Feeling Guilty?

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Confession is met with a promise: God is faithful and righteous to forgive and to cleanse from all unrighteousness. The condition is agreeing with God about the sin rather than managing its appearance.

“Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.”

Forgiveness is commanded on the basis of what God has already done in Christ. The surrounding verses list what is to be put away — bitterness, wrath, clamour and malice — and that is the setting in which the command is given.

“Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

Paul tells a community to bear with one another and to forgive complaints, adding 'Forgive as the Lord forgave you.' The instruction is addressed to a congregation, not only to individuals.

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours.”

Jesus ties the forgiveness believers receive to the forgiveness they give, immediately after the Lord's Prayer. Interpreters read this differently — as a warning about the reality of a person's faith, or as a condition attached to this particular petition — and it is best read alongside the rest of the New Testament's teaching on grace.

“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not just seven times, but seventy-seven times!”

Peter asks whether seven times is enough; Jesus answers with seventy times seven. The number is not a higher limit but the end of counting, and the parable that follows makes the point through a servant who received mercy and refused to give it.

“As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

The psalm describes forgiveness with distance: as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed transgressions. The image is removal rather than a suspended sentence, and the surrounding verses list God's compassion, his slowness to anger and his mercy.