In today's evangelical climate many people are very uncomfortable with 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 them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld'" (ESV). I'd like to give a quick summary of some of the discomfort people have expressed to me.
This is Jesus talking to the apostles. Is there any reason we should think this command would extend beyond them? Actually, this is Jesus talking to the "disciples." John tends to be quite clear in distinguishing between the apostles (often the "twelve" as in verse 24) and a larger group of those disciples who were dedicated to Jesus. This group likely included people other than the apostles. These are people who we could rather safely see as elders in Christ, leaders in the early Church. Jesus' appointment of them as his agents in forgiving or withholding sin would seem to be the establishment of a function of leaders, not a gift which would be limited to the apostles and then pass away.
When Jesus imparts the Holy Spirit to people shouldn't we expect some sort of miraculous signs, like the signs we see in Acts 2 and 1 Corinthians 12? Not necessarily. Here Jesus is clearly imparting power and authority to people to act in his name, proclaiming or withholding forgiveness. Yes, this is entirely miraculous. But gifts of the Holy Spirit are not necessarily showy or noisy. The Holy Spirit directs glory to Christ, not to the believer.
So do we really expect that these early Christian leaders could grant forgiveness of sin? Only God can do that. But we must realize what else our Lord has said about forgiveness of sin. It is based on Christ's death on our behalf. It is based on realization of that death on our behalf, leading to repentance of our sins. Jesus has clearly said that anyone who repents of sin and depends on him receives forgiveness. Does the disciple actually forgive anyone? No, he really doesn't. He just proclaims the forgiveness that Christ has. This is not the kind of gift that passes away. It is really simply announcing God's goodness.
What about withholding sin? We want to treat this very carefully. It is a dreadful thing to withhold someone's sin. Yet just as Christ has promised forgiveness for confessed sin he has promised to not forgive that sin of which we are not repentant. As I cannot look into your heart and see if you have sin of which you need to repent, I cannot say for certain that you are bound by your sin. But I can certainly remind you of the terror of unrepented and unconfessed sin.
Is there any reason to expect that this authority to proclaim forgiveness and bondage is something that would not continue through the ages? No. There's no reason to expect that faithful servants of Christ would not continue to announce God's Law and Gospel until his coming in glory. Historically this has been done in public worship by the duly appointed pastor as the servant of Christ who is caring for God's flock. There's no compelling reason to stop proclaiming forgiveness in Christ.
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