John 20:23
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
Why it is Puzzling:
John 20:23 is where Jesus spoke to His disciples. Based on a plain reading of the text, it seems like Christians (being disciples of Jesus) now have the power to grant or withhold forgiveness just like Jesus did when He walked the earth. Bear in mind that the kind of forgiveness that Jesus speaks of in v23 differs from normal forgiveness. In John 9, after the Jews cast out a blind man healed by Jesus, Jesus went looking for him. Verse 35-41 reads:
35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.
We assume that Jesus has the authority to forgive the Pharisees, but instead, He “withholds forgiveness” and declares their guilt to be retained instead. This is the kind of authority and power presumably spoken of by Jesus in v23. Therefore, this is different from normal forgiveness, where a person offers pardon to the one who offended them. Anyone, even a non-Christian, can do that. This is in contrast with the v23 kind of forgiveness. Offering pardon to the “sins of any” – even to people who have not offended you is definitely not in the realm of normal forgiveness. Since all sins are sins toward God (After David sinned against Uriah the Hittite, he says in Psalm 51:4a – “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight“), this kind of forgiveness spoken of in v23 is about bringing divine pardon to the guilty, thereby clearing one of sin and guilt towards God. Therefore, we can read into v23 that the ultimate forgiver or withholder of forgiveness is God. Therefore, we can read v23 this way too:
“If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them [by God]; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld [by God].”
It is God who effectively forgives or retains the sin, although Jesus’ disciples are the agents who bring about the effect. So the puzzling part about all this is that the authority to render v23 kind of forgiveness or to withhold such forgiveness would seem too heavy a responsibility for ordinary Christians. This is because, unlike Jesus (or the apostles), ordinary Christians are not able to read into the hearts of people and therefore are not able to perfectly discern the heart condition of a sinner. What if a sinner is not truly repentant, and we offered v23 forgiveness? What if we withhold v23 forgiveness by mistake? The authority spelt out in v23 seems more aligned with a judge with perfect knowledge of a person’s heart condition. Ordinary Christians like you and I would feel overwhelmed playing the role of such a judge if indeed such authority applies to us when Jesus gave such authority to His disciples.
Alternative Interpretation #1:
The authority/ responsibility of v23 is only meant for apostles, and the office of an apostle has ceased after the apostle Paul (him being the final apostle). Therefore, v23 does not apply to ordinary Christians like us. Having such power as authority to forgive and withhold forgiveness, such power goes hand in hand with the ability to discern the heart of a person. We do see such abilities in the acts of the apostles. Below are two examples.
Acts 5:1-10
Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet. 3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.” 5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6 Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him. 7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?” “Yes,” she said, “that is the price.” 9 Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.” 10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
The apostle Peter could discern the hearts of Annanias and Sapphira, and it would appear that he made the decision to judge them and withheld forgiveness from them (especially in v9).
Acts 8:18-24
When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money 19 and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” 20 Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. 23 For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.” 24 Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”
Here we see the apostle Peter being able to discern wickedness in the heart of Simon the Sorcerer. Even then, he himself did not make the decision to forgive or withhold forgiveness, but instead, asked Simon to pray to God for forgiveness.
Alternative Interpretation #2:
The context of v23 is: being sent out to preach the gospel as the Spirit empowers (v21-22). Therefore, Christians involved in gospel sharing are the continuation of Jesus’ ministry of extending and withholding forgiveness. Ordinary Christians having the authority in declaring v23 kind of forgiveness is simply the result of gauging sinners’ responses to the gospel, and so, apart from the gospel, Christians have no such authority. Therefore, in line with the rest of Scriptures, we can be assured that no Christian possesses such authority to extend divine forgiveness to sins except in declaring complete forgiveness upon one who has indicated acceptance of the gospel (and thus has directly asked God for forgiveness himself or herself). Such a declaration is in the context of affirming one’s submission to the gospel (affirming God has forgiven rather than we have forgiven).
Why it Matters:
Imagine a Christian going to another Christian, saying: “Forgive me, ________ , for I have sinned. It has been 6 months since my last confession.”
If a Christian’s understanding of v23 is that of having such divine powers, such a Christian may hear the sinner’s confession and offer the v23 kind of forgiveness when he ought to be directing the sinner’s confession and prayers to God. That is why it is important to clarify how one’s interpretation of biblical texts plays out practically.