20 Bible Verses About Forgiveness

“Will you forgive me?”

Have you ever longed to hear those words from someone who’s sinned against you? Perhaps you need to say those words to someone else. The topic of forgiveness often makes us bristle. We’re not always ready to let go of offenses, thinking that by forgiving, we’re letting that person off the hook.

Instead of forgiving, we’d rather rehearse the wrongs we’ve suffered, nurse our hard feelings, spread gossip about our offenders, and plot our revenge (if only in our minds). This is our natural, fleshly response, and somehow, those strategies seem better, or at least more satisfying, than forgiveness. While it’s natural to hold on to resentment and unforgiveness, it’s supernatural to forgive an offense, and even more so, to forgive seventy times seven offenses.

But perhaps our resistance stems from a misunderstanding of what forgiveness is and is not. Forgiveness doesn’t mean we minimize the offense or remove the natural consequences that follow. It also doesn’t mean that the relationship will be restored or that trust will be reestablished. However, it is a release of the right to retaliate or hold bitterness. It means that instead of taking matters into our own hands, we entrust justice to God. And most of all, we recognize that forgiveness is a response from those who realize they’ve been forgiven an unpayable debt. Should we not forgive those who owe us less?

We need God’s help to forgive. It is a supernatural act, whereby we rely on the grace we’ve received to extend forgiveness to others. In your journey toward forgiveness, consider what God’s Word has to say about it.

20 Bible Verses About Forgiveness

Ephesians 4:32 (ESV)
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you
Matthew 18:21-22 (ESV)
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.
Colossians 3:13 (ESV)
Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
Proverbs 10:12 (ESV)
Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.
Matthew 6:12 (ESV)
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Proverbs 17:9 (ESV)
Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.
Luke 23:34 (ESV)
And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.
Ephesians 4:31-32 (ESV)
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Matthew 5:23-24 (ESV)
So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Romans 12:20 (ESV)
To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Matthew 5:44 (ESV)
But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
John 13:34 (ESV)
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
Matthew 5:7 (ESV)
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
1 Peter 4:8 (ESV)
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
Luke 17:3 (ESV)
Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.
Romans 12:17 (ESV)
Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.
Matthew 18:33-35 (ESV)
And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
Genesis 50:15-21 (ESV)
“Your father gave this command before he died: ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God?
Mark 11:25 (ESV)
And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”
Luke 6:37 (ESV)
“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;”

Forgiveness is Costly

It’s not easy to forgive. Sometimes it feels like another injury to let go of the offense.

Vaneetha Risner writes, “Forgiveness is costly. In the Bible, it involves shedding blood (Heb 9:22). Sacrifice. Death. Honestly, the first step of forgiveness still feels like death. I want to cling to my right to be angry and often resent being asked to give that up. It all seems so unfair. My flesh still demands some type of retribution.”

When forgiveness feels like death, we’re on the right track. Jesus’ death was gruesome and bloody. Your sins and mine demanded that it be so. And yet, it was for our forgiveness that he sacrificially laid down his life. His perfect, spotless life was exchanged for our wretched, sinful ones, so that he could freely offer us forgiveness of sins.

We’ve been forgiven much, and it was costly. By his grace, let’s trust that God’s ways of forgiveness are better than our own. Let’s forgive as we’ve been forgiven, and by so doing, we’ll be a little bit more like our Savior.

because of grace,

Cara

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