BibleInTonguesForgiveness
In the New Testament, forgiveness is something received from God and then handed on to others. These passages tie the two together so closely that Jesus makes the second the proof of the first.
A debt you didn't earn off, then carry to others
Jesus puts forgiveness at the center of the prayer he teaches. "Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors" (Matthew 6:12) frames sin as something owed, and the two clauses are deliberately linked. The lines that follow press the point harder: "if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you" (Matthew 6:14), and the reverse in 6:15.
This is not God bargaining. It is Jesus showing that a heart genuinely glad to be released cannot keep gripping other people's small debts. The person who has felt the size of their own pardon loosens their hold on what others owe them. Forgiveness given becomes the evidence that forgiveness has actually landed.
How far it goes, in story and at the cross
When Peter asks whether seven times is generous enough, Jesus answers "until seventy times seven" (Matthew 18:22) — a number meant to stop the counting altogether. The parable that follows, ending in 18:35, warns the servant who was forgiven a fortune yet throttled a neighbor over pocket change.
Luke shows the same forgiveness lived out under the worst pressure. From the cross Jesus prays, "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34), and Stephen echoes it as he dies: "Lord, don't hold this sin against them" (Acts 7:60). Forgiveness here is not a feeling that arrives later; it is spoken toward people still in the act of wronging them.
The pattern: as Christ forgave you
Paul gives the everyday version of the same command. "Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32). Colossians 3:13 repeats the measure precisely: "even as Christ forgave you, so you also do."
Notice the standard. It is not how serious the offense feels or whether the other person deserves it, but how Christ treated us. That removes the calculation. The grudge over a complaint, in Paul's word, is answered not by judging the size of the wrong but by remembering the size of the mercy already received.
And for the believer's own conscience, 1 John 1:9 holds the floor steady: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us." The basis is God's faithfulness, not the depth of our remorse.
Reading and praying it this week
Read Matthew 18:21-35 slowly and let the contrast land: the unpayable debt cancelled, the tiny debt strangled. Then name one specific person and one specific "complaint against another" (Colossians 3:13) you are still holding. Don't generalize it; the parable is about a particular sum.
Pray Matthew 6:12 as written, and pause at the word "as." Ask God to make the second half true in you before you finish the sentence. If a wound is too raw to feel forgiving, borrow Stephen's and Jesus' words verbatim (Luke 23:34; Acts 7:60) and say them anyway — forgiveness often begins as obedience and grows into release.
Verses
- 4Mark 1:4Read in context
John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching the baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins.
- 29Mark 3:29Read in context
but whoever may blaspheme against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation.”
- 38Acts 2:38Read in context
Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
- 7Ephesians 1:7Read in context
In him we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace
- 14Colossians 1:14Read in context
in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.
- 12Matthew 6:12Read in context
Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.
- 14Matthew 6:14Read in context
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
- 15Matthew 6:15Read in context
But if you don’t forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
- 2Matthew 9:2Read in context
Behold, they brought to him a man who was paralyzed, lying on a bed. Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, “Son, cheer up! Your sins are forgiven you.”
- 5Matthew 9:5Read in context
For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven;’ or to say, ‘Get up, and walk’?
- 6Matthew 9:6Read in context
But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins—” (then he said to the paralytic), “Get up, and take up your mat, and go to your house.”
- 5Mark 2:5Read in context
Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
- 7Mark 2:7Read in context
“Why does this man speak blasphemies like that? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
- 9Mark 2:9Read in context
Which is easier, to tell the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven;’ or to say, ‘Arise, and take up your bed, and walk’?
- 10Mark 2:10Read in context
But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” —he said to the paralytic—
- 20Luke 5:20Read in context
Seeing their faith, he said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
- 21Luke 5:21Read in context
The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?”
- 23Luke 5:23Read in context
Which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’?
- 24Luke 5:24Read in context
But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, arise, take up your cot, and go to your house.”
- 47Luke 7:47Read in context
Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.”
- 48Luke 7:48Read in context
He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
- 23John 20:23Read in context
If you forgive anyone’s sins, they have been forgiven them. If you retain anyone’s sins, they have been retained.”
- 22Acts 8:22Read in context
Repent therefore of this, your wickedness, and ask God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you.
- 7Romans 4:7Read in context
“Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
- 72 Corinthians 2:7Read in context
so that, on the contrary, you should rather forgive him and comfort him, lest by any means such a one should be swallowed up with his excessive sorrow.
- 102 Corinthians 2:10Read in context
Now I also forgive whomever you forgive anything. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ,
- 132 Corinthians 12:13Read in context
For what is there in which you were made inferior to the rest of the assemblies, unless it is that I myself was not a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!
- 32Ephesians 4:32Read in context
And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.
- 13Colossians 2:13Read in context
You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
- 13Colossians 3:13Read in context
bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do.
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