Bible Verses About Forgiveness — What Scripture Says

Peter asked, "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."

Matthew 18:21–22, World English Bible

Seven was already a generous number by the standards of the day; Jesus' answer isn't a literal count of 490 to track, but a way of saying the count shouldn't be kept at all. The parable that immediately follows — a servant forgiven an enormous debt who then refuses to forgive a small one — is the explanation Jesus gives for why.

"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."

Colossians 3:13, World English Bible

This sits in a list of practical instructions for a Christian community — alongside compassion, kindness, and patience — not as an isolated command. The standard given for forgiving others is explicitly "as Christ forgave you," which sets the bar by comparison rather than leaving it undefined.

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

Ephesians 4:32, World English Bible

Nearly identical in structure to the Colossians passage above, written to a different church. The repetition across Paul's letters suggests this wasn't a one-off exhortation but a settled part of what he taught new believers everywhere.

"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."

Matthew 6:14–15, World English Bible

This immediately follows the Lord's Prayer, which includes the line "forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors." Jesus treats the two as connected rather than separate — this is one of the more direct, uncomfortable statements on the subject in the Gospels, and worth reading in its immediate context rather than in isolation.

Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing."

Luke 23:34, World English Bible

Spoken from the cross, about the soldiers carrying out the execution. It's the clearest example in the Gospels of forgiveness offered before it was asked for, and while the person causing harm was still actively doing so.

Putting it together

Scripture doesn't present forgiveness as forgetting, as pretending harm didn't happen, or as a single decision made once. It's described as ongoing ("seventy times seven"), modeled on how the reader has already been forgiven, and tied — uncomfortably, in Matthew 6 — to receiving forgiveness. None of these passages address whether forgiveness requires reconciliation or restored trust; those are separate, much-debated questions worth studying on their own.