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SUBJECT: John 20:23
QUESTION: Does John 20:23 state that man may forgive the
sins of men?
ANSWER:
No, John 20:23 does not state that humans may forgive or not
forgive other humans for sin. Only God and Jesus Christ may
forgive sins. Notice:
Luke 5:21-24
21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason,
saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can
forgive sins, but God alone?
22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering
said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts?
23 Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or
to say, Rise up and walk?
24 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon
earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,)
I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into
thine house.
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Notice that the same person who wrote John wrote 1 John and
1 John was written later. If man could forgive sin, why
would he make that statement? Why would he not mention man
forgiving sins here in 1 John?
So, what is John 20:23 talking about?
John 20:23
Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and
whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
The first word "sins" is in the original text, whereas the
second word "sins" is not in the original text. The first
word sin has the following meaning:
NT:266
hamartia (ham-ar-tee'-ah); from NT:264; a sin (properly
abstract):
KJV - offence, sin (-ful).
~Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance
with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary.
The word should more properly be rendered "offence". This
verse is talking about offences between brothers in the
faith (the church)
and how the apostles (and by
extension, the ministry) could "remit" or
"retain". Notice the meaning of the word sin in another key
verse...
Rom 3:23
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
NT:264
hamartano (ham-ar-tan'-o); perhaps from NT:1 (as
a negative particle) and the base of NT:3313;
properly, to miss the mark (and
so not share in the prize), i.e. (figuratively)
to err, especially (morally)
to sin:
KJV - for your faults, offend, sin, trespass.
~Biblesoft's New Exhaustive
Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew
Dictionary
Now notice these words from John 20:23: "remit" and
"retain":
NT:863
aphiemi (af-ee'-ay-mee); from NT:575 and hiemi (to
send; an intens. form of eimi, to go); to send
forth, in various applications (as
follow):
KJV - cry, forgive, forsake, lay aside, leave, let (alone,
be, go, have), omit, put (send) away, remit, suffer, yield
up. ~Biblesoft's New
Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded
Greek-Hebrew Dictionary
NT:2902
krateo (krat-eh'-o); from NT:2904; to use strength, i.e.
seize or retain (literally
or figuratively):
KJV - hold (by, fast), keep, lay hand (hold) on, obtain,
retain, take (by).
~Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance
with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary
Notice that these words are not about forgiveness. The
verse does NOT say that men can forgive sins or hold sins
against them. Again, we are talking about offenses here and
the verse is saying that men could resolve disputes between
brothers. This verse goes along with all the verses
regarding disputes between brothers including Matthew 18.
Point to ponder:
Imagine a man "retaining" the sins of a person while,
without his knowledge, he (the
alleged sinner) repents before God and his sins
fully forgiven. We would have a situation wherein God had
forgiven the man (Isaiah 1:18; Psalm 103:8-14; and 1 John
1:9) but man had not.
Another point:
If this verse was, in fact, giving power to men (even
apostles and ministers) we should see some place
where man is bestowing forgiveness on the sins of men. This
cannot be found. Notice the commentary:
John 20:23
Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them;
and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and
whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. In any
literal and authoritative sense this power was never
exercised by one of the apostles, and plainly was never
understood by themselves as possessed by them or conveyed to
them. (See the note at Matt
16:19.) The power to intrude upon the relation
between men and God cannot have been given by Christ
to His ministers in any but a ministerial or declarative
sense-as the authorized interpreters of His word-while in
the actings of His ministers, the real nature of the power
committed to them is seen in the exercise of church
discipline. ~from Jamieson,
Fausset, and Brown Commentary
Note: The
commentary states clearly that this power was never
exercised by one of the apostles (yet
I gather the author of the commentary believed they could
forgive sins). Many commentaries like to explain
this scripture as giving man the power to forgive but it
just is not true. As you know, there are certain religions
which engage in the forgiving of the sins of men. They just
do not have the Biblical authority to do so.
THE LORD'S PRAYER
As you know, the so called Lord's prayer is actually an
outline for our personal prayer before God. In it, it talks
about forgiving our brother. Notice...
Matthew 6:14-15
14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly
Father will also forgive you:
15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will
your Father forgive your trespasses.
The word is "trespasses" and has the following definition:
NT:3900
paraptoma (par-ap'-to-mah); from NT:3895; a side-slip (lapse
or deviation), i.e. (unintentional)
error or (wilful)
transgression:
KJV - fall, fault, offence, sin, trespass.
~Biblesoft's New Exhaustive
Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew
Dictionary
This is NOT talking about sins (Strong's
264) but the normal (to
man) offences we commit upon each other which may
not be actual "264" sins.
If Christ wanted us to forgive sins as God and He forgive
sins (264) then
this would have been an outstanding opportunity to do so,
but such is not the case.
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