CAN WE REMIT SINS OR RETAIN THE SINS OF OTHERS?

I received this question via email, “Could you help me get clarity on why in John 20:23 Jesus gave the apostles authority to forgive and retain sin when Jesus had already taken care of the sin of the world?

This is a good question and this verse is greatly misunderstood.  We must keep in mind that this is a unique time in the history of the world.  This is the time of transition between law and grace.  This is an interval of time in the life of His apostles between His death, resurrection, and the Day of Pentecost.

On the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit would come and they would be baptized and indwelt by the Spirit.  They would be endued with power from on high.  Also, the church, as we know it, would be birthed on that day and every new believer in Christ would be indwelt by the Holy Spirit.  Notice verse 22 says, “He breathed on them, and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit“.  Before this, they had not been indwelt by the Spirit of God.

This expression “breathed on them” occurs only one other time in the Bible.  In Genesis, God breathed into Adam the breath of life.  I believe here that Jesus Christ breathed into these men eternal life by giving them the Spirit of God.  Man had lost that indwelling presence of the Spirit in the fall.  I don’t believe He did this and nothing happened.  This would sustain them and secure them for the interval between His ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

In the understanding of the meaning of scripture, context is everything.  If you take a verse out of ‘text’, then you’re left only with a ‘con’.  Let’s look at this verse in its context:

John 20:19-25 (NKJV) ¹⁹  Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰  When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. ²¹  So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” ²²  And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” ²⁴  Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵  The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

Sometimes with difficult passages, it is more important to know what a verse does not mean, rather than what it does mean.  Christ here does not convey to them (or anyone) the power to release His forgiveness to whom, they desire, when they desire.  The power to forgive sin belongs exclusively to Him, because He shed His blood to take away the sin of the world.  When a verse seems difficult to understand, we must interpret it according to the entire teachings of Jesus and His apostles.  Therefore, as we study the book of Acts and the epistles, we can observe how the disciples understood and applied what Jesus said in verse 23.  In the scriptures, we do not find any of His apostles, who EVER went about forgiving people of their sin against God.

For instance, you’ve got Peter, Paul, Barnabas, Silas, and Timothy on missionary trips.  In Lystra, we have Paul and Barnabas preaching and the people came out and began to try to worship them.  Paul and Barnabas tore their clothes and said, “We’re men just like you.”  You never find them receiving praise, having their hand kissed, or having confessions made to them.  You never find them forgiving anyone of their sins against God, not ever.  You always have them pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Nowhere in the Book of Acts or in the Epistles do we find any instance of an apostle remitting the sins of anyone.  However, they do go everywhere, proclaiming the forgiveness of sin.  Let me ask the question: What is it that forgives sins?  Even God cannot just arbitrarily forgive sins.  Forgiveness of sin is only brought about by the shedding of blood.  And, . . . without shedding of blood there is no remission (Hebrews 9:22).  Back in the Old Testament, the forgiveness of sins was based on the fact that Christ would come and die for the sin of the world.  Their sins were not taken away, but were atoned for or covered.  When Jesus Christ shed His blood on the cross, He removed sin, He took it away.  Today we enjoy and experience God forgiveness when we believe and place our faith (trust) in the finished work of Christ on the cross.

We now know what verse 23 does not mean, but what does it mean?  First it means that He enjoins them in His name to proclaim the forgiveness of sins.  That if they will go and proclaim His forgiveness, then men’s sins would be remitted, if they did not proclaim this ‘new wine’ message of forgiveness of sins based solely on the shed blood of Jesus, then men’s sins would be retained.  How can you and I remit sins?  By telling them the truth, by telling them that the sin of the world has been taken away by Jesus’ shed blood on the cross.  By preaching the gospel of the grace of God!  You and I can look at people today who do not know they have been forgiven and tell them that God has forgiven not only them, but the whole world of sin (1 John 2:2).  That He is not angry with them and desires them to place their faith in the finished work of Jesus and be saved.  But it is staggering how few churches are truly preaching the forgiveness of sin based only on the shed blood of Jesus on the cross.  They preach that you are forgiven of sin by confessing sin, that you are forgiven because you said the “sinner’s prayer”.  When you understand that Gods’ forgiveness is based on a blood economy, that the only thing that causes God to forgive of sin is blood, it is not your tears, you begging, your promising Him you will never do it again, then you know that forgiveness is not something that God “does”, but something He’s DONE.  It’s not an again and again forgiveness, but a ONCE and for all forgiveness (Hebrews 7:27, 9:12, 10:10).  This is the Grace message of the cross.  Sin has been dealt with once and for all!