Bible verses about forgiveness: 17 passages for when letting go feels impossible

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Faithful and just: God’s justice is not an obstacle to your forgiveness here, it is the ground of it, because Christ has already paid.

He has not dealt with us according to our sins or repaid us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Travel north and you eventually start heading south, but east and west never meet. The distance is meant to be immeasurable.

“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.

Let us reason together is courtroom language. Scarlet and crimson were fast dyes that would not wash out, which is exactly the point.

For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him after his adultery with Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving devotion; according to Your great compassion, blot out my transgressions. Wash me clean of my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

David prayed this after the prophet Nathan confronted him over Bathsheba. He appeals to nothing in himself, only to God’s loving devotion and compassion.

Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance— who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion? He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea.

Micah’s own name means Who is like the LORD, and he ends his book by answering it. Sins thrown into the depths of the sea are not coming back.

So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still in the distance, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.

In that culture a respected older man did not run. The father in Jesus’ story does, before his son has finished a word of his speech.

For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours.

Jesus says this right after teaching the Lord’s Prayer. Of all its lines, forgiveness is the one he stops to underline.

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not just seven times, but seventy-seven times!

Peter thought seven times was generous. Jesus’ answer (seventy times seven in the KJV) is not a higher limit to count toward but a way of saying stop counting.

Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Bear with one another covers the small daily irritations; forgive covers the real wrongs. Both are measured against how the Lord forgave you.

Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.

Paul puts forgiveness alongside kindness and a tender heart. It is less a single moment than a way of treating people.

But Joseph replied, “Do not be afraid. Am I in the place of God? As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this—to preserve the lives of many people.

Joseph’s brothers had sold him into slavery. Years later, afraid he would take revenge once their father died, they heard this instead.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Carefully consider what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible on your part, live at peace with everyone. Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”

Paul says if it is possible, and as far as it depends on you. He is realistic that peace is not always in your hands. Justice is not cancelled; it is left with God.

Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up His garments by casting lots.

Jesus prayed this while he was being crucified. The prayer came before any apology from those who were killing him.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Paul writes this straight after describing his own struggle with sin in Romans 7. No condemnation is spoken to people who still fail.

For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more.”

Quoted from the new covenant promise in Jeremiah 31. God does not lose his memory; he chooses never to hold it against you.

Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not hide my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah

In the verses just before, David describes how keeping silent wore him down. Relief came the moment he stopped hiding.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!

If God calls you a new creation, holding on to the old verdict against yourself is disagreeing with him.