Retain Sins?

John 20:23, "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven
them, if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

These are the words of Jesus. And I would like to ask, what does it mean to retain sins?

Thanks.

Good question Enid - I don't have an answer - but thanks for asking it.

I wonder though whether it had something to do with the authority of the Apostles.

From; The biblical illustrator:

1. "As the Father," &c. This has been interpreted to mean, "With the authority which the Father sent Me, I send you." Now, the authority with which Christ came was to restore all things to make atonement, &c. So it cannot mean that. No; the disciples were under, not in, authority. He sent them forth to preach, love, labour, pray, as He preached, &c. Never a man of them could play the king as He did. They were to go representing Him; they were to go in love and self-sacrifice as He had gone.

2. Then He says, "Whosoever sins ye remit," &c. Who are the "ye"? Those present ”” not Peter or John, or the ten collectively. We are expressly told that other disciples were there ”” Mary, &c. ”” and not the slightest difference was made. What the Lord meant He meant for all. There are two ways of interpreting what He did mean ”” the one the way in which the Church of Rome interprets it, and the other the way in which the Church of St. Peter interprets it,. Rome tells a man He must go and confess to and get absolution from a priest. But take the first case in which a man cries out in the presence of Peter for remission (Acts 2.). Does Peter ever say, "come aside and confess?" or John, or Paul? Is there a hint of any such transaction? No, you will find that every one demands repentance and faith in Christ, and promises forgiveness upon that. That was the use which Peter understood was to be made of this. And the remission was not a transaction somewhere above the clouds, but actually carried into the man's soul so as to transform him. The remission was conscious, real and immediate. Now in the Church of Rome there are five ways of remission.

(1) By baptism. (2) By confirmation. (3) By penance. (4) By indulgence. (5) By extreme unction.

Of course, after all that they ought to be remitted. But supposing a man has received all these remissions from the pope himself; why, you will find masses offered for his sins in purgatory! Such is not the remission of Christ. When Christ remits all sin is at once cast away, gone for ever into the depths of God's forgiving love. And the Church's mission is to testify to every man that there is remission without price, priest, sacrifice. Show His hands and His side and there is the proclamation of remission of sins. (W. Arthur, M. A.)

Christ is all in any power He might remit to us. 1 John 1:7-10 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

As God is faithful and just to forgive, so also by the Word of Jesus Christ we are able to forgive others sins and bring them out of the clutches of condemnation of the Devil, who says your sin is to big, God cannot forgive that sin, you are lost and you are mine, etc. Jesus sent them and us into the whole world to preach the Gospel, and the forgiveness of sins by the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross is one of the biggies.

Romans 5:16-17 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

This is why we can say to a person your sin is forgiven, not as by me but by Jesus Christ who sends me.

This is what the second Adam has done;

Romans 5:20-21 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Only God can forgive sin and that through Jesus Christ who has sent us to pronounce the Good News and why we can boldly say your sins are forgiven you in Christ, This I can say to you your sins are forgiven because He sent me to you to set you free, by the word of His Testimony.

In Christ: Phillip

Concerning retaining sins, I was thinking of the scripture in 1 Tim 1:20, whom Paul delivered to satan that they might learn
not to blaspheme.

Also 1 Cor 5:5 speaks of delivering such a one to satan.

Could this perhaps be retaining sins?

Enid: I have heard this taught, that this verse refers to church discipline as in 1 Cor. 5 and 1 Tim. 1. It seems to fit very well there. But the context is not really strong. I honestly think that is a better interpretation than any others that I have heard.

Perhaps it also means I can ask the Father not to hold the things done to me against those who did them.

Luke 23:33-38 NASB

When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves. And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, "He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.” The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, and saying, "If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!” Now there was also an inscription above Him, "THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

Acts 7:54-60 NASB

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep.

REJOICE! =)
Mary

No, not really.

I read this in Matthew Henry's commentary.

"...and whosoever sins you retain, that is, pronounce unpardoned and the guilt of them bound on, they are retained, and the sinner may be sure of it to his sorrow"

In the dictionary, retain means to keep possession of, not lose, continue to have etc...

If it means to keep, and it does, then what can it mean?

We see in the John 20:23 passage that Jesus says this right after breathing on them and saying "receive the Holy Spirit". My thought is that in giving the Holy Spirit to the church, and we being the body of Christ as the result, we are the manifestation of the will and mind of Christ - to the degree that we walk in the Spirit and are led by Him and hear from Him.

This, I believe, has it's place in a sincere local assembly of believers and means that if the consensus of the church (or at least those who are seen and respected as those who do walk with God, the elders perhaps) is that you are in sin - then it is so and your sin remains. This is because we are acting in the name of Christ and as His ambassadors - again, to the degree that we walk in Him and hear from Him.

The "70 times 7" thing applies to us personally. The "retaining sins" applies to showing a person that they are in sin by the body making a determination based on the scripture and in light of the Holy Spirit.

One (preferably the whole local assembly, or the eldership of it anyhow) does not need to be unforgiving in order to 'retain sins', because it is a matter of God being angry with them and holding their sin against them (not the men) because they are willfully walking in it and not repenting.

That makes sense F.

It is the authority bound up in the gospel and the Name of Jesus given to the church, especially the apostles and those following after who are in positions of authority in a body of believers.

Good stuff sister Leslie!