What Is Gospel Forgiveness?

February 11, 2026/Ayrian Yasar/
Photo Credit: Gus Moretta on Unsplash

Photo Credit: Gus Moretta on Unsplash

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In Matthew 18 Jesus tells his disciples that they should forgive “seventy-seven times” (v. 22). In other words, they should always forgive. But how is this possible? This is a hard thing to handle. Where is the place for justice? We are wired for justice, to give and receive what is due. When we are wronged, we long for some just recompense.

This longing for justice is not a bad thing. From the very beginning in Eden, God created man to accomplish a task and in the completion of that task to receive a reward. God told man that if he did not do what was required, he would get a punishment. Thus, the idea that if you do good you should get good or if you do bad you should get bad is a natural, normal, and right expectation.

 Forgiveness is a living out of the gospel message.

Yet God calls for his own people, his children, to forgive. There was no need for Adam and Eve to forgive prior to their sin, but afterward God calls for his children to forgive. Forgiveness functions not in a garden of Eden, but in a wild wilderness full of sin—a wilderness of sin where the inhabitants, the walking dead, those ensnared by the Evil One and living in darkness, need the light of the gospel more than anything else.

Forgiveness is a living out of the gospel message where sin has occurred, justice is taken upon one individual willingly, and mercy is shown to the guilty. For when one forgives, the guilty party receives mercy and the innocent party takes the hit in some way—they can’t bring up the sin to make the other feel guilty, they can’t use the sin as leverage in the relationship, and they can’t dwell on it to justify anger toward the guilty party.

This is a picture of the gospel: all humans are guilty of sin against a holy and perfect God, but in Jesus Christ God takes upon himself the punishment for his people’s sin, and mercy is extended to the guilty party. The cross shows how seriously God takes sin, justice, and forgiveness.

In forgiveness we leave perfect justice in the hands of God.

But where is the justice for the innocent party in our day-to-day cases of forgiveness, when we must take the hit by not retaliating in anger? In forgiveness God calls his people to trust him as the only perfect judge who will make all things good and right in his time—he will wipe away every tear and make all things, even the littlest slights, new. He has showered us with his love, united us to Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit, and given us every spiritual blessing. We are princes and princesses in his glorious kingdom and will one day rule with him.

Forgiveness does not mean that there are never consequences for sin that should be taken: there may be broken trust, or situations where the guilty party will not be allowed to be around the innocent party. Yet forgiveness leaves perfect justice in the hands of God, releasing the anger and desire for revenge of the innocent party into the faithful and loving hands of our heavenly Father.

Our heavenly Father calls his children to show gospel mercy.

Therefore, God calls us to forgive those who wrong us. Every wrong against his children will be justly addressed and punished. He calls his children to lay down the need for revenge and trust his perfect plan and love for them. Like the parable Jesus tells his disciples in Matthew 18, the King forgave us an enormous debt (sin against a perfect God) and his subjects should forgive those who owe them a debt (sins against each other). Our heavenly Father calls his children to remember the cross and the depth of their own sin that the Father has forgiven in Jesus Christ, and to show gospel mercy to others.

This article is adapted from “Gospel Forgiveness” in Beautiful Christian Life’s September 2024 newsletter, “Forgiveness.”