Difficult Texts Explained - John 20:23

This was written by Wayne Jackson. It is reprinted below from the Christian Courier of September, 1980. The paper was published by the East Main Street Church of Christ in Stockton, California and was edited by Jackson.

According to Catholic theology, the right to forgive sins has been granted to the "Holy Roman Church" (cf. J. Conway, The Question Box, pp. 280, 281). This view is based upon a misunderstanding of John 20:23, wherein Christ said to the apostles: "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." A couple of things need to be said of this matter.

First, in a secondary sense all Christians are to be forgiving to one another (Matthew 6:12; 18:35; Ephesians 4:32) while in the ultimate sense only God can pardon sins (Isaiah 43:25; Mark 2:7). In this latter case, no man on earth has been empowered to act for God by bestowing remission of sins. The matter of John 20:23 however, can be cleared up by an examination of the verb tenses as they appear in the Greek New Testament.

Literally the Lord said, "If you forgive (aorist tense), stand forgiven already (perfect tense); if you retain the sins (present tense), stand retained already (perfect tense)." the employment of these dual perfect tenses clearly reveal that the Lord is giving the apostles the authority to forgive or retain sins only in harmony with what Heaven has already decreed. As A. T. Robertson notes, "What He commits to the disciples and to us is the power and privilege of giving assurance of the forgiveness of sins by God by correctly announcing the terms of forgiveness" (Word Pictures, V, 315).

On the day of Pentecost when the apostles gave the promise of forgiveness to those pricked believers, on the basis of repentance and baptism (Acts 2:37-38) they were merely declaring what had already been decided in Heaven; they were fulfilling John 20:23. Noted Greek scholar J. R. Mantey observed that no Greek "church father" of the first three centuries of the Christian Era ever cited John 20:23 in support of sacerdotalism (Was Peter a Pope?, p. 39). For an enlightening rendition of this passage, see the translations of Charles Williams and Kenneth Wuest.