The Great Commission

There must have been something different about Jesus' appearance following the resurrection, because it was difficult for His friends to recognize Him. We do know that His glorified body had different capabilities than His human form had, since He was able to appear and disappear, as well as pass through solid objects. He did not do any of these things prior to His death and resurrection, which corroborates His earlier acceptance of human limitations. His appearances to the disciples were of the utmost importance because they were still confused by the empty tomb and floundering in unbelief. They had not yet been moved to action. They continued to hole up in Jerusalem, meeting together and reliving the events of the Passover. The giving of the Great Commission, along with the later giving of the Holy Spirit, was what moved them beyond wonderment to fervent ministry.

John's account of the Great Commission contains some difficult sayings that merit discussion. He records that Jesus "breathed on them" and said "Receive the Holy Spirit". This is curious because Acts 1:5 records His words just before ascending as being "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you". This occurred at Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2:1-13. So what has happened in John chapter 20? There are several possibilities proposed by scholars. Though our translation includes the word "on" following "then He breathed", it is not actually there in the original Greek. We really don't know what action took place as He was speaking. And the word "receive" is in the imperative tense, which could be translated "you will receive" which would refer to Pentecost. It seems unlikely that this incident could have been the giving of the Spirit, because Thomas was not there. And if the Spirit was given at Pentecost, then these disciples would have received it twice, which doesn't make sense. Some believe this to be John's account of the Pentecost experience, which is possible though not chronological, and that would be unusual for his writing.

What is even more challenging about this verse from John is the phrase "If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven". Catholics believe that priests alone have the authority to forgive sins, based largely on this verse. But it is never a good idea to base entire doctrines on unclear, isolated verses. Priests do have this ability, but so do all believers. In sharing the gospel, I have definitely told people that God forgives their sins. I am not forgiving those sins, but pointing to what God has promised in His word to those who trust Him. A good explanation follows.

Jesus appears to have been saying that when His disciples went to others
with the message of salvation, as He had done, some people would believe
and others would not. Reaction to their ministry would be the same as
reaction to His had been. He viewed their forgiving and retaining the sins
of their hearers as the actions of God's agents. If people ("any" or
"anyone," plural Gr. tinon) believed the gospel, the disciples could tell the
believers that God had forgiven their sins. If they disbelieved, they could
tell them that God had not forgiven but retained their sins. Jesus had done
this (cf. 9:39-41), and now His disciples would continue to do it. Thus
their ministry would be a continuation of His ministry relative to the
forgiveness of sins, as it would be in relation to the Spirit's enablement.

Tomorrow's reading:Mark 16:19-20; Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:1-2:42