We are not God. God, being omniscient, knows the human heart and knows when someone is repentant or not. Ordinarily, humans are not granted the knowledge to know the state of another person’s soul. We don’t know if he is repentant but just can’t bring himself, at this point, to humble himself enough to ask our forgiveness. We don’t know if his impenitence is a sham to protect himself from caring about whether or not he will be forgiven.
All we can know is that God requires us to forgive others as a condition of being forgiven our own sins (Matt. 6:12). He will forgive us in equal measure to the measure of forgiveness we give to others (Matt. 7:1–2). If he forgives us, we cannot be stingy with the forgiveness we grant others (Matt. 18:23–25).
In short, it is our duty as Christians to forgive to the fullest extent possible, and to trust God that he will apply that forgiveness to souls as he sees fit. If our forgiveness cannot help an impenitent person, perhaps God will use the graces merited by that forgiveness to soften another person’s hardened heart.
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