What does the Bible word forgive mean?

Study the word forgive with me to learn what Jesus meant when He told us to forgive as we have been forgiven.

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

The Greek word behind this word forgive is defined in the A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature in the following ways:

Forgiving is separating something or someone from:

The base root of the word is to cause someone or something to undergo separation. That is the meaning of what happens when God forgives our sins. God separates us from our sins as far as the East is from the West. Psalm 103:12

When we forgive someone, we employ the same word, or at least God does. We are to forgive others as he, God, has forgiven us. So, we separate what they did from who they are. We decide not to see them in their sin against us but with the eyes of one who has had the love of God shed abroad or poured in our hearts.

Joseph forgave his brothers because he could see that God had a purpose in the evil they had done to him. He moved his eyes from their offense to God’s purpose.

Forgiving means dismissing or releasing someone or something from a place or one’s presence.

That is what God the Father did for us.

• He has dismissed our sin from us.

• God has released us from the penalty of our sin.

• He has washed and cleansed us. 

• Our sin is what we were, but not what we are. Our sins were horribly dirty, but

• He has cleansed us. Isaiah 1:18. He transformed us into new creatures, making old things disappear and everything become new.

The word forgive means to 

• undergo separation,

• let go,

• send away, and

• to give up. It is the same word used for 

• divorce. It means to release from legal or moral obligation or consequence. It means

• canceling,

• remitting, or

• pardoning, as in a loan. The king forgave 10,000 talents. Matthew 18:24

Forgive is the remission of the guilt, the debt of sin. It is being absolved of our misdeeds.

This is exactly what God has done for every believer through the cross of Jesus Christ. He has 

• moved our sin away. He has

• separated us from our sin so that

• He doesn’t see our sin. Our sin has 

• departed from us. It left as it did with the demons that left the possessed child. Luke 9:42.

The word is used to speak of 

• giving up or

• abandoning. It means to 

• leave behind and go on to something else. It is the idea of 

• leaving something in its place without being concerned about it. It is about

• letting go,

• allowing,

• tolerating, and

• distancing ourselves from it.

How is this same word translated in other verses of the New Testament?

The following verses have a word or words in bold that come from the same Greek word. I will provide you with only a few examples of the verses where the word is used. The New Testament uses the word in different forms well over 100 times. The following series of verses let you see how the translators used that Greek word.

And Jesus answering said unto him, 

Suffer it 

to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then 

he suffered him. Matthew 3:15

Then the devil 

leaveth 

him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. Matthew 4:11.

And they straightway 

left 

their nets, and followed him. Matthew 4:20.

Leave 

there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Matthew 5:24

And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, 

let him have 

thy cloke also. Matthew 5:40

But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and 

let 

the dead bury their dead. Matthew 8:22.

Then Jesus 

sent the multitude away, 

and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. Matthew 13:36

Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we 

have forsaken 

all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? Matthew 19:27

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have 

omitted the

weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to 

leave the other undone.

Matthew 23:23

And likewise also the men, 

leaving 

the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. Romans 1:27

But and if she depart, 

let 

her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband 

put away 

his wife. 1 Corinthians 7:11.

Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou 

hast left 

thy first love. Revelation 2:4

What God did when He forgave us

All you read in the definition above explains what happened when God forgave us. You know the verses and what the Bible says about your sin. You know without this article that the believer’s sins have been.

• blotted out,

• are no longer remembered,

• cleansed,

• cast into the depths of the sea,

• moved from us as far away as the East is from the West,

• forgiven, and

• nailed to the cross. There is more; our sins have been

• made as white as snow,

• covered,

• canceled, and

• paid in full. He

• passes over our sins. He never thinks of us and our sin in the same thought. Our sins and past are

• passed away.

• Our sins have been placed on Jesus.

• I am sure you are thinking of something I have forgotten.

What God expects us to do with our forgiveness?

We are to forgive others just like we have been forgiven.

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, 

even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. Ephesians 4:32

Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, 

Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. Matthew 18:21-22

Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: 

even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Colossians 3:13

Having explored various definitions of the word, we then reflected on how God extends forgiveness to us. This understanding illuminates His expectation for us to forgive others. Indeed, the forgiven are called to forgive—a fundamental principle in the Bible. Failure or reluctance to forgive may suggest a misalignment with God's family. Love, as taught in Scripture, originates from God.

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