{"id":115347,"date":"2026-09-13T11:44:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T15:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/?p=115347"},"modified":"2026-09-13T11:44:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T15:44:14","slug":"what-does-the-bible-say-about-forgiveness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/what-jesus-teaches\/what-does-the-bible-say-about-forgiveness\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does the Bible Say About Forgiveness? Letting Go Isn&#8217;t Letting Them Back In"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='booster-block booster-read-block'>\n                <div class=\"twp-read-time\">\n                \t<i class=\"booster-icon twp-clock\"><\/i> <span>Read Time:<\/span>8 Minute, 8 Second                <\/div>\n\n            <\/div><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\" style=\"max-width:360px;margin:0 auto 2em;\">\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/d5G4zR7fc4E\" title=\"What Does the Bible Say About Forgiveness? It's Not Forgetting\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2>Somebody Owes You, and You Know the Amount<\/h2>\n<p>Somebody owes you. Maybe not money. An apology that never came. A year you will not get back.<\/p>\n<p>Type &#8220;what does the Bible say about forgiveness&#8221; into a search bar and that is usually the real question underneath. Not whether the debt was real. You already know it was. The question is what you are supposed to do with it now, and whether doing it means pretending.<\/p>\n<h2>What Does the Bible Say About Forgiveness? Put the Nets Down<\/h2>\n<p>When Jesus taught people to pray, Matthew records the line this way: &#8220;And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors&#8221; (Matthew 6:12). The Greek word for debts, <em>opheil\u0113mata<\/em>, is money language for something owed.<\/p>\n<p>The verb for forgive is <em>aphi\u0113mi<\/em>. It means to send away, to let go, to leave. Two chapters earlier Matthew uses the same verb for Peter and Andrew on the shore of Galilee: &#8220;they straightway left their nets, and followed him&#8221; (Matthew 4:20). Our Short makes that connection, and it holds up. (The noun form has its own long history, traced in our <a href=\"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/articles\/greek-word-for-forgiveness\/\">word study on aphesis, the Greek word for forgiveness<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>Here is the detail worth adding. The nets did not stop existing.<\/p>\n<p>Years later, after the resurrection, Peter says &#8220;I go a fishing&#8221; (John 21:3) and climbs straight back into a boat. Leaving the nets had never meant pretending there were no nets. It meant putting them down. That is why the memory staying put is not a sign you failed to forgive. We looked at the brain side of that in <a href=\"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/bible-resources\/bible-and-science\/does-forgiving-mean-forgetting\/\">does forgiving mean forgetting<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The moment the prayer ends, Jesus goes back to exactly one line of it. Not the bread. Not temptation. Forgiveness. &#8220;For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses&#8221; (Matthew 6:14-15).<\/p>\n<p>Notice the word has changed. Debts have become trespasses, <em>parapt\u014dmata<\/em>, a false step. Luke&#8217;s version mixes the two in one sentence: &#8220;forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us&#8221; (Luke 11:4). A wrong is a stumble and a bill at the same time.<\/p>\n<p>Verse 15 is not comfortable, and it should not be sanded down into a suggestion. Paul puts the order the other way round, telling readers to be &#8220;forgiving one another, even as God for Christ&#8217;s sake hath forgiven you&#8221; (Ephesians 4:32). Read together, receiving forgiveness and giving it look like the same open hand. It is hard to hold one open and keep the other clenched.<\/p>\n<h2>What Most People Miss: The Verse That Says Rebuke First<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;Just let it go&#8221; skips a verse. Jesus says: &#8220;Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him&#8221; (Luke 17:3). Matthew puts the same instruction a few verses before Peter asks how many times he has to forgive: &#8220;go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother&#8221; (Matthew 18:15).<\/p>\n<p>Nobody in those verses is told to pretend.<\/p>\n<p>But there is a real tension here. Luke 17:3 says &#8220;if he repent.&#8221; Mark 11:25 says something else: &#8220;And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any.&#8221; No apology is mentioned. And in Luke&#8217;s account of the cross, Jesus prays &#8220;Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do&#8221; (Luke 23:34) over men who are still gambling for His clothes. That line, to be honest, is missing from some of the oldest manuscripts of Luke, but Stephen, dying under the stones, prays in the same spirit (Acts 7:60): &#8220;Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>So which is it? Side by side, the passages describe three things we tend to crush into one word:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Releasing the debt.<\/strong> Mark 11:25. Done in prayer, alone, whether or not the other person ever changes.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Telling the truth about it.<\/strong> Luke 17:3 and Matthew 18:15. Naming the wrong to the person, privately first. Not revenge. Honesty.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Restoring the relationship.<\/strong> &#8220;Thou hast gained thy brother.&#8221; That part needs the other person to hear and turn, which is why Paul writes &#8220;If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men&#8221; (Romans 12:18). If it be possible. Sometimes it is not.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Letting go of what someone owes you is yours to do. Letting them back in is a second decision, and scripture never pretends that one depends only on you. If you are not sure where you stand, our free <a href=\"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/am-i-ready-to-forgive\/\">Am I Ready to Forgive?<\/a> quiz is a quiet place to find out.<\/p>\n<p>The most honest line in the passage belongs to the apostles. Told to forgive the same person seven times in a day, they do not argue. They say, &#8220;Increase our faith&#8221; (Luke 17:5). They knew they could not do it on their own. That is where it starts.<\/p>\n<h2>Actions to Take This Week<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Write<\/strong> one sentence naming exactly what the person owes you, so you know precisely what you are releasing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pray<\/strong> Mark 11:25 over that sentence tonight, say their name out loud, and tell God you are done collecting it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Decide<\/strong> separately, on a different line of the page, whether this relationship needs a conversation, a boundary, or nothing more for now.<\/p>\n<div class=\"convertkit-form wp-block-convertkit-form\" style=\"\"><script async data-uid=\"884942602c\" src=\"https:\/\/bgodinspired.kit.com\/884942602c\/index.js\" data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" data-no-defer=\"1\" data-no-optimize=\"1\" nowprocket><\/script><\/div>\n<h2>A Prayer for Forgiving Someone Who Owes You<\/h2>\n<p>God, you know exactly what was taken from me, and you know I have been keeping the account. I am tired of collecting on something that never pays. Today I put it down. I am not saying it did not happen, and I am not saying it did not matter. I am saying I will not carry the bill anymore. Give me courage to tell the truth where it needs telling, and wisdom about who is safe to let close again. Thank you for all you have released for me. Increase my faith. Amen.<\/p>\n<h2>Journal Prompts<\/h2>\n<p>If you wrote out what you are owed as a bill, what would the line items be, and which one is hardest to cross out?<\/p>\n<p>Is there someone you have forgiven in your head but never told the truth to? What is stopping that conversation?<\/p>\n<p>Where have you mixed up letting go with letting someone back in, either by refusing to release a debt or by letting someone close too soon?<\/p>\n<p>What has someone released you from that you have never really said thank you for?<\/p>\n<h2>Share This<\/h2>\n<p>Forgiving doesn&#8217;t say the debt was never real. It says I&#8217;m done collecting. Letting go and letting someone back in are two different decisions.<\/p>\n<p>#Forgiveness #BibleStudy #LordsPrayer #HealingFromHurt #FaithEveryday<\/p>\n<h2>Q&#038;A: What Does the Bible Say About Forgiveness? It&#8217;s Not Forgetting<\/h2>\n<p><strong>What does the Bible say about forgiveness?<\/strong><br \/>\nThe Bible treats a wrong as a real debt and forgiveness as releasing it, not pretending it never happened. In the Lord&#8217;s Prayer Jesus says &#8220;forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors&#8221; (Matthew 6:12), and the Greek verb, <em>aphi\u0113mi<\/em>, means to let go or send away. Jesus then comments on only that line of the prayer, warning that people who will not forgive others cut themselves off from forgiveness too (Matthew 6:14-15).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Does forgiving someone mean you have to reconcile with them?<\/strong><br \/>\nNot automatically. Mark 11:25 describes forgiving in prayer, alone, while reconciliation in Matthew 18:15 depends on the other person hearing and turning. Romans 12:18 says &#8220;If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men,&#8221; which admits that restoring a relationship is not always within one person&#8217;s power.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do I have to forgive someone who hasn&#8217;t apologized?<\/strong><br \/>\nLuke 17:3 says &#8220;if he repent, forgive him,&#8221; but Mark 11:25 tells people to forgive while praying &#8220;if ye have ought against any,&#8221; with no mention of an apology. Many readers hold the two together this way: release the debt before God whether or not the other person changes, while full reconciliation waits for them to turn.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What does &#8220;forgive us our debts&#8221; mean in the Lord&#8217;s Prayer?<\/strong><br \/>\nIn Matthew 6:12 the word for debts, <em>opheil\u0113mata<\/em>, is ordinary money language for something owed. Luke&#8217;s version says &#8220;forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us&#8221; (Luke 11:4), so the prayer pictures wrongdoing as a debt that can be cancelled rather than a feeling to be managed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Is it biblical to confront someone who hurt you?<\/strong><br \/>\nYes. Jesus says &#8220;If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him&#8221; (Luke 17:3), and Matthew 18:15 says to &#8220;tell him his fault between thee and him alone.&#8221; Biblical confrontation is private first, aimed at winning the person back, and sits alongside forgiveness rather than replacing it.<\/p>\n<h2>Putting the Nets Down<\/h2>\n<p>Go back to the amount. The one you already know by heart.<\/p>\n<p>The Bible never asks you to pretend that number is zero. It asks you to stop collecting it. Peter put his nets down, and they were still real, still there one bad night years later. The memory stays. What changes is that you are no longer standing at the door every morning waiting for payment.<\/p>\n<p>And whether that person comes back through the door is a separate question, one you are allowed to take slowly.<\/p>\n<p>Which is harder for you right now: letting go of what someone owes you, or deciding whether to let them back in? Tell us in the comments.<\/p>\n<p>Watch the original short: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=d5G4zR7fc4E\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What Does the Bible Say About Forgiveness? 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Jesus called it releasing a debt. Luke 17:3 shows why letting go of a debt isn&#8217;t the same as letting someone back in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":115346,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[631,52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-video","category-what-jesus-teaches"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115347"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115348,"href":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115347\/revisions\/115348"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bgodinspired.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}