⭐WEB · Matthew 6:15
What does Matthew 6:15 mean?
"But if you don’t forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."
— Matthew 6:15 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.
Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.’
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
But if you don’t forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
“Moreover when you fast, don’t be like the hypocrites, with sad faces. For they disfigure their faces, that they may be seen by men to be fasting. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.
But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face;
so that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
Explanation
Matthew 6:15 comes at the close of Jesus's teaching on prayer within the Sermon on the Mount, immediately following the Lord's Prayer. In plain language, the verse states a sobering condition: if a person refuses to forgive others who have wronged them, God will likewise withhold forgiveness from that person. It is the negative counterpart to verse 14, which promises that those who do forgive others will be forgiven by their heavenly Father. Together these two verses form a matched pair, one stating the positive outcome and one the negative, driving home the same point with force and clarity.
The context is Matthew's account of Jesus teaching his disciples how to pray, culminating in the model prayer that includes the line "forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors." Jesus, speaking to a Jewish audience familiar with temple sacrifice and ritual atonement, is redirecting their understanding of forgiveness away from mere ritual and toward the condition of the heart and one's relationships with other people. Matthew's Gospel was likely written for a Jewish-Christian community, and this teaching would have resonated strongly with hearers who understood forgiveness of sins as central to their relationship with God, now reframed by Jesus as inseparably linked to how they treat others.
Theologically, this verse teaches that receiving God's forgiveness and extending forgiveness to others are not separate, unrelated matters but are bound together. This does not mean that human forgiveness earns or purchases divine forgiveness as if by merit; rather, it reveals something about
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