In some Christian circles, it has become common to hear people say that forgiveness is conditional. To a new believer who is perhaps not acquainted with the nuances of this argument, that can be hard to square with the seemingly unconditional things that Jesus says about forgiveness in the Bible:
“And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses” (Mark 11:25 ESV).
“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15 ESV).
To state the obvious, nothing about those verses sounds conditional. However, in some circles, the word “forgiveness” is being used in a broad and expansive sense, such that it bleeds over into what many others mean when they use the word “reconciliation.”