John 20:19-23--Jesus Appears to the Disciples

John 20:19-23
English Standard Version

Jesus Appears to the Disciples​
19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

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We now jump ahead to the evening of the Sunday we know as Resurrection Day.  While John doesn't give the account, the disciples on the Road to Emmaus have just returned to the Eleven and told them about their experience, then Jesus appears among them and says, "Peace be with you."  He showed them His hands and His side (probably in reference to Thomas saying that he would not believe unless he could put his fingers in the nailprints and his hand in the side where the spear had been thrust).  Jesus had appeared to the others without Thomas there one time before this, The disciples were comforted and reassured and were glad to see Him.

Jesus again says, "Peace be with you" and then repeats to them some things that He said in the Garden on the evening of His arrest.  As the Father has sent the Son, so the Son is sending them, the Church, into the world.  John then says that Jesus breathed on them and told them to receive the Holy Spirit.  We usually don't think of the Holy Spirit being given to the disciples until Pentecost, but apparently He gave them a temporary gifting of the Spirit at this point to help them be able to see and understand everything that had happened and to remember all that He said.  Then Jesus sends them out with power and authority telling them that, "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld."  There is much debate if these words apply only to the Eleven that were there that day, only to those who were called to be apostles (this authority passed to other apostles such as Matthias and Paul), or if it also would include everyone today who has received the Holy Spirit as a member of the Church.  It's hard to build a doctrine about such things on only one verse like this without also looking at the rest of Scripture, but we know that Jesus had much to say about forgiveness and forgiving those who were our "brothers" and even extending forgiveness to those who were our enemies and didn't deserve it because we were enemies with God when He forgave us.

So then the question becomes one of, "Is there even anyone that forgiveness should be withheld from?" and "Why would we want forgiveness to be withheld and for people to perish in hell?"  Certainly if we withhold the gospel from people and don't permit them the opportunity if their sins to be forgiven, then they will not be forgiven, and surly if they repent and believe the gospel and pray for the forgiveness of their sins believing Jesus to be both Savior and Lord, then their sins will be forgiven.  Is that the meaning of this verse?  Honestly, I do not know and I try not to focus too much on any one verse and make a doctrinal position on it unless that verse is extremely clear in what it means.  My assumption is that this was a message that was being given to these men who were in that room at that time as this message does not seem to be repeated by the other New Testament writers or given to any of the churches that they wrote letters to, nor is it repeated by Jesus to the churches that He gave letters to in the book of Revelation as something they should be doing (either to commend them for doing it or correcting them for not doing it).  Let's make sure that in this passage we are making much about Jesus and much of the Holy Spirit where all this authority and power are derived from and let the Holy Spirit direct us in how to exercise the gifts that He has given to us.  Should there be a time when the Spirit wishes us to exercise the gift of prophecy in a way where we speak condemnation on those who refuse to repent because they have hardened their hearts and have made their choice, let those words be His words coming out of our mouths, and if the Spirit gives us the gift of evangelism, teaching, preaching, exhortation, or any of the other gifts that are used to help bring people to repentance, and even to the point of sending us to them like He did with Philip being sent to the Ethiopian eunuch or Peter being sent to Cornelius, then He will certainly save those whom the Father has chosen and given to the Son.  This has everything to do with the power and the work and will of the Spirit and has nothing to do with us imposing our will on God and forcing God to save some people and condemn others.