
  "revision_oid": 165325,
  "work": "orthodoxy",
  "edition": "pg16769-r1",
  "title": "Seventy times seven and the unforgiving servant",
  "anchors": [
    {
      "unit": "CH06.P023",
      "oid": 148,
      "role": null,
      "edition": "pg16769-r1",
      "paragraph": "CH06.P023",
      "exact": "The criminal we must forgive unto seventy times seven.",
      "start": 1175,
      "end": 1229,
      "prefix": "ed the crime from the criminal. ",
      "suffix": " The crime we must not forgive a",
      "url": "/orthodoxy/pg16769-r1/CH06.P023#char=1175,1229"
    }
  ],
  "body_markdown": "The unmistakable reference is Matthew 18:21–22: Peter asks how often he must forgive a brother, and Jesus answers, in the King James Version (first published 1611), ‘Until seventy times seven.’ Chesterton transfers the instruction from an offending brother to the more general category of the criminal. The following parable supplies an important qualification: a servant whose enormous debt has been cancelled refuses a fellow servant mercy, and is himself condemned (18:23–35). Forgiveness therefore does not mean that cruelty ceases to be wrong; the story makes the obligation to forgive itself a matter of severe judgment. Chesterton's division between person and deed is an interpretation of this moral structure, rather than a second sentence quoted from Jesus. [Matthew 18:21–35, KJV](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+18%3A21-35&version=KJV).",
  "sources": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+18%3A21-35&version=KJV",
      "title": "Matthew 18, King James Version",
      "locator": "18:21–35; wording checked also against Project Gutenberg #10",
      "exact": null
    }
  ],
  "citations": [],
  "external_references": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+18%3A21-35&version=KJV",
      "title": "Matthew 18:21–35, KJV"
    }
  ],
  "limits": [
    "The verbal correspondence identifies the KJV wording, but does not prove which physical Bible Chesterton used."
  ],
  "metadata": {
    "run": "chapter-06-restart-2026-11-07",
    "paragraph_investigator": "P023",
    "task": [
      {
        "approach": "Biblical references",
        "question": "What does seventy times seven mean in its Gospel context, and does forgiveness remove moral judgment?"
      },
      {
        "approach": "Theological contextualization",
        "question": "Does the distinction between crime and criminal have a precise patristic parallel?"
      },
      {
        "approach": "Interlocutors and historical debates",
        "question": "How representative is the hypothetical pagan master's attitude to slaves?"
      }
    ],
    "model": "gpt-6.1-sol"
  },
  "content_sha256": "sha256:3460befdcf8be85b7a691f18c946d6cf99afcc6d4925f860a517fe5a060bd881",
  "created_at": "2026-11-07T17:39:29Z",
  "is_current": true,
  "url": "/a/a_brt2lypq",
  "revision_path": "/a/a_brt2lypq/r/1",
  "cited_by": []
}