Pulse
06 Oct 2025
One of the most common misunderstandings among some Christians has to do with the Scriptural teaching about forgiveness.
All Christians are of course in agreement about the importance that Scripture places on forgiveness. But what is still a matter of dispute is whether Christian forgiveness is conditional or unconditional. Put differently, are Christians required by Scripture to forgive offenders who remain unrepentant, or should forgiveness be extended only to those who are truly sorry for their actions?
There are a number of Christians who hold that forgiveness is unconditional.
No one has put this view across more forcefully and provocatively than R.T. Kendall in his 2012 book Totally Forgiving God: When It Seems He Has Betrayed You. Putting aside the provocative suggestion that Christians should even forgive God when they feel betrayed by him, our focus is on the concept of total forgiveness.
‘Total forgiveness’, writes Kendall, ‘means letting everyone who has hurt us in any way off the hook.’ Total forgiveness, in other words, is unconditional forgiveness. According to Kendall, Christians must forgive those who have offended or hurt them without requiring any repentance, remorse or apology on the part of the offender.
It is not surprising that many Christians find this view appealing. It is often seen as an expression of that generosity that is commonly regarded as implied in Christian agapic love.
However, is such a view really biblical? Does Scripture teach that Christians must forgive unconditionally without requiring repentance? Or does Scripture present an inextricable relationship between the two, where forgiveness is contingent upon repentance?
FORGIVENESS AND REPENTANCE
Numerous passages in the Bible indicate that forgiveness should only follow repentance. Here are some examples:
- Luke 13:3 – Jesus said, ‘… unless you repent you will likewise perish’ (Cf Luke 13:5).
- Acts 3:19 – ‘Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord’.
- Acts 2:38 – ‘And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’
- Proverbs 28:13 – ‘He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy’.
Regardless of their respective contexts, this chorus of verses issues a call to repentance. But they also very clearly show the relationship between repentance and forgiveness. They show that forgiveness is dependent upon repentance. These verses teach that forgiveness is conditional.
Scripture also teaches that the sinner must acknowledge and confess his sins if he is to receive the forgiveness of God. Perhaps two examples – one from the OT and one from the NT – would suffice to underscore this point.
- Psalm 32:5 – ‘I acknowledged my sin to thee, and did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”; then thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin.’
- 1 John 1:9 – ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’
Again, regardless of the contexts, these verses underscore the conditional nature of forgiveness, which is given only when the sinner acknowledges his sin, confesses it to God and repents.
If God does not forgive sins without repentance, would he require us to forgive unconditionally? The answer to this question is plainly no.
Luke 17:3-4 reports these words of Jesus:
Take heed to yourselves; for if your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him; and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, and says, ‘I repent’, you must forgive him.
The teaching here is clear: Christians must forgive the people who sin against them regardless of how many times they do so. But it is also clear that they are to forgive if and only if the offender repents.
In none of these passages do we find even a hint of unconditional forgiveness.
WHAT ABOUT LUKE 23:34?
This verse has been commandeered by many Christians to substantiate their view that forgiveness is unconditional. While hanging on the cross, Jesus prayed: ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.’
Here, Jesus appears to ask God the Father to unconditionally forgive the people who tortured and crucified him – without requiring them to repent. Christians who believe that forgiveness is unconditional point to Jesus’ prayer as the example par excellence of Christian forgiveness.
However, read carefully, this verse does not teach unconditional forgiveness.
The prayer of Jesus on the cross must be understood in the spirit of his teaching recorded in Matthew 5:44, ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’. The prayer does not suggest that repentance is not the prerequisite for forgiveness.
The same can be said for Stephen’s prayer (‘Lord do not hold this against them’) recorded in Acts 7:60. The prayer does not suggest that unrepentant murderers are automatically forgiven.
In Acts 2, Peter preached a sermon that saw 3,000 of his hearers repent and baptised. Scholars such as F.F. Bruce and N.T. Wright maintained that Peter’s audience comprised people who were directly involved in the crucifixion of Jesus.
The accusations that Peter made in his sermon were not merely rhetorical. That is why we are told that Peter’s listeners were ‘cut to the heart’ (Acts 2:37) when they heard his message.
When they asked Peter what they should do, Peter did not say that God the Father had already forgiven them in answer to Jesus’ request. He said instead: ‘Repent, and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 2: 38).
Christians who think that Scripture teaches unconditional forgiveness may have confused forgiveness with what Scripture teaches about Christian love. They think that because Scripture teaches that God’s love is unconditional, so is his forgiveness.
This conclusion, however, is mistaken. While Scripture repeatedly teaches that God’s love is unconditional (John 3:16; Romans 5:8), it also makes clear that his forgiveness is conditioned upon repentance – as we have seen.
That is why the proclamation of the Gospel must always include the demand for repentance.
Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning with Jerusalem (Luke 24:45-47).
In the same way, Christians are called to love others – even their enemies – unconditionally (Matthew 5:44-45), but they are instructed to forgive only the repentant.
SERIOUS PASTORAL IMPLICATIONS
The practice of unconditional forgiveness has profound implications and consequences, not only for pastoral ministry but also for the Christian life.
As we have seen, Scripture again and again ties forgiveness with repentance. This requirement emphasises the gravity of the offense and the need for the offender to take responsibility for his actions.
To forgive the offender without requiring repentance (to let him ‘off the hook’ as Kendall puts it) is to undermine the seriousness of sin and the importance of taking responsibility for one’s actions.
Pastorally, this creates a dangerous precedent. If offenders are repeatedly forgiven without the requirement of repentance or remorse, they may never see the need to recognise the seriousness of their acts and the hurt and damage they have caused. They may see no reason why they should stop this behaviour.
In the context of pastoral counselling, the practice of unconditional forgiveness is particularly harmful. Victims of sins committed against them are told to simply forgive their offenders without requiring the perpetrators to repent and change their ways. More tragically, these victims are told that this is what Scripture requires them to do when this is not the case at all.
Perhaps the gravest and most tragic consequences of this idea of unconditional forgiveness are visited on people who are in abusive relationships. Automatic forgiveness means that the abusive behaviour of the perpetrators is never fully and meaningfully addressed.
Victims who are in such relationships are made to feel compelled to remain in the relationship because they are told to always forgive their abusers without requiring repentance or transformation.
This distortion in biblical teaching about forgiveness has wider ramifications for the spiritual health of the church. It may compel church leaders to simply forgive fellow pastors or leaders who have committed grave offenses and swiftly reinstate them without requiring proper accountability and discipline. This may perpetuate the cycle of harm.
Finally, the idea of unconditional forgiveness distorts and misrepresents the nature of God. It would undermine his attributes of holiness and justice. It would suggest that sin ultimately has no consequence.
This false view of God, who unconditionally forgives even the gravest sins, would lead to the cheapening of divine grace, which would in turn encourage spiritual and moral complacency.
Dr Roland Chia is Chew Hock Hin Professor at Trinity Theological College (Singapore) and Theological and Research Advisor of the Ethos Institute for Public Christianity.