There is no dancing here. The point is that you claim that when Jesus says to the apostles" If you forgive the sins of any," he is merely talking about the preaching or proclamation of forgiveness. Jesus does not say that. He says if you forgive, not if you preach forgiveness. If Jesus meant mere preaching forgiveness, he would have said that. And if that is what Jesus meant, what he said would absolutely make no sense:
23 If you preach the forgiveness of sins , they are forgiven them…
Catholics constantly accuse Protestants on this forum of “cherry picking” the Scriptures to back up their positions. I contend that this is exactly what you do with Jn. 20:23. But you don’t just reference this verse among many, you build your whole claim to authority and your sacrament of penance/reconciliation/forgiveness on this solitary verse. And yet none of it is to be found in that verse, nor in its immediate context (or the whole N.T., for that matter).
In the Book of Acts we get an historical account of the Apostolic message delivered to the world:Acts 10:43 “Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone
who believes in Him
receives forgiveness of sins.”
Acts 13:38 "Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that
through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,"It also records the words of Christ to Paul regarding his commission and message to the Gentiles to whom He was sending him:Acts 26:16-18 ‘But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; rescuing you from the {Jewish} people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God,
that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’"He (and the others) was commissioned to take the word of Christ to the world proclaiming forgiveness of sins upon belief in Him. And he confirmed that same message in the letters he wrote to the churches he planted.
In the Book of Acts and the Epistles forgiveness of sins is always a stated FACT and connected with belief in Christ. There is no redemption apart from forgiveness of sins and Paul states that the true believer has both.
Three Greek words are used in Scripture to describe Christ’s work of redemption on the cross; all interpreted in English simply as "redeemed."
Agorazo:
To buy in a market; from
agora, market. Man is viewed as a slave, sold to sin, under the sentence of death, but subject to redemption by the purchase price of the blood of the Redeemer (1 Cor. 6:20; 7:23; Rev. 5:9; 14:4).
Exagorazo: To buy
out of the market, that is,
to purchase and remove from further sale (Gal. 3:13; 4:5; Eph. 5:16; Col. 4:5).
Lutroo: To loose and set free,
never to return again (Titus 2:14; 1 Pet. 1:18).
The noun form,
lutrosis is used in Heb. 9:12 where it states: "
But when Christ appeared {as} a high priest of the good things to come, {He entered} through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.The Apostolic message to the world was faith in Christ, and the one who believed in Him was forever
redeemed from the slave market of sin, never to return, and set free. As Paul wrote to the believers at Rome: “
for he who has died (
i.e., with Christ)
is freed from sin,” (Rom. 6:7). And to the believers at Colossea: “
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
They preached Christ, not themselves. Faith in Him, not confession to them. It’s nowhere to be found. John 20;23 must be understood in light of what’s been revealed in respect to the Apostolic message. Hence, their forgiving or retaining sins could only be connected to one’s belief or unbelief in their message concerning the Person and work of Jesus Christ. If believed they could say with authority, “
your sins have been forgiven you.” If they did not, they could say as Christ Himself said; "John 8:24 “
Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am you will die in your sins.”
The Apostles proclaimed the forgiveness of sins. And the basis for this
judicial forgiveness was the sacrificial, shed blood of Christ. The divine means of appropriating this grace was through FAITH in Him -
confession as the appropriating means was never taught or recorded.
