Berean Standard Bible
Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.
King James Version
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
About this verse
The standard hides in two small words: "forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you." Just as — forgiveness is measured by comparison, and the comparison is not the size of the offense against you but the size of the forgiveness already extended to you. The verse also refuses to let forgiveness stand alone as a cold transaction: it comes packaged with "kind and tenderhearted," warmth of heart, not merely cancellation of debt.
This is the closing note of Ephesians 4, where Paul lists what to take off — the previous verse names bitterness, rage, anger, slander, malice — and what to put on in their place. He writes to congregations of Jews and Gentiles learning to be one body, communities with real historical grievances between them. Kindness there was not etiquette; it was construction material for a church that had every natural reason to stay divided.
Notice what the verse omits: any exception clause for repeat offenders — because the model, God's forgiveness of us in Christ, covered repeat offenses. This is the working text for marriages, feuds, and church conflict, and its method is memory: the power to forgive comes from rehearsing, specifically, what you have been forgiven.
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