Forgiveness in the Bible

Three Hebrew Words

The Old Testament uses three main Hebrew verbs for forgiveness, each picturing the action differently:

• Salach (סָלַח, Strong's H5545) — "to pardon, to forgive." Used exclusively of God forgiving humans in the Hebrew Bible. No human ever salachs another human in Scripture — this verb belongs to divine action.
• Nasa (נָשָׂא, H5375) — "to lift, to carry, to bear away." When applied to sin, the picture is of sin being carried off so that the sinner no longer bears its weight.
• Kaphar (כָּפַר, H3722) — "to cover, to make atonement." The verb behind Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement, literally the "Day of Covering"). Sin is dealt with by being covered, typically through sacrificial blood.

Two Greek Words

The New Testament uses primarily two Greek verbs:

• Aphiēmi (ἀφίημι, Strong's G863) — "to send away, to let go, to release." Literally "away-send." Used both of forgiving sin and of releasing from debt. The noun form aphesis (G859) appears in phrases like "the remission of sins" (Matthew 26:28).
• Charizomai (χαρίζομαι, G5483) — "to give freely, to grant as a favor, to forgive graciously." Built on charis (grace). Used especially in Paul's letters (Colossians 3:13, Ephesians 4:32).

The Lord's Prayer on Forgiveness

Matthew 6:12 — "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."

The Greek is aphes hēmin ta opheilēmata hēmōn, hōs kai hēmeis aphēkamen tois opheiletais hēmōn. Matthew uses opheilēmata ("debts") where Luke's parallel prayer uses hamartias ("sins," Luke 11:4). Behind both is an Aramaic word choba, which carried both senses — financial debt and moral wrong were spoken of with the same word in first-century Aramaic usage.

Jesus underscores the conditional at the end of the prayer:

Matthew 6:14–15 — "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."

The connection is not that forgiving others earns God's forgiveness, but that the refusal to forgive reflects a heart that has not received grace. The parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:23–35 makes the same point in narrative form: a servant forgiven an enormous debt turns around and chokes a fellow servant over a small one, and loses the original pardon as a result.

"Seventy Times Seven"

Matthew 18:21–22 — "Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven."

Peter's suggestion of seven was already generous — rabbinic tradition typically held three as the benchmark. Jesus's answer — heptakis pentakis (seventy-seven) or hebdomēkontakis hepta (seventy times seven) depending on the translation of the Greek — was deliberately beyond counting. The echo is with Genesis 4:24, where Lamech boasts of "seventy and sevenfold" vengeance. Jesus inverts Lamech: the pattern of sin was escalating vengeance, the pattern of grace is escalating forgiveness.

Forgiveness and the Cross

The New Testament connects forgiveness directly to the death of Jesus:

• Matthew 26:28 — "this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." Greek eis aphesin hamartiōn — "for the remission (aphesis) of sins."
• Ephesians 1:7 — "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins."
• Colossians 1:14 — the same phrase.
• Hebrews 9:22 — "without shedding of blood is no remission."
• 1 John 1:9 — "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins."

What Forgiveness Is Not

Scripture distinguishes forgiveness from several things it is commonly confused with:

• Not forgetting. "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:34) describes God — not a human obligation to erase memory, which is not within human capacity.
• Not condoning. The biblical pattern names the wrong clearly before extending grace. God does not pretend the sin did not happen; he bears its cost.
• Not eliminating consequences. David was forgiven for the Bathsheba episode (2 Samuel 12:13) but the consequences — the death of the child, the sword that "shall never depart from thine house" — remained.
• Not requiring reconciliation as a single step. Paul qualifies reconciliation: "if it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men" (Romans 12:18). Forgiveness is a unilateral act of releasing; reconciliation depends on both parties and on the repair of trust.

Forgiveness from God's Side

The Old Testament repeatedly names God's willingness to forgive:

• Exodus 34:6–7 — "merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin."
• Psalm 103:12 — "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us."
• Isaiah 1:18 — "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow."
• Micah 7:19 — "thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea."

Summary

• Hebrew: salach (divine pardon), nasa (lift away), kaphar (cover).
• Greek: aphiēmi (send away, release) and charizomai (grant freely).
• Human forgiveness of others is explicitly tied to God's forgiveness of us (Matthew 6:14–15; Matthew 18:23–35).
• Forgiveness is not forgetting, not condoning, not automatic reconciliation — it is the release of a just claim.