"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."
— Matthew 6:14-15 (NIV)
Matthew 6:14-15 is the one line of the Lord's Prayer that Jesus stops to explain. Right after teaching his disciples to pray, he comes back to forgiveness and says it plainly in both directions. This page gives the verses, what the key Greek words mean, where they sit in Matthew 6, and a plain reading. For more on the theme, see Bible verses about forgiveness and Love and forgiveness.
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The verses
The King James reads: "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."
"Forgive" is aphiēmi (G863), to send away, let go, or release, the way a debt is cancelled. "Trespasses" or "sins" is paraptōma (G3900), a false step or a wrong done. "Father" is patēr (G3962), and "heavenly" is ouranios (G3770), of heaven.
Where it sits in Matthew 6
Jesus has just taught the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). One line in it reads, "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" (Matthew 6:12). The prayer ends, and verses 14-15 follow immediately. Of everything in the prayer, forgiveness is the part Jesus repeats and expands.
He comes back to it later in a parable. In Matthew 18 a servant is forgiven a huge debt and then refuses to forgive a small one, and the master asks, "Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?" (Matthew 18:33). Paul says the same thing in a single line: "Forgive as the Lord forgave you" (Colossians 3:13).
What the verses are saying
The word aphiēmi means letting go of a debt. Jesus puts two debts side by side: what you owe God and what others owe you. A person who holds tightly to what others owe them is showing they have not taken in how much they have been released from.
This is not a trade where you earn God's forgiveness by forgiving first. The rest of Scripture is clear that forgiveness starts with God: "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32). Matthew 6:14-15 says that receiving that forgiveness and passing it on go together, and you cannot keep one while refusing the other.
Questions people ask
What does Matthew 6:14-15 say?
In the NIV it says, "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." The KJV says, "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."
Does Matthew 6:15 mean God won't forgive me if I don't forgive others?
The verse says that plainly, and Jesus repeats the point in the parable of the unmerciful servant (Matthew 18:21-35). Read with Ephesians 4:32, it means a forgiven person is expected to forgive; refusing to is a sign you have not let God's forgiveness change you.
What does "forgive" mean in Matthew 6:14?
The Greek word is aphiēmi, which means to let go, release, or send away. It is the language of cancelling a debt: you stop holding the wrong against the person who did it.
How does Matthew 6:14-15 connect to the Lord's Prayer?
It comes right after the prayer and explains the line "forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" (Matthew 6:12). It is the only part of the prayer Jesus comments on.
What verses go with Matthew 6:14-15?
Colossians 3:13 (forgive as the Lord forgave you), Ephesians 4:32 (forgiving each other, just as God forgave you), Matthew 5:7 (blessed are the merciful), and Matthew 18:21-35 (the unmerciful servant) are close companions.
