John Chapter 20, Verse 23
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23: αν τινων αφητε τας αμαρτιας αφιενται αυτοις αν τινων κρατητε κεκρατηνται
23: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and
whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
23: Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them: and whose
sins you shall retain, they are retained.
- ἄν τινων ἀφῆτε Ï„á½°Ï‚ á¼Î¼Î±Ïτίας ἀφÎωνται αá½Ï„οῖς, ἄν τινων κÏατῆτε κεκÏάτηνται. [WHNU]
If you release the sins of anyone, they will be released; if you hold the sins of anyone, they will be held.
- ἄν forms a co-ordinating conditional, hence the following subjunctives.
- The verb ἀφιτήμι is the usual word for the forgiveness of sins (see, e.g. Mk 2:10), an authority that is seen as derived here from Jesus and ultimately from the Father. But what is the nature of this authority, and how is it exercised? Keener in Mounce 2003 takes the view that the future perfect passives ἀφÎωνται and κεκÏάτηνται, rendered as ‘will have already been bound/loosed’, imply that the earthly binding and loosing is not a transformative action but a confirmation of a pre-existing heavenly state.
- Where Evangelicals deal with this passage at all, Keener’s view is dominant, but it is unsatisfactory for several reasons. First, this would hardly be a delegation of authority, for mere proclamation of a fact requires no particular authority. Second, it relies on one particular nuance of the future perfect; another, equally valid, nuance would be that the earthly declaration ‘will stand’ in the future. (See also Geisler & MacKenzie: 1995, p. 228ff)
- Whichever nuance one prefers, two implications remain: first, that believers — or at least, the apostles — have the authority to be used as channels of God’s forgiveness, whether in a mediatory or executive rôle; and second,that forgiveness so channelled by the believer has no intrinsic ‘cash value’ except where it is backed up by the forgiveness of God, which this verse explicitly promises to be available. Instead of disagreeing over the means and mediation of forgiveness, let us rather rejoice that through Christ, true forgiveness can be obtained.
Whose soever sins, &c. See "Mt 16:19" See "Mt 18:18".
It is worthy of remark here that Jesus confers the same power on all the apostles. He gives to no one of them any peculiar authority. If Peter, as the Papists pretend, had been appointed to any peculiar authority, it is wonderful that Jesus did not here hint at any such pre-eminence. This passage conclusively proves that they were invested with equal power in organizing and governing the church. The authority which he had given Peter to preach the gospel first to the Jews and the Gentiles, does not militate against this. See "Mt 16:18, See "Mt 16:19".
This authority given them was full proof that they were inspired. The meaning of the passage is not that man can forgive sins -- that belongs only to God (Isa 43:23), but that they should be inspired; that in founding the church, and in declaring the will of God, they should be taught by the Holy Ghost to declare on what terms, to what characters, and to what temper of mind God would extend forgiveness of sins. It was not authority to forgive individuals, but to establish in all the churches the terms and conditions on which men might be pardoned, with a promise that God would confirm all that they taught; that all might have assurance of forgiveness who would comply with those terms; and that those who did not comply should not be forgiven, but that their sins should be retained. This commission is as far as possible from the authority which the Roman Catholic claims of remitting sin and of pronouncing pardon.
