JOHN
20:22,23 Apostolic Succession Can The Church forgive Sins?
From a Reader
John
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, their sins
have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been
retained."
John
20:19-25 -
[Verse 22 in Original Greek]
19 So when it was evening on that day, the first
{day} of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for
fear R1503 of the Jews, Jesus came and
stood in their midst and *said to them, "Peace R1504 {be} with you." 20 And
when He had said this, He R1505 showed them both His hands and
His side. The disciples then rejoiced R1506 when they saw the Lord. 21 So
Jesus said to them again, "Peace R1507 {be} with you; as R1508 the Father has sent Me, I also
send you." 22 And when He had said
this, He breathed on them and *said to them, "Receive R1509 the Holy Spirit. 23 "If R1510 you forgive the sins of any,
{their sins} have F201 been forgiven them; if you retain
the {sins} of any, they have been retained." 24 But
Thomas, R1511 one of the R1512 twelve, called Didymus, F202 R1513 was not with them when Jesus
came. 25 So the other disciples were saying to him, "We
have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see in His R1514 hands the imprint of the nails,
and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I
R1515 will not believe."
See Acts 5:1-11, [In
Context| also 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 [In Context|and 2 Corinthians 2:6-8. [In Context|
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Can The Church forgive
Sins?
Scripture tells us that God alone can forgive sin,
although it appears for a while the Apostles could by virtue of the holy
spirit. ( John 20:22-23 ) :
Now some churches interpret the above scripture, so that
the church believes it takes on the role of the Apostles ( i.e. a proxy role )
, and so believe it has the ability to allow or disallow sin.
This would be a very powerful tool if it existed, and
would be dangerous in the wrong hands.
So we ask two questions :
- Can a church take on the apostles roles?
- How do you prove or disprove using scripture?
DO SOME CHURCHES BELIEVE THEMSELVES TO BE THE CURRENT PROXY OF THE
APOSTLES....
Yes the Catholic Church does; but lets look at how did
the apostles understood and applied this?
There is no record in the Bible of a
single instance in which an apostle listened to a private confession and then
pronounced absolution.
Now the requirements for being forgiven by God are set out in the Bible.
The apostles, under the direction of holy spirit,
could discern whether individuals were meeting such requirements and could on
this basis declare that God had either forgiven them or not forgiven them.
See Acts 5:1-11, also 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 and 2 Corinthians 2:6-8.
What Jesus said to his disciples at John
The disciples mentioned were principally the faithful apostles. ( verse 24.) By blowing on them and saying, “Receive holy
spirit,” Jesus symbolically gave them notice that soon holy
spirit would be poured out on them. Jesus went on to say that they would
have authority concerning forgiveness of sins. Reasonably, his two statements
are linked, one leading to the next.
On the day of Pentecost, Jesus poured out holy spirit.
Those who received the spirit were born again as spiritual sons of God with the
hope of being co-rulers with Christ in heaven. (John 3:3-5; Romans 8:15-17; 2
Corinthians 1:22) But that outpouring of spirit did more. Some
recipients gained miraculous powers. By that means some could speak in foreign
tongues that they did not know. Others could prophesy. Yet others could heal
the sick or raise the dead to life. See 1 Corinthians 12:4-11.
Since Jesus’ words at John 20:22 pointed to this outpouring of holy spirit on
the disciples, his connected words about forgiving sins seem to mean that the
apostles had divinely provided to them through an operation of the spirit a
unique authority to forgive or retain sins.
One memorable case which involved apostolic authority to forgive or retain sins
involved Ananias and Sapphira, who played false to
the spirit. Peter, who heard Jesus utter what we read at John
What Jesus said at John
Jesus gave his disciples authority to expel from the congregation unrepentant
perpetrators of grave sins. At the same time, Christ gave his followers
authority to extend mercy and forgive repentant sinners. Jesus certainly was
not saying that his disciples should confess every sin to a priest.
BUT SCRIPTURE TELLS US THAT GOD ALONE CAN FORGIVE SIN
This is true. When we also look at Matthew 18:15-18
and everything else that the Bible teaches about confession and forgiveness,
what must we conclude? That at John 20:22, 23, Jesus gave his disciples
authority to expel from the congregation unrepentant perpetrators of grave
sins.
THE APOSTLES HAD THE ABILITY TO FORGIVE ( OR
NOT ) PEOPLES' SINS.
God granted the apostles special powers in this regard, yes, but the apostles
only and these powers died with them.
The Catholic church base their claim on Apostolic
succession, saying the Pope is a direct descendant of the apostle Peter, but
there is *no* evidence to back their claim whatsoever.
It
is a purely man made tradition, and is definitely not found in the Bible. And
God specifically warns us against following man made tradition.
“And
he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep
your own tradition." ( Mark 7:6-9 )
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(2) War is the ultimate rebellion against God especially since God holds human
life as sacred, and Satan hates man because man is made in Gods image. So war
allows Satan to rebell against God
War also is about making people feel bad if they dont
support killing other people ( that is so crazy ...) -
I know of people who refused to fight during WWII who used to get give a white
feather as a sign of "cowardice" - even though by refusing to fight
many people had to show huge strength and resolve to make a stand for God,
unlike those who just went along with Satans ways.
Sbt- simple answer
.The simple easy answer
is --Whatever the Apostles
could and could not do --no scriptural evidences is that the ones they passed
the gifts on to --could pass them on to others ---and whatever
they could or couldn't do has no effect
on us --except their contribution to the Completed Holy Verses---
The Completed Bible---that not even
They--- most of the Apostles---(except John --I think
--without doing research ) got to see Thee Completed Holy Verses----
Our
Blessing is the Completed Bible which includes future healing of
individuals and the Nations
TheGreatHopeRev21-22-7.htm plus --I just refined Miracles.htm check it out.
BCC -> Commentary on 20:22
DSN -> Synopsis on 20:22
GEB -> Study Notes on 20:22
GSB -> Study Notes on 20:22
JFB -> Commentary on 20:22
MHC-COM -> Commentary on 20:22
MHC-CON -> Commentary on 20:22
PNT -> Commentary on 20:22
RWP -> Study Notes on 20:22
TFG -> Commentary on 20:22
TSK -> Commentary on 20:22 TSK -> Entry for 20:22
WEN -> Notes on 20:22
NTB -> Holy Spirit; Jesus, The Christ; Trinity
TTT -> Apostles, The; Gift of the Holy Spirit, The
EBD -> Sabbath
SBD -> John, Gospel of
WJD -> Devotional
using 20:22
WJD -> Devotional
using 20:22
Burton
Coffman
· Darby's
Synopsis
· Geneva
Study Bible
· Jamieson,
Fausset, Brown
· Matthew
Henry Complete
· Matthew
Henry Concise
· People's
New Testament
· Robertson's
Word Pictures
· The
Fourfold Gospel
· Treasury
of Scripture
· Wesley's
Explanatory Notes
With SBT’s Commentary Notes -learn not to exceed what is written
Be on the Alert For
Those Using unbiblical words or word expressions to describe YHWH and Who His Son
is that
are not According to what is
written in the original inspired Words of God --Study --SbtsCommentaryNotes.htm
Examples in 22.htm / 21.htm Base 1.htm