What does "to forgive" mean? I'm not sure I know exactly.
Makes ‘em feel better somehow.
Forgiveness is releasing the person from the debt they owe us and turning them over to God for Him to deal with.
There’s no way he can pay them back for what he did to them. Forgiveness frees them from being eaten alive from the inside by anger and bitterness.
It certainly is not saying that what he did was OK.
Metmom said it well. I can only add that the word “forgiveness” in the Bible is also “liberation”, that is, they release him from any debt he owes them personally, in favor of his paying his debt to society. As Metmom said.
Christian forgiveness is not virtue-signaling as some here have said. It is a well-reasoned, counter-cultural, obedient response to an evil received. I would only hope I could respond the same in the same circumstance.