Hello 
When Jesus tells the 12 apostles in John20:23, “Whose sins you forgive, are forgiven” how do we know that Jesus was speaking ONLY to the 12 apostles and not to all Christians? When Jesus gave his mother Mary to Saint John at the foot of the cross, Jesus was speaking to the entire church - that is why Mary is the mother of all Christians. But when Jesus said, “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven” he wasn’t speaking to the entire church, but ONLY to the apostles. That’s why we Catholics go to Confession to a priest, and not to any other Catholic.
Your first part is an interesting and valid question. Jesus to John regarding Mary is understood and believed to be belonging to all Christians. Why isn’t Jesus speaking to the 12 applying to all Christians?
I can’t tell by the latter half of your post whether you’re answering your own question?
I believe the ability to forgive sins is a gift and the apostles understood that they need to pass it on.
I’m not answering my own question. How do we know that Jesus was speaking ONLY to the 12 apostles when he said, “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven”? We Catholics use this verse to explain why Catholic priests have the power to forgive sins, but Protestants say this verse applies to ALL christians, not only to the 12 apostles. How do we know when Jesus is speaking to the whole church and when he is speaking ONLY to the 12 apostles?
but how do we know that the words of Jesus to John about Mary applies to the WHOLE church? What if Jesus was speaking ONLY to Saint John, and Mary is the mother of ONLY John?
We can also make a reasonable assumption that had John been delayed, sick, etc and didn’t make it, but another disciple had, Jesus would have likely placed Mary’s care with any disciple that was there at that moment; the assumption supports your statement.
Welcome! If you go back a verse (to verse 22), you see that Jesus breathed specifically on the Apostles a certain authority and responsibility.
However, we too are called to forgive sins in a non-authoritative way. In the “Our Father” Prayer, which Jesus, our Lord taught us, we Pray, "forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors (Matthew 6:12).
And in verse 14, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”
Then there is the passage in The Scripturas where St. Peter (our first prime Bishop) asks Christ, our King, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?” (Matthew 18:21). Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times."
At every single Mass, we offer the sign of peace. I read a very good book by a Lutheran author about this portion of the Sacred Liturgy. In this moment, we are called to forgive anyone we harbor ill feeling towards. We are not just shaking hand with our neighbor, but forgiving others in our hearts.
In Matthew 5:23-24 we are told, “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”
My Wife and I have a dear friend and she had gotten into an argument with her Sister-in-law and words were exchanged. Our friend knew that her Husband’s Sister would be at Mass and said, that she wouldn’t even be able to look at her. I explained to her that this was the time to seek reconciliation, not to harbor ill will towards her. I suggested she say, “I’m sorry” at the sign of peace. And Pray for her. I told her that if she does not do this, she should abstain from receiving our Lord in holy Eucharist.
“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord… For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself” (1 Corinthians 11:27-29).
So going back to your original question, is Jesus giving this command to forgive sins only to the Apostles or to all Christians? The answer is both. And to the Apostles and their successors, in a special way, for He gave them authority to “loosen and to bind” on earth. (In Matthew 16:19 to St. Peter and in Matthew 18:18 to the Apostles.)
I hope this helps : )
I guess if Jesus wanted His comments to be private, we would not know about them. Also the Holy Sporit would have guided the church so.
This is a good question. One practical objection I see to all Christians having the authority to forgive sins or hold them bound is that we would not be free of a sin as long as any other Christian said that the sin was not forgiven, and likewise any Christian could forgive sins even if the sinner was not fully repentant and willing to make restitution and do penance, as appropriate.
1 Like
Christ says for us to keep on forgiving even the same person, should they continue to express sorrow. While the passage you are referring to, uses the word ‘retained’ as another outcome.
The context of the words before Christ’s Ascension is to do with the power of forgiveness being a divinely passed-on gift to the Church, in general but also specifically:
- The keeping of memory over a said-individual’s actions or words. One can choose to remember what someone has done, or to forget. If they are sorry, however, then we refer to the other passage where Christ not only suggests but commands us to forgive. There is a fine line, here, because we have to remember to avoid being judgemental. All members of the Church are of the Royal Priesthood and so the subject and reality of forgiveness amongst communities but also to the secular world is a part of one’s Christian journey. While it is the secular world which for the most part commits duplicity and therefore one might even decide not to forgive in such an instance where someone says sorry, because you know full well they are lying. Depends largely on the situation. Forgiveness is a gift, and so using it with consideration backed-up by a merciful attitude would be the way forward.
- All the disciples present in the room, representatives of the Church both then and in our place, now, in Salvation History, there has to be a means for the individual to say he is sorry for sins which are against God explicitly but which includes sins committed against our neighbour and which are also sins against God and which must also be given directly to God.
Both have to be accounted for, because the first commandment is to love God yet intrinsically connected is the requirement to love one’s neighbour. Forgiveness has to come from God to us and from us to our neighbour.
Because the happening in that passage is the passing of the gift, via the Holy Spirit, as a complete blessing, both confession to God and the subject of forgiveness handed out amongst Christian communities (and then to the outside world) must be applicable.
I’ll be coming back to this, because I intend to read up on it a bit more…