God’s Omniscience and Forgiveness: Can He Truly Forget?

We find comfort in the fact that God identifies with us on such a personal level, He chose to make us in His own image. However, we sometimes get this twisted. Rather than recognizing ourselves as an extension of Him, we imagine Him as an extension of ourselves.

We tend to view Him through the lens of our own cognitive distortions, and we project our humanity onto Him. We envision a God who thinks the way we do. We assume that He struggles with the same things we struggle with, particularly regarding forgiveness.

Forgiveness is so difficult for us because it requires enormous effort. It is such a heavy lift for us to forgive, so we assume that it is equally difficult for God. We sense that He struggles to forgive us the way we struggle to forgive others.

However, we also have some questions about God’s attributes that are vital to our process of leveling up. One question that comes up in reference to forgiveness. Can God forget things? Can He actually forget our sins?

In our discussion of the way God forgives, it is important to understand how God can forget. If He is all knowing, how can he forget?

Considering whether or not God can actually forget our sins, leaves us with two important theological questions:

• If God can forget things, then how can He be omniscient; all knowing?
• If God can’t forget things, then how can He say that He remembers our sins no more?