If we don't forgive others, are we not forgiven by God and thus lose our salvation?

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Question: Matthew 6:14-15 says, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Does that mean that those who do not forgive others have lost their salvation?

Submitted by a Bible Study group

ATP: The New Testament teaches that as believers our relationship with God is permanent. Nothing can separate us from the love of God.
Romans 8:1 says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

“Condemnation” is a technical term that describes the permanent severing of the relationship between God and man. The result of this kind of condemnation is having sentence pronounced on us because of our sin. So what Paul is telling us is that those who become believers in Christ, no longer have the possibility of being condemned in this way.

This truth helps us understand Matthew 6.

What Jesus appears to be referring to is the issue of fellowship with God. If we don’t forgive others, God withholds his fellowship from us, and in that sense we are “unforgiven.” When we repent, fellowship is restored.

David experienced precisely this in Psalm 32. Speaking of his own sin (of which unforgiveness on his part could be an example) he said,

“When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.”

Life was tough on David when he hid his sin from the Lord. And the Lord withheld fellowship from David. But when David confessed his sin, he says as Psalm 32 continues,

“you forgave the guilt of my sin,” and, “Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart.”

Fellowship had been restored, as had been David.