Beth-El Baptist Church
7/3/05
Did Jesus give men the authority to eternally forgive men of their sins?
There are some, especially within the Roman Catholic church that teach that the ability and authority to forgive the sins of men was given to the Apostles in John 20:23 and that the authority remains with them through Apostolic succession. Today the message of John 20:23 will be evaluated to see if the office of priest includes the hearing of men’s confessions of sins so that they can be forgiven.
1. What is the context of John 20:23?
John 20:19-23
The authority to forgive sins being given to the Apostles is placed in the midst of the context of Jesus commissioning them for his work. The Apostles have locked themselves in some room out of fear from the Jewish leaders. When Jesus enters the room, He wants to make sure that they know that it is really He and that He did in fact rise from the dead. He then commissions them to continue with the work that He was commissioned to do. In this context of being sent out is the statement that “whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them …”.
Therefore, in context, the ability to forgive sins is associated with having been sent to continue in the work that Jesus started.
2. What is the work that Jesus was sent to do?
Matthew 4:17, 23; 9:35; 10:5-8
Mark 1:14
Luke 4:43; 8:1; 9:1-2, 60
Acts 5:30-31; 8:12, 13:38; 26:14-18; 28:30-31
2 Corinthians 5:18
Ephesians 1:7
Colossians 1:14
Jesus was sent to preach the “kingdom of God”. Likewise He has sent His disciples, including us, to preach about the entryway into the kingdom of God. Since the work that Jesus was sent on is the same that we have been sent on then the forgiving of sins is done in the context of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
3. What are some parallel passages and their context?
Mark 2:5-10
Luke 24:46-49
John 17:16-21
Acts 2:36-38
According to these passages:
Peter has the keys to heaven – the Gospel of Jesus Christ
Forgiveness of sins is tied to faith
The Word of God separates us and we are saved through the preaching of the Word
People need to repent and be baptized into Jesus – Preaching of the Gospel in action.
The key and association of these cases is that forgiveness of sins, which is what salvation is all about, is accomplished through the preaching of the word to people who believe the preaching and place their faith in the person and the work of Jesus Christ. Therefore the Apostles, and all believers, forgive the sins of men for eternity as they preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it is believed.
4. What do the scriptures say about confession?
2 Chronicles 30:22
Ezra 10:1, 11
Nehemiah 1:5-6
Psalm 32:5
Daniel 9:4, 20
James 5:16
1 John 1:8-10
Only James 5:16 is confession associated with other people. In fact when confessing ‘sin’ it is only to the LORD that we are to confess sin. In James, we confess our faults. Taking that passage in context, it is more associated with weaknesses and struggles not our sins. Nor is James associating the confession with forgiveness, but it is associated with prayer. Others are to pray for the faults or weaknesses of their friends. The idea of confessing to a human priest is nowhere found in the scriptures. Confessing to THE High Priest, Jesus Christ our Lord and God, is who we confess to.
5. What do the scriptures say about where to pray and who to pray to?
Matthew 6:5-13
John 14:13-14; 15:16; 16:23-26
Romans 8:26-27, 34
1 Timothy 2:5
Hebrews 7:24-27; 8:6; 9:15; 12:24
1 John 2:1
When we pray, whether for our needs or for confession to seek forgiveness for our sins, we go into our “closet” to pray. The idea is that our confessions of sins are done in secret. They are between the person and God only. Our sins are not to be public knowledge. This does not prohibit the use of “accountability” partners (James 5:16) in which we seek the aid of others to help us keep clean of particular sins in our lives.
We are to pray to God himself in the name of Jesus. It is Jesus who is our intercessor or advocate through whom we receive the forgiveness of sins. A priest or any other person cannot forgive you of your sins, they can only take you to the one who can forgive you of your sins.
Through the process of studying scriptures in context, it is God and only God that truly forgives sins eternally and effectively. It is Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit, that communicates our need for forgiveness and approaches the Father on our behalf for that forgiveness. It is only to God that our sins are confessed for Jesus is our intercessor, our advocate who stands before the Father pleading our case.