John 20:21-23

 

John 20:21-23

 

“So JESUS said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As My Father has sent Me, even so I send you.’ When He said this, He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the HOLY SPIRIT. If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of anyone, they are retained.’” This is the moment the disciples, however many were there at the time, became born again!

 

So after His resurrection JESUS said the most startling thing that He ever said to the disciples; they now had His SPIRIT and they could forgive or not forgive sin! Wow! He said something similar when Peter confessed that JESUS was The Son of GOD, The Messiah, “JESUS answered him, ‘Blessed are you Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father, who is in Heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this Rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it. I will give you the Keys of The Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.’” Then during a later time of teaching about sin and reconciliation JESUS told them, “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in Heaven.’” Matthew 16:17-19, 18:18 (Matthew 18:15-20) This is tremendous responsibility and power, greater then He gave the twelve and the seventy when He sent them out two by two.

 

Yet what He tells the disciples after His resurrection seems to contradict what He taught them about forgiveness. After He taught them how to pray, The LORD’s Prayer, He said, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Matthew 6:14-15. He also said the same thing during His last teaching time in Jerusalem before His crucifixion. Mark 11:25-26.

 

I believe that John 20:21-23 is where some religions get confessing to a priest and being forgiven by penance. But the Bible is clear that GOD’s forgiveness comes by confession to GOD and repentance in behavior. Yet JESUS does say that we can retain someone’s sin. I’m sure that if we read all the commentaries we will find a couple of different explanations, but the responsibility of this requires us to have such a relationship with GOD that we know His heart concerning people who He knows will never repent. Paul spoke of Alexander the coppersmith who did him much harm and said, “May The LORD repay him according to his works. You also must beware of him, for he has greatly resisted our words.” 2 Timothy 4:14-15 John did the same about fallen brothers in 3 John 9-12 stating, “Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of GOD, but he who does evil has not seen GOD.” These both were for personal experiences.

 

There are some in the Church who believe they have the ministry of pointing out other ministers’ sins. There is no such ministry! In fact we are taught throughout the Bible that love covers a multitude of sins.

 

Here is the tricky part; those who expose others’ sins use Matthew 18:15-17 as the basis for what they do. The problem is that JESUS was speaking of personal offense, see Matthew 5:23-26, all of these scriptures speak of personal relationships though these truths can be applied to groups and businesses. The catch is that JESUS and all the scriptures teach us to not just forgive other but to not judge others.

 

For those who believe that they are called to point out the faults and sins of other ministers and ministries remember two things:

David would not do anything against King Saul, even when he had the opportunity, because King Saul was GOD’s anointed King; and theirs was a personal relationship.

Paul told the Corinthian Church, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” 1 Corinthians 10:12