15 Bible Verses About Forgiving Your Brother

Matthew 18:21-22

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

Reflection: Peter asks this just after Jesus has told the disciples what to do when a brother or sister sins: point out the fault privately, then with one or two others, then before the church (Matthew 18:15-17). Peter suggests seven times. Jesus answers with seventy-seven, and the parable of the unforgiving servant follows at once, opening with “Therefore” (Matthew 18:23).

Luke 17:3-4

“So watch yourselves. If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”

Reflection: Luke places the saying in a different setting, straight after a warning against causing “one of these little ones” to stumble. Here the order is rebuke first, then forgiveness when the brother or sister repents. The case Jesus names is a hard one: the same person sins seven times in one day and returns each time saying “I repent,” and the answer is still “you must forgive them.”

Matthew 18:34-35

“In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Reflection: These are the closing lines of the parable Jesus tells Peter. A king cancels a servant’s debt of ten thousand bags of gold; the same servant then has a fellow servant thrown into prison over a hundred silver coins. The king’s question in verse 33 states the point of the story: “Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” Jesus applies it to anyone who will not forgive a brother or sister “from your heart.”

Matthew 5:23-24

“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”

Reflection: In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has just said that anyone angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment, that calling one “Raca” makes a person answerable to the court, and that calling one “You fool!” puts a person in danger of the fire of hell (Matthew 5:22). In the instruction that follows, it is the brother or sister who “has something against you,” and the worshipper who has to go to them. The gift waits at the altar until the two are reconciled.

Mark 11:25

“And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

Reflection: Jesus says this to the disciples after they notice that the fig tree he cursed has withered, in a saying about faith and prayer. The reason Jesus gives for forgiving is “so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” Mark attaches no condition about the other person repenting.

Matthew 6:12

“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

Reflection: This line of the Lord’s Prayer, as Jesus teaches it in the Sermon on the Mount, comes between the request for daily bread and “lead us not into temptation.” Sins are called debts, and the person praying asks to be forgiven in the same way that he or she has already forgiven others.

Matthew 6:14-15

“For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Reflection: Jesus adds these two sentences directly after the Lord’s Prayer, and they expand on one line of it, the petition about debts. The first sentence is a promise and the second a warning, and both tie the Father’s forgiveness to whether a person forgives others.

Colossians 3:13

“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

Reflection: Paul writes to believers he calls “God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved” (Colossians 3:12), and lists what they are to put on like clothing: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Forgiving a grievance comes next, and the standard is how the Lord forgave them. Verse 14 adds love over all of them, “which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

Ephesians 4:32

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

Reflection: The sentence before this one tells the Ephesians to get rid of “all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.” Kindness, compassion and forgiveness are what replace those. As in Colossians, the measure is God’s own forgiveness, here “in Christ.”

2 Corinthians 2:7-8

“Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him.”

Reflection: Paul is writing about a member of the Corinthian church who had caused grief and had been punished by “the majority” (2 Corinthians 2:6). Paul judges the punishment sufficient and asks the church to forgive and comfort the man, so that sorrow does not overwhelm him. In verse 11 he gives a further reason, “in order that Satan might not outwit us.”

Galatians 6:1

“Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.”

Reflection: Paul addresses the Galatians as brothers and sisters and speaks of someone “caught in a sin.” The work given to the rest is restoring that person gently, and the warning is aimed at the one doing the restoring. The next verse widens it: “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

1 Peter 4:8

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”

Reflection: Peter writes that “the end of all things is near” (1 Peter 4:7) and puts love for one another first among the things believers should do in the meantime. Proverbs 10:12 has almost the same line: “love covers over all wrongs.” In the next verse Peter turns to hospitality “without grumbling.”

Proverbs 17:9

“Whoever would foster love covers over an offense, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.”

Reflection: The proverb sets two responses to an offense side by side. Covering it over fosters love; repeating it separates close friends.

Proverbs 19:11

“A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.”

Reflection: The proverb links wisdom, patience and overlooking an offense. Patience comes from a person’s wisdom, and overlooking an offense is called that person’s glory.

Genesis 50:19-21

“But Joseph said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.’ And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.”

Reflection: After their father Jacob dies, Joseph’s brothers fear he will pay them back for selling him into Egypt, and they send him a message asking him to “forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed” (Genesis 50:17). Joseph weeps. His answer names the wrong plainly, “You intended to harm me,” and then promises to provide for them and their children. He had already told them in Genesis 45:5 not to be angry with themselves for selling him, “because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.”