How do I forgive someone who has never apologized?

Start here: forgiveness does not mean the thing did not matter. Scripture never asks you to call evil good. It asks you to release the debt — to stop requiring that the person pay it back to you before you can be free.

That is why forgiveness can happen without an apology. An apology may never come. What forgiveness refuses to do is let the other person’s refusal keep you chained to the injury. Jesus goes further than we would: “if you don’t forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:15). That is a serious sentence, and it is about your own soul, not the other person’s innocence.

Forgiveness is also not trust. Trust is rebuilt by repentance and time, and sometimes it should not be rebuilt at all. You can forgive someone and still keep a boundary, still report a crime, still leave a dangerous situation. Wisdom and forgiveness are meant to travel together.

It is usually not one decision but many. You forgive, then remember, then forgive again. Each time you are choosing not to reopen the account. That is slow work, and God is patient with you in it.

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And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.

Ephesians 4:32

For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

Matthew 6:14