Confession

[ryanoneil]

John 20:21 - So Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you."

Before He grants them the authority to forgive sins,
Jesus says to the apostles, “as the Father sent me, so I send you.” As Christ was sent by the Father to forgive sins, so Christ sends the apostles and their successors forgive sins.

John 20:22 - And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.

The Lord “breathes” on the apostles, and then gives them the power to forgive and retain sins. The only other moment in Scripture where God breathes on man is in Gen. 2:7, when the Lord “breathes” divine life into man. When this happens, a significant transformation takes place.

**John 20: 23 - “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.” **

In order for the apostles to exercise this gift of forgiving sins, the penitents must orally confess their sins to them because the apostles are not mind readers. The text makes this very clear.

Peace,

Ryan

 

[ryanoneil]

I’ve spoken to hubby about this. He believes that only God can forgive sins, and that the grammar of the passage is simply showing that the apostles have the power to bind or loose. Only they have the power to say “God said this or that is correct”, or “according to the Lord’s teaching, this is the proper doctrine for the church”, not to forgive sins, which is God’s work.

Make any sense,
oneseeker

Matt. 9:5-8 - Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the **Son of Man **has authority on earth to forgive sins" he then said to the paralytic, “Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.” He rose and went home. When the crowds saw this they were struck with awe and glorified God who had given such authority to human beings.

Although He is God, Christ forgave sins as a man (not God) to convince us that the “Son of man” has authority to forgive sins on earth.

Luke 5:24 also points out that Jesus’ authority to forgive sins is as a man, not God. The Gospel writers record this to convince us that God has given this authority to men. This authority has been transferred from Christ to the apostles and their successors.

Peace,

Ryan

 

[mercygate]

I’ve spoken to hubby about this. He believes that only God can forgive sins, and that the grammar of the passage is simply showing that the apostles have the power to bind or loose. Only they have the power to say “God said this or that is correct”, or “according to the Lord’s teaching, this is the proper doctrine for the church”, not to forgive sins, which is God’s work.

Make any sense,
oneseeker

Catholics believe that only God forgives sins. But we believe that he gave the Apostles the power to do it – binding and loosing. Your husband does not believe that “binding and loosing” refer to teaching proper doctrine. If he did, he would believe the apostolic teaching specifically stated in Scripture, that Christ commissioned His Apostles to forgive sins.

“Whose sins you forgive . . .” You can’t get any plainer than that.