What Does the Bible Say About Forgiving Others?

Forgiveness is at the very center of Christian living. Jesus made it inseparable from receiving God's forgiveness. In the Lord's Prayer He taught us to ask, 'Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors' (Matthew 6:12). Then He explained, 'For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses' (Matthew 6:14-15). This is sobering. An unforgiving spirit reveals that we have not truly grasped how much we ourselves have been forgiven. The parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:21-35) drives the point home. When Peter asked if forgiving seven times was enough, Jesus replied, 'I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven' — that is, without limit. The servant who had been forgiven ten thousand talents but refused to forgive a fellow servant a hundred pence was delivered to the tormentors. Jesus concluded, 'So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.' Ephesians 4:32 gives the gospel pattern: 'And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.' Colossians 3:13 echoes, 'Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.' Biblical forgiveness does not mean denying the wrong, pretending it didn't hurt, or excusing sin. It means releasing the offender from the debt we feel they owe us, refusing bitterness, and entrusting the matter to God who judges righteously (Romans 12:19). It may also mean reconciliation when the offender repents (Luke 17:3-4). To withhold forgiveness is to imprison ourselves; to grant it is to walk in the freedom of grace.