In the Old Testament, God is described as a forgiving God who is merciful and gracious to those who repent and turn back to Him. The Psalms are filled with references to God’s forgiveness and compassion, such as Psalm 103:12, which says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
In the New Testament, forgiveness is central to the message of Jesus Christ. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:12), emphasizing the importance of both asking for and extending forgiveness to others.
The ultimate expression of forgiveness in the Bible is seen in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Through his death, Jesus paid the penalty for humanity’s sins, and made it possible for us to be forgiven and reconciled to God. As Paul writes in Colossians 1:13-14, “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
Forgiveness, therefore, is not only something that we receive from God through faith in Jesus Christ, but it is also something that we are called to extend to others. In Colossians 3:13, Paul writes, “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”
