What Is Forgiveness?
Forgiveness in the Bible means the cancelling of a debt and the mending of a broken relationship; it covers both God's forgiving of people and people's forgiving of one another. The Old Testament introduces God as the one 'forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin', and the psalmist says, 'as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.' In the New Testament forgiveness stands at the center of the gospel: Jesus speaks with authority to forgive sins and on the cross asks forgiveness for those crucifying him. The two forgivenesses are bound together: 'Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.' Jesus' answer to Peter's question 'how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?' — seventy times seven — shows that forgiveness keeps no score. Biblical forgiveness does not trivialize wrong; it is a decision that bears the cost, and it draws its source from God's own forgiving: 'forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.'