Can you give me your interpreatation of this verse

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Here is a bible verse can any one please give me your interpretation and why you get your interpretation,

The verse . When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained
 
This is the verse that us Catholics use to support reconciliation, and being able to confess to a priest, and the priest being able to forgive sins. He was telling the apostles that they can forgive sins.
 
kristanl said:
This is the verse that us Catholics use to support reconciliation, and being able to confess to a priest, and the priest being able to forgive sins. He was telling the apostles that they can forgive sins.
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It’s hard to come up with a doctrine from one Bible verse. Here are the verses Protestants use to confess our sin to God. 🙂 I’m not sure if the Catholic Church understands this passage to confessing our sins directly to God, or through a Catholic Priest. Maybe someone can give my the Catholic interpertation of the passage in 1 John?

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. - 1 John
 
Just out of curiosity, 2nd Adam, Christ is often referred to as the 2nd Adam. You aren’t compairing yourself are you. I personally find it offensive but then that’s just my opinion

Please specify your verse in question.
 
Yes we can confess our sins to God believing that He will forgive us our sins, However, to be set free from those sins, that is to be absolved, is that which only a Catholic Priest can perform. A human comparison would be, if you were to steal money from me, that is to sin against me. Then if you were to come to me and ask for my forgiveness and I forgave you but you still need to pay me back the money that you stole. What if you can’t pay me back? What then? You still owe me, but if I absolve you then you don’t have to pay me back.
This is the state that we find ourselves in before God. We confess our sins to Him and He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, but the debt for our sin is still there. We still owe God, but if we go to the confessional and confess our sins to the Priest, then he, as Christ’s representative, has the authority, by the verse you quoted, to absolve us of the sins that we confess.
 
2nd_Adam said:
It’s hard to come up with a doctrine from one Bible verse. Here are the verses Protestants use to confess our sin to God. 🙂 I’m not sure if the Catholic Church understands this passage to confessing our sins directly to God, or through a Catholic Priest. Maybe someone can give my the Catholic interpertation of the passage in 1 John?

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. - 1 John
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I have 2 comments
1. You have as your signature line “The wall is no longer necessary… For this reason Luther’s phrase: “faith alone” is true…” Pope Benedict XVI your editing of the pope left out the qualification IF. Benedict said *“For this reason Luther’s phrase: “faith alone” is true, ****if it is not opposed to faith in charity, in love”.*IOW, as Paul said “faith working in love.” or as James says faith and good works.

2. Re: 1 John, Catholics confess our sins the way Jesus taught the apostles and the apostles taught the Catholic Church. There is ZERO need to give the apostles the power to forgive sins except that it’s God who gave the power to forgive sins to His apostles. Why did He do that if He didn’t want that to be? If you read further in 1 Jn, you’ll see the answer according to scripture. This is an issue of mortal vs venial sin. 1 Jn 5:16 If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God * will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal*.*** There is sin which is mortal; I do not say that one is to pray for that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin which is not mortal. See?Sacramental confession before a priest forgives all sin including mortal sin.
 
If you are speaking of 1 John Chapter 1, OK, let’s try this.
1 John
Chapter 1
1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we looked upon and touched with our hands concerns the Word of life–
2 for the life was made visible; we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was made visible to us–
3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim now to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; for our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
4 We are writing this so that our joy may be complete.
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This would be what the Father made known to the Apostles through Jesus Christ and is now their duty to pass on to others.
5 Now this is the message that we have heard from him and proclaim to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.
6 If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” while we continue to walk in darkness, we lie and do not act in truth.
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This part of the chapter speaks about our walking in light or darkness, light being goodness and truth, darkness being evil and/or error. God cannot error so what they heard from Jesus and are passing on to the Church has to be truth/light. If we are truly walking in the light, we are in fellowship with God and each other since, later John says in chapter 3
"14 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. Whoever does not love remains in death.
15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.
16 The way we came to know love was that he laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
17 If someone who has worldly means sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in him?
18 Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth. "

Not living in fellowship with each other is a sin. Lastly, and I believe this is where you were wanting to get to (correct me if I’m wrong)
7 But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
8 If we say, “We are without sin,” we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing.
10 If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
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This also is a Scriptural reference to confessing our sins. We have to acknowledge our sins and God will forgive them. Any first century disciple would have undersood it with Leviticus in mind (chapter 4). How would the priest know if a goat was a sufficient sin offering if he didn’t hear the sin? Jesus didn’t come to abolish the traditions and teachings of the Old Testement, but to fullfill them and make them greater. One has to acknowledge their sin and repent before forgiveness can be given. This is how John and the other Apostles would have understood the teachings of Christ as first century Jewish Christians.
 
steve_b said:
2. Re: 1 John, Catholics confess our sins the way Jesus taught the apostles and the apostles taught the Catholic Church. There is ZERO need to give the apostles the power to forgive sins except that it’s God who gave the power to forgive sins to His apostles. Why did He do that if He didn’t want that to be? If you read further in 1 Jn, you’ll see the answer according to scripture. This is an issue of mortal vs venial sin. 1 Jn 5:16 If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God * will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal*.*** There is sin which is mortal; I do not say that one is to pray for that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin which is not mortal. See?Sacramental confession before a priest forgives all sin including mortal sin.
[/INDENT]
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Oooooooooooooh, good one!!! I wish I had thought of that one.
 
Bill_Pick said:
Here is a bible verse can any one please give me your interpretation and why you get your interpretation,

The verse . When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained
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One plausible interpretation that by grace and wisdom of the Holy Spirit, we are supposed to forgive sinners of their offenses. That is what Christ did from the Cross. That is what St. Stephen did as he was stoned. With these examples, we would err to retain the sins of others. And if we will not forgive the sins of others, if we retain them, the harm is unto us as well as them because our own forgiveness before God is contingent on our forgiveness of others. “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

The Scripture alone is never adequate to resolve doctrinal controversy because there are always multiple plausible interpretations of Sacred Scripture. Sola Scriptura is never a safe haven, for Catholic or Protestant.
 
2nd_Adam said:
It’s hard to come up with a doctrine from one Bible verse. Here are the verses Protestants use to confess our sin to God. 🙂 I’m not sure if the Catholic Church understands this passage to confessing our sins directly to God, or through a Catholic Priest. Maybe someone can give my the Catholic interpertation of the passage in 1 John?

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. - 1 John
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In what respect do you find the Catholic doctrine and practice to be at odds with this passage? I came up with a Protestant answer to the original post. You could probably find a Catholic answer here yourself. Do you really think there is no Catholic way of believing this verse?

If you’ll think about it, there is nothing contrary to our beliefs in your passage. It does not forbid sacramental confession, where we are understanding that we are confessing to God anyway. Furthermore, we are always encouraged to make acts of contrition and penance prior to sacramental confession. We can indeed be cleansed from our sins apart from the Sacrament, notwithstanding the Church’s practise of forbidding holy communion before sacramental absolution of mortal sins that may be washed away by perfect contrition.
 
puppypatrol said:
Just out of curiosity, 2nd Adam, Christ is often referred to as the 2nd Adam. You aren’t compairing yourself are you. I personally find it offensive but then that’s just my opinion

Please specify your verse in question.
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I’m just pointing everyone to the 2nd Adam, including myself. I think a better screen name would be “In 2nd Adam”, or “In union with 2nd Adam”. I know Christ is the 2nd Adam in Romans 5. I did not know 2nd Adam was used in other verses. If you are united to Christ by faith, I guess you to are in 2nd Adam too.
 
steve_b said:
I have 2 comments
1. You have as your signature line “The wall is no longer necessary… For this reason Luther’s phrase: “faith alone” is true…” Pope Benedict XVI your editing of the pope left out the qualification IF. Benedict said *“For this reason Luther’s phrase: “faith alone” is true, ***if it is not opposed to faith in charity, in love”.IOW, as Paul said “faith working in love.” or as James says faith and good works.

2. Re: 1 John, Catholics confess our sins the way Jesus taught the apostles and the apostles taught the Catholic Church. There is ZERO need to give the apostles the power to forgive sins except that it’s God who gave the power to forgive sins to His apostles. Why did He do that if He didn’t want that to be? If you read further in 1 Jn, you’ll see the answer according to scripture. This is an issue of mortal vs venial sin. 1 Jn 5:16 If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God * will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal*.*** There is sin which is mortal; I do not say that one is to pray for that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin which is not mortal. See?Sacramental confession before a priest forgives all sin including mortal sin.
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Please notice that my signature has the link to the entire teaching of Pope Benedict. The signature is very limited to what can be posted.

I do have a question on Catholic life. Do you guys ever confess your sin directly to God? It seems all Christians sin throughout the day; therefore, as a Catholic you would have to spend a lot of time at a Catholic Church. Remember, we are called to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, strenght, and mind… and to love our neighbors as ourselves. When we fall short, and love something in this world more than God, we are in sin. Sinning is also falling short of the glory of God which we all do as Christians. How often do you visit the confessional at your church?
 
2nd_Adam said:
Please notice that my signature has the link to the entire teaching of Pope Benedict. The signature is very limited to what can be posted.
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😉 c’mon. There was room.
2a:
I do have a question on Catholic life. Do you guys ever confess your sin directly to God? It seems all Christians sin throughout the day; therefore, as a Catholic you would have to spend a lot of time at a Catholic Church. Remember, we are called to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, strenght, and mind… and to love our neighbors as ourselves. When we fall short, and love something in this world more than God, we are in sin. Sinning is also falling short of the glory of God which we all do as Christians. How often do you visit the confessional at your church?
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Let me break that quote I gave you into parts. (my explanation will be in blue)

2. . 1 Jn 5:16 If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God * will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal*.***

Sins that aren’t mortal (deadly sin, i.e. sins scripture say will keep one out of heaven) Catholics can ask God for forgiveness and He forgives us. Those are for sins that aren’t mortal sin. A priest is not necessary for forgiveness of those sins. Are we okay so far? Any questions?

*There is sin which is mortal; I do not say that one is to pray for that. *

Oh Oh!!! if you can’t pray about this sin for forgiveness, what are you supposed to do with THIS sin to get rid of it? Did Jesus put any limitation on sin that can be forgiven by those He ordains to forgive sins? No. “whatever sins you forgive they are forgiven, whatever sins you retain they are retained.” But you ask, How is an apostle or one THEY ordain to know what sins to forgive or retain? Sinners need to confesses their sin directly to him? Either the apostle or the ones he ordains has the power to forgive ALL sins even the mortal kind. That’s Jesus way. That’s what HE established.

17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin which is not mortal.

Has any of your Protestant teachers ever taught you this? Don’t they tell you all sin is the same, just go to your prayer closet and ask for forgiveness?
 
I see that some Protestants are evading the question and diverting the topic towards 1 John. Catholics, please don’t let them evade the question!!! 😃

I have often seen Protestants quote John 14:26

“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

And many of them use this verse to mean that they don’t need any church authority to guide them, but rather the Holy Spirit himself helps them to correctly interpret scripture.

Why don’t they apply the same standard of interpretation to this verse then - John 20:22-23

"And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

It is the same Holy Spirit. If you say that the Holy Spirit enables you to interpret scripture infallibly (John 14:26), then you should also affirm that the Holy Spirit gives youthe power to forgive and even retain sins.
 
WesleyF said:
I see that some Protestants are evading the question and diverting the topic towards 1 John. Catholics, please don’t let them evade the question!!! 😃

I have often seen Protestants quote John 14:26

“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

And many of them use this verse to mean that they don’t need any church authority to guide them, but rather the Holy Spirit himself helps them to correctly interpret scripture.

Why don’t they apply the same standard of interpretation to this verse then - John 20:22-23

"And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

It is the same Holy Spirit. If you say that the Holy Spirit enables you to interpret scripture infallibly (John 14:26), then you should also affirm that the Holy Spirit gives youthe power to forgive and even retain sins.
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All beleivers have been given the ministry of reconciliation. This ministry includes reconciling man to God --the forgiveness of sins.
How do you reconcile James 5?
 
steve_b said:
😉 c’mon. There was room.

Let me break that quote I gave you into parts. (my explanation will be in blue)

2. . 1 Jn 5:16 If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God * will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal*.***

Sins that aren’t mortal (deadly sin, i.e. sins scripture say will keep one out of heaven) Catholics can ask God for forgiveness and He forgives us. Those are for sins that aren’t mortal sin. A priest is not necessary for forgiveness of those sins. Are we okay so far? Any questions?

*There is sin which is mortal; I do not say that one is to pray for that. *

Oh Oh!!! if you can’t pray about this sin for forgiveness, what are you supposed to do with THIS sin to get rid of it? Did Jesus put any limitation on sin that can be forgiven by those He ordains to forgive sins? No. “whatever sins you forgive they are forgiven, whatever sins you retain they are retained.” But you ask, How is an apostle or one THEY ordain to know what sins to forgive or retain? Sinners need to confesses their sin directly to him? Either the apostle or the ones he ordains has the power to forgive ALL sins even the mortal kind. That’s Jesus way. That’s what HE established.

17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin which is not mortal.

Has any of your Protestant teachers ever taught you this? Don’t they tell you all sin is the same, just go to your prayer closet and ask for forgiveness?
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In Protestant theology… all sin is mortal apart from Christ. The wages of sin is death… I am familar with 1 John 5, and sin against the Holy Spirit, as well as Hebrews 6. It must be tought to make a distinction between venial and mortal sin, since our hearts our desperately wicked. Sin is of the heart (Jesus’ teaching on aduletery of the heart). What happens if you think you commited a venial sin and actually commited a mortal sin, but never went to confession since you discerned your type of sin incorrectly?
 
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