People talk about forgiving yourself. Is that even a real thing, or is it just something we say to make each other feel better?

“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.”

David wrote this after a long stretch of hiding something, and he opens by calling a forgiven person blessed, not a faultless one. The Hebrew images are physical: transgression carried away, sin covered over, guilt not counted against him. It is an accounting done outside himself. Whatever release he found came from what God did with the record, not from how he felt about it.

“Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”

Paul writes to Rome and builds toward a courtroom scene: who will bring a charge, who will condemn. He answers with Christ's death, resurrection and ongoing intercession. Strictly speaking, forgiveness is God's to give and yours to receive. What people usually mean by forgiving yourself is this: agreeing with a verdict that has already been handed down instead of reopening the case.