Matthew 6:15 teaches that God’s forgiveness toward us is connected to our willingness to forgive other people. Jesus says that if we refuse to forgive those who wrong us, the Father will not forgive our own wrongs in the same way. The words come from the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus is speaking to a crowd of his disciples and listeners on a hillside in Galilee.
But if you don’t forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Matthew 6:15 (WEB)
What Matthew 6:15 Means
The verse opens with “But if you don’t forgive,” which signals a conditional statement. Jesus is not describing a sliding scale of mercy where God weighs each act. He is describing the shape of a heart. Someone who clings to grievances and refuses to release them is showing that they have not truly grasped the mercy they have received. The verse is a warning about a hardened heart, not a demand that we earn forgiveness.
The phrase “men their trespasses” refers to the specific wrongs other people have done against us. Jesus uses the word trespass, which carries the idea of stepping across a boundary or falling short of what is right. The verse then promises that “neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Notice what the verse does not say. It does not say God will abandon anyone who struggles to forgive, nor that forgiveness is a one-time transaction. It points to an inner posture that either receives God’s grace and passes it along, or closes itself off from it.
The Context of Matthew 6:15
The Gospel of Matthew was written for a community of Jewish Christians, probably in the latter part of the first century, and it traditionally is attributed to Matthew, one of the twelve disciples. The Sermon on the Mount, in chapters five through seven, sets out the character of life in God’s kingdom. Jesus contrasts the external show of religion with the inner reality that God sees.
Verse 15 sits right after the Lord’s Prayer, where Jesus teaches the disciples to ask, “Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.” Verse 14 then restates the principle positively, and verse 16 moves on to the subject of fasting. Read in this setting, the verse is not a stand-alone rule. It is a reminder that the prayer for forgiveness only makes sense when the one praying is also willing to forgive.
Key Phrases in Matthew 6:15
Ephesians 4:32
And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.
(WEB)
Paul connects forgiveness to God’s forgiveness in Christ, showing that we forgive others because we have first been forgiven. It turns Matthew 6:15 from a warning into an invitation to remember our own debt of grace.
Colossians 3:13
Bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do.
(WEB)
This verse calls believers to bear with one another and to forgive as the Lord forgave them. It offers a practical picture of what the Matthew passage looks like in daily community life.
A Short Prayer From Matthew 6:15
Father, you have forgiven me more than I can repay, and I thank you for that mercy. I confess the people I have been holding onto, the words and actions that still sting when I think of them. Help me loosen my grip on those debts. Soften my heart where it has grown hard, and give me the courage to release what I cannot carry. Let your forgiveness flow through me to others. Amen.
