Feeling forgiven by God can reduce the likelihood of apologizing, psychology study finds

People who believe they’ve been forgiven by God may be more likely to forgive themselves after hurting someone—but this self-forgiveness doesn’t always lead them to apologize. In fact, a new study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin found that divine forgiveness can actually make people less likely to apologize by satisfying their internal need for resolution. At the same time, divine forgiveness can also boost feelings of gratitude and humility, which, in turn, can lead to more heartfelt and sincere apologies. The study reveals that divine forgiveness works through two opposing pathways—one that inhibits and one that supports the act of apologizing.

The researchers set out to better understand how spiritual experiences affect interpersonal conflict. While many past studies have linked divine forgiveness to emotional well-being, there has been little investigation into how feeling forgiven by a higher power might shape the way people treat others after a wrongdoing.

“My research interests lie at the intersection of conflict resolution and morality. A key area I explore is how transgressors self-regulate after wrongdoing and how this shapes their willingness to apologize and make amends,” said study author Justin M. Ludwig, a PhD candidate at the University of Pittsburgh.

“This study, which examines the role of divine forgiveness in apology behavior, was a natural extension of my research. Additionally, much of the existing work on religiosity and conflict resolution focuses on the victim’s perspective, and psychological research on divine forgiveness is still in its early stages.”

“I wanted to address these gaps by examining how divine forgiveness impacts the wrongdoer and their willingness to make amends with those they have harmed. Given that most people identify as religious, understanding how religious beliefs and experiences influence the wrongdoer’s apology behavior can offer insight into ways of fostering more constructive responses to conflict.”

To investigate this, the researchers conducted two studies. In the first study, 435 participants were asked to think about a time they had done something to hurt, upset, or offend someone, and that the situation was still unresolved. These participants were recruited from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim backgrounds. They were asked to complete several questionnaires. One questionnaire measured how much they felt God had forgiven them for the specific offense they recalled.

Another measured their level of self-forgiveness in relation to that same offense. Participants were also asked how likely they would be to apologize to the person they had hurt. Finally, they were instructed to write an email to this person, saying whatever they wanted to say about the offense, under the pretense that it would be sent at the end of the study (it was not actually sent). These emails were later analyzed by independent individuals who did not know the participants’ questionnaire responses. These individuals assessed whether the emails contained an apology or showed remorse, and they also judged the overall quality and sincerity of any apologies made.

The second study involved 531 participants and used a similar approach, but with an experimental twist. Like in the first study, participants recalled an offense and completed questionnaires. However, before completing the questionnaires, participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups. One group was asked to imagine that God had forgiven them for what they did and to think about how that would make them feel. Another group was asked to imagine that God had not forgiven them and reflect on those feelings. The third group, the control group, received no specific instructions related to divine forgiveness.

After this, all participants completed questionnaires measuring self-forgiveness, as well as feelings of gratitude and humility related to the offense. They again indicated how likely they were to apologize and wrote an email to the person they had offended, which was analyzed in the same way as in the first study.

The results of both studies revealed a consistent pattern. The researchers discovered that when people felt more forgiven by God, they also tended to feel more self-forgiven. This connection between divine forgiveness and self-forgiveness was present in both studies, even when considering other factors like the seriousness of the offense or how close they were to the person they hurt.

“I was surprised that our findings were consistent across Christian, Jewish, and Muslim participants,” Ludwig told PsyPost. “I had expected to see differences among these religious groups, but it appears that experiences of divine forgiveness influence their conflict resolution behavior in similar ways.”

Interestingly, this increased self-forgiveness was linked to a decrease in apology behavior. In both studies, people who reported higher self-forgiveness were less likely to say they would apologize and their emails were judged as showing less remorse, lower quality apologies, and less sincerity. This suggests that when individuals believe they are already forgiven by God, they may feel less need to seek forgiveness or make amends directly with the person they harmed. It’s as if feeling right with God lessens the motivation to set things right with the person they wronged.

However, the second study also uncovered another side to divine forgiveness. The researchers found that experiencing divine forgiveness, specifically in the group that was asked to imagine God’s forgiveness, also led to increased feelings of thankfulness. These feelings of thankfulness, in turn, were connected to greater modesty.

And, importantly, this path – from divine forgiveness to thankfulness to modesty – was associated with a slight increase in apology behavior. This suggests that divine forgiveness can also encourage apologies by fostering positive emotions that make people more considerate of others. It appears that feeling forgiven by God can make some people feel grateful and humble, which then motivates them to be more conciliatory and apologetic.

“Divine forgiveness—the belief that one has been forgiven by God—is a deeply meaningful part of many people’s lives and can positively impact their well-being, including the ability to self-forgive after wrongdoing,” Ludwig said. “However, our research highlights an important consideration in situations where someone upsets, harms, or offends another person: while divine forgiveness for these interpersonal transgressions can promote self-forgiveness, it may also reduce the likelihood of apologizing—and apologizing well—to the person harmed.

“In these cases, transgressors may bypass the person they hurt, achieving self-forgiveness without making amends. Our findings suggest that when divine forgiveness leads to greater self-forgiveness, it can disrupt constructive responses—such as offering apologies—that are essential for repairing relationships.”

“At the same time, our research shows that divine forgiveness can also foster gratitude and humility, which in turn encourages sincere apologies,” Ludwig explained. “These findings suggest that cultivating gratitude and humility alongside self-forgiveness may help mitigate the potential negative effect of divine forgiveness on apology behavior.”

As with all research, there are some limitations to consider. The first study was correlational, meaning it could not prove that divine forgiveness causes changes in behavior. The offenses were also self-reported and varied widely in type and severity. Although the researchers used an experimental design in the second study, they relied on imagined scenarios, which may not fully capture how people would act in real-life situations. Additionally, the study focused mainly on monotheistic traditions, so the results may not apply to people from other faiths or spiritual backgrounds.

“Although we did not find differences across these three religious groups, this remains a rich area for further exploration,” Ludwig noted. “While our sample included a diverse group of religious participants, we focused only on the three largest Western monotheistic traditions. It is therefore important that the current findings are interpreted within the context of these religions and not generalized to all religions. Future research should examine whether these findings hold among other religious traditions.”

Looking ahead, the research team hopes to expand this line of work to examine how divine forgiveness might influence not just apology behavior but also whether people are more or less likely to repeat harmful actions.

“Psychological research on divine forgiveness is still relatively new but gaining traction,” Ludwig explained. “My long-term goal is to develop a more nuanced understanding of when divine forgiveness might interrupt apology behavior across faith traditions, and how it impacts other post-conflict outcomes beyond apologizing. In particular, I’m interested in investigating how and why divine forgiveness might reduce the likelihood of re-offending. I am also interested in developing a measure of collective divine forgiveness and examining how it might influence faith communities’ willingness to offer group-based apologies and engage in reparative efforts for historical and ongoing injustices.”

The study, “Implications of Divine Forgiveness for Conciliatory Behavior: Understanding How Feeling Forgiven by God Influences Apologies Via Self-Forgiveness, Gratitude, and Humility,” was authored by Justin M. Ludwig, Jonah Koetke, and Karina Schumann.