If I accept Christ and His forgiveness and then fall again, will He forgive me again?

The disciple Peter once approached Christ and asked, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” (Matthew 18:21). Some believe the rabbis of his day taught forgiving others three times was sufficient and that Peter was seeking to be generous in how he asked Jesus the question. Christ’s response must have caught him off guard: “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven” (v. 22).

Most of us would lose count if we tried to remember to forgive people that many times—which is the point of Christ’s message. The idea of legalistically trying to count the number of times you should forgive a person takes away the heart of forgiveness. The apostle Paul taught, “Love suffers long” (1 Corinthians 13:4). True forgiveness doesn’t keep a tally of offenses.

To illustrate how longsuffering we should be toward others, Jesus tells Peter a story about a servant who was forgiven an enormous debt, but who then turned around and would not forgive someone else a small debt. His master heard what happened and said, “You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?” (Matthew 18:32, 33).

The point is clear: We should be just as compassionate toward others who fail as God is toward us. The way we relate to others is based on how God treats us. If Jesus says we should be willing to forgive people who have fallen so many times that we cannot even keep track, is the heavenly Father any less compassionate when we fail?

The Bible teaches, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). God doesn’t put a number on this promise. If we humbly come to Him and genuinely repent, we can know that He hears us and forgives us.

Key Bible Texts

For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief. (Proverbs 24:16 KJV)