Topical Study
What the Bible Says About Forgiveness: 18 Verses
Forgiveness is one of the hardest things the Bible asks of us — and one of the things it speaks about most. Scripture holds two kinds of forgiveness together: the forgiveness we receive from God, and the forgiveness we are called to extend to others. The Bible insists these two are deeply connected. Here are eighteen Bible verses about forgiveness, with a short explanation of each.
Forgiveness we receive from God
Before the Bible asks us to forgive, it tells us how thoroughly we have been forgiven.
1 John 1:9 — “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
The condition is simply honesty — confession. The promise is complete: not partial forgiveness, but cleansing from “all unrighteousness.”
Psalm 103:12 — “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
East and west never meet; they stretch apart forever. That is how far God removes the sins he forgives.
Isaiah 1:18 — “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.”
A picture of total transformation — the deepest stain made pure white.
Micah 7:19 — “He will… cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”
Forgiven sins are not filed away; they are thrown into the deep, gone.
Ephesians 1:7 — “In whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.”
Forgiveness is costly — it comes “through his blood” — and it is generous, “according to the riches of his grace.”
Why we forgive others
The Bible’s logic is clear: because we have been forgiven so much, we forgive.
Ephesians 4:32 — “And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.”
The standard for forgiving others is how God forgave us — freely, fully, and at cost to himself.
Colossians 3:13 — “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.”
Matthew 6:14-15 — “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you don’t forgive… neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
These are sobering words. Jesus links our willingness to forgive with our experience of being forgiven. An unforgiving heart, he suggests, has not truly grasped how much it has been forgiven.
How often, and how completely, to forgive
Matthew 18:21-22 — “Then Peter came and said to him, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I don’t tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven.’”
Peter thought seven times was generous. Jesus’ answer — “seventy times seven” — means stop counting. Forgiveness is not a quota to fill but a posture to keep.
Luke 17:3-4 — “If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in the day, and seven times returns, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”
Mark 11:25 — “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father, who is in heaven, may also forgive you your transgressions.”
Forgiveness modelled at the cross
Luke 23:34 — “Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.’”
These words, spoken about the men crucifying him, are the Bible’s most powerful picture of forgiveness — offered not to the repentant, but to enemies in the very act of harming him.
Acts 7:60 — Stephen, being stoned, echoed his Lord: “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them.”
More verses about forgiveness
- Daniel 9:9 — “To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness.”
- Psalm 32:1 — “Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”
- 2 Chronicles 7:14 — “If my people… humble themselves… I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin.”
- Luke 6:37 — “Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”
- Acts 3:19 — “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out.”
How to forgive when it feels impossible
Forgiveness is not the same as pretending the wrong did not happen, or that it did not hurt. It is not necessarily reconciliation, which takes two, or the removal of all consequences. Biblical forgiveness is the decision to release a debt — to stop demanding payment for what was done to you, and to entrust justice to God instead (Romans 12:19).
When forgiveness feels impossible, the Bible’s starting point is not your strength but God’s example. We forgive “even as Christ forgave you” (Colossians 3:13). Many people find that forgiveness begins not with a feeling but with a choice, prayed honestly — “Lord, I cannot do this, help me” — and repeated as often as the hurt returns. Like the “seventy times seven,” it is often not a single act but a practice.
If there is someone you need to forgive, you do not have to feel ready. You only have to begin, with the same God who forgave you standing ready to help.
Read more Bible verses about forgiveness, or reflect on today’s verse.