– In a religious sense, it is the act by which a person is released from fulfilling what was his duty to God. In the OT, it was given through compensatory sacrifices for sins:
Lev 4,1-35 : When a man has sinned unwittingly against a prescription of the Lord.
– And sacrifices of reparation:
Leviticus 5:14-26 : If anyone unwittingly commits unfaithfulness […] he shall offer it to the Lord in sacrifice.
Num 15,23-24 : The whole assembly shall offer a bull as a burnt offering of pleasing odor to the Lord.
– The expiation of the sins of the Israelites was made through a goat expelled into the desert once a year:
Leviticus 16:20-34 : After completing the atonement of the sanctuary, the tent of meeting and the altar, Aaron will bring the live goat.
– For the mercy of the Lord extends over all his people:
Ex 34,6-7 : Lord, Lord, compassionate and merciful God, slow to anger, rich in goodness.
Num 14,18-19 : The Lord is slow to anger and rich in goodness; he forgives iniquity and sin.
2Sm 24,10 : I committed a great sin by doing this. But now blot out, O Lord, the guilt of your servant.
Psalm 50 : Have mercy on me, O Lord, according to your goodness.
Ps 77:38 : But he, out of compassion, forgave their fault and did not exterminate them.
Eclo 18,11-12 : That is why he treats them with all kindness, and shows them the way of justice.
– The alliance between God and his people has been broken several times, but God forgives because he does not want the death of the sinner:
Ez 18,32 : I take no pleasure in the death of anyone – oracle of the Lord Yahweh! – Convert and you will live!
Jr 31,34 : No one will have the burden of instructing his neighbor or brother, saying: “Learn to know the Lord”.
– Gradually, God reveals to his people that they pass from external rites of propitiation to contrition of heart:
Leviticus 26:40 : They will then confess their iniquities and those of their fathers, the transgressions committed.
Jos 24,19-20 : Joshua said to the people: “You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God”.
2Ch 7,14 : If my people, upon whom my name was invoked, humble themselves, if they seek my face to pray.
Ne 9,2 : They avoided contact with foreigners and came forward to confess their sins.
Ps 85 :5: For you are, Lord, gracious and good, full of mercy to all who call upon you.
Is 1,11-17 : I have had enough of burnt offerings of lambs and the fat of fattened calves.
Is 58,6-7 : “Do you know what kind of fast I love?”, says the Lord God: “it is to break unjust chains”.
Jer 18,8-9 : But if that nation, against which I spoke, turns away from the evil it has committed, I regret the punishment.
Os 6,6 : Because I want love more than sacrifices, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
– In the NT Jesus is presented by John the Baptist as the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world:
Mt 3,1-17 : In those days, John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the Judean desert.
Mk 1,1-13 : Behold, I send my angel before you: he will prepare your way.
Lk 3,1-17 : A voice cries out in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.
Jn 1:29 : John saw Jesus coming towards him and said: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”.
– Unlike John the Baptist, he would not break the cracked reed, nor extinguish the wick that was still smoking:
Mt 12:20 : He will not break a bruised reed, nor will he quench a wick that still smokes.
– Moves with compassion towards the crowd:
Mt 14:14 : When Jesus saw this large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
Mk 6,30-44 : Upon disembarking, Jesus saw a large crowd and felt sorry for them.
Lk 9,10-17 : The apostles, on their return, told Jesus everything they had done.
Jn 6,1-15 : A large crowd followed him, because they saw the miracles he performed for the sick.
– He regrets the rejection of Jerusalem, whose children he wanted to gather like a hen to her chicks:
Mt 23:37 : How often have I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.
Lk 13:34 : How often I wanted to gather your children together, like a hen shelters her brood under her wings.
– Makes the paralytic walk as proof that he has the power to forgive sins:
Mk 2,10-11 : Get up, pick up your bed and go home.
Lc 5,24 : (He said to the paralytic), I command you: get up, take your bed and go to your house.
Lk 7,47-50 : Therefore I say to you: her many sins have been forgiven.
– Teaches in parables how God’s forgiveness is infinite:
Mt 18:12 : A man has a hundred sheep: one of them strays. Does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountain?
Lk 15 :1 : Publicans and sinners came to Jesus to hear him.
Lc 15,1-10.11-32 : Who of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go in search of the one that was lost, until he finds it?
Lk 17,3-4 : If your brother sins, rebuke him; if he repents, forgive him.
– Forgive the good thief:
Lk 23:43 : Jesus answered him: “Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise”.
– And to the woman caught in adultery:
Jn 8,1-11 : The scribes and the Pharisees brought him a woman who had been caught in adultery.
– Teach his disciples to always forgive:
Mt 6,14-15 : For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
Mt 18,15.35 : If your brother has sinned against you, go and rebuke him between you and him alone.
Mk 11,24.25 : Therefore I say to you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be given to you.
Lc 17,3 : If your brother sins, rebuke him; if he repents, forgive him.
– And to pray for God’s forgiveness:
Mt 6:12 : Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lk 11:4 : Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive those who trespass against us.
– And gave to his disciples the power to forgive sins in his name:
John 20:23: Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven.
– See SIN.
