Forgiveness

Forgiveness is offered by a moral superior to a sinner or villain. God, being without sin, can forgive sins; also, the son of God had the authority to forgive sins - even before his crucifixion; see Jesus Christ. Lesser mortals have the option of forgiving an offense: indeed, it is taking the moral high road to do so, and Jesus recommended it (even 77 or 70 x 7 times).

Is forgiveness free, or does it come at the price of some sort of apology? Can even Christ forgive those who do not repent? The classic formula when requesting forgiveness is (1) to acknowledge the offense, (2) to express regret for the pain caused, (3) and to promise not to repeat the offense.

Forgiveness usually results in freedom from punishment. It is safe to confess to a forgiving person, because the confession will not make one "guilty" but actually lead to a remission of guilt.

[This point is often poorly understood by non-Christians. Associating guilt and confession with "justice" and "discipline", non-Christians generally expect any evidence of wrongdoing to correspond to punishment and will accordingly avoid confession like the plague.]