I’m stumped on this verse. On the surface, it really does sound like Jesus is handing the disciples direct power to forgive people of their sins. Forgiving sins has always been understood as something only God has the authority to do… So how do you square those two ideas when the text seems to just… say what it says?
What does John 20:23 mean?
I have read a bunch of different takes on this passage (commentaries, blog posts, a few sermon series) and none of them have fully clicked yet. Would love to hear how you all think about it.
Jesus gives the disciples the job of handing out his forgiveness and holding back assurance when someone keeps clinging to a sin instead of repenting of it.
I don’t buy that “only God can forgive” means he has to be speaking figuratively here. God is still the source, and he can give the Spirit-filled church a real part in applying that forgiveness through things like preaching, baptism, confession, restoration… and discipline.
That authority stays answerable to Jesus and his gospel, though. The disciples don’t get to forgive or condemn based on how they happen to feel about someone.
John 20:23 is Jesus sending the disciples out to announce forgiveness on God’s behalf.
The disciples are declaring a verdict heaven has already reached, kind of like a courier delivering a letter someone else wrote. Look at the verses right before it too. Jesus says “as the Father has sent me, I am sending you” and then breathes the Spirit on them.
The verse sounds like Jesus is handing over something only God can do.
The disciples pointed people to forgiveness through Jesus’ name. When Simon’s heart was wrong in Acts 8, Peter told him to pray that the Lord might forgive him.
So I read John 20:23 as Jesus giving them the go-ahead for that kind of plain speech. A repentant person can be told their sins are forgiven, and someone who won’t turn is told their sins are still on them.
I used to read John 20:23 as giving the apostles a personal power to forgive sins. Peter’s response to Simon in Acts 8 changed my mind.
If he thought he held that power himself, he would have forgiven Simon on the spot. He tells Simon to pray to the Lord. The apostles spoke forgiveness in Jesus’ name with confidence, and the forgiveness itself came from him.
The disciples got the ability to announce forgiveness. But forgiving each other, like in the Lord’s Prayer, is different from wiping away someone’s sin before God. That absolving part is his alone.
We forget that humans are made in God’s image, and that Christians are called to have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. So when he breathes on the disciples and says “receive the Holy Spirit,” he’s equipping them to participate in something divine.
God has set a place for redeemed humanity to rule alongside him. Scripture talks about us being placed above angels, sharing in Christ’s kingship over creation.
Christ can do whatever he wants, and he chooses to let his Spirit-filled followers participate in his work… The Father sent him, and now he’s sending them, with the same Spirit enabling the whole thing.
The apostles were the ones speaking forgiveness here, but God was still the one doing the actual forgiving through them. They had delegated authority to announce what heaven had already decided, not to decide it.
I heard a priest say ‘I absolve you’ with this verse as the backing.
Luke 24 says the eleven and those with them were in the room, and Jesus tells them repentance and forgiveness will be proclaimed in his name to all nations… The you in John 20:23 is plural too.
So is this authority given to a select group of clergy, or to the whole gathered church?
John only says the disciples were gathered and Thomas, one of the Twelve, wasn’t even there. Matthew 18:18 places binding and loosing within the gathered church too, not Peter alone.
Traditions differ though, some see it entrusted to ordained ministers on the church’s behalf.