“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Scripture by topic
Bible verses about forgiveness
Ten passages on being forgiven, learning to forgive, and the mercy the Church proclaims in confession and prayer.
01
When you need to be forgiven
Scripture insists that God's mercy outweighs the sin brought to him. Confession is not humiliation but the beginning of healing.
“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy great mercy; And according to the multitude of thy compassions blot out my transgression.”
“And come, let us reason together, saith the Lord: and though your sins be as purple, I will make them white as snow; and though they be as scarlet, I will make them white as wool.”
02
When guilt keeps returning
Forgiveness in Christ is real and complete. The psalms use the widest images available—east from west, depths of the sea—to describe how far sin is removed.
“As far as the east is from the west, So far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;”
“Who is a God like thee, canceling iniquities, and passing over the sins of the remnant of his inheritance? and he has not kept his anger for a testimony, for he delights in mercy.”
03
When you must forgive someone
Christ ties our forgiveness to the forgiveness we extend—not as a transaction, but because a heart closed to mercy cannot receive it.
“For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:”
“Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?”
“Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.”
“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.”
Questions readers ask
Forgiveness and Scripture
What does the Bible say about forgiving others?
Christ commands forgiveness without limit (Matthew 18:21–22) and links it to our own forgiveness in the Lord's Prayer. It is a command to the will, not a feeling that must arrive first.
Does forgiving mean forgetting or staying in harm?
No. Forgiveness releases the desire for revenge; it does not require remaining in danger or abandoning just boundaries. Seek pastoral counsel, and protection where there is harm.
How do I know God has forgiven me?
Scripture gives the assurance plainly in 1 John 1:9 and Psalm 102:12. In Orthodox practice, confession before a priest is where that assurance is received concretely.