“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.”
Context: The measure given is the forgiveness already received, not the size of the offence.
Bible Verses About Forgiveness
Scripture treats forgiveness in two directions at once: what is received and what is passed on. The second is consistently grounded in the first.
Forgiving someone is not the same as trusting them again immediately, and these passages do not ask you to pretend harm did not happen.
Compiled and reviewed by the Verse & Light editorial team · last reviewed 2026-09-20 · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
The passages
““For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you don’t forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Context: Jesus' comment immediately after the Lord's Prayer, linking the two directions tightly.
“Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.”
Context: A list of what to put away precedes the call to kindness — bitterness is named first.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Context: Confession described as the ordinary route to cleansing, not a last resort.
“Don’t judge, and you won’t be judged. Don’t condemn, and you won’t be condemned. Set free, and you will be set free.”
Context: Part of a series of reciprocal statements in the Sermon on the Plain.
“As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
Context: A picture of distance — east from west — for how completely wrongs are removed.
Questions to sit with
- What is the hardest thing you are being asked to forgive?
- Where might you need to ask for forgiveness rather than give it?
- What boundary might still be wise, even after forgiving?
A prayer
Original devotional writing by the Verse & Light editorial team — not part of the Bible text
God, you know what I am carrying about this person. Loosen my grip on it, and help me want their good before I feel it. Amen.
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