John 20:21-23 21Then Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I also am sending you.” 22And after he had said this, he breathed and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you hinder forgiveness from any, it has been hindered.”
Jesus repeats his gift of peace now that the disciples had seen and believed. The first peace was to replace their fear. The second peace was to provide spiritual renewal and open the floodgates of God’s grace in their lives. It was only with Jesus’ peace that the disciples could go out and continue Jesus’ mission. Jesus then makes a significant connection between his mission and what the disciples were to do. Three significant thoughts can be found in these verses.
First, the disciples were to imitate and extend Jesus’ mission. The challenge is to determine what this mission was. According to the context in John’s Gospel, Jesus’ primary mission was to bring salvation to the world (3:17). He was the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world through his death on the cross (1:29). He came to the very world that rejected him and crucified him. The disciples, likewise, were to go to a hostile world with the message of hope. This message would be multifaceted but would center on the hope of eternal life. Jesus also came providing hope through healing and teaching, but those pointed to the kingdom he was bringing. The disciples’ primary ministry would be to bring the message of this kingdom, not only through compassion or education but especially through spiritual transformation. The compassion and education would serve to draw people to Jesus’ kingdom, just his healing and teaching proclaimed this kingdom to those who were sick and bound by the power of sin and its consequences in this fallen world.
The tense of the two verbs for sent are significant. The Father sent (apestalken; related to “apostle”) Jesus. The tense of this verb is perfect, indicating that Jesus came at a special and specific point in time for his mission, but his mission was not confined to three years of public ministry. His mission would continue on through his disciples even after he had returned to the Father. Jesus was sending (pempō) his disciples. The tense of this verb is present, indicating the ongoing activity the disciples would be involved in from that point onward. This mission was continuous and would last until Jesus came again.
The second gift (see verse 19) Jesus gave and a second important insight in these verses is his gift of the Holy Spirit. The challenge with verse 22 is how it relates to what Luke writes in Acts 2. This verse has been called the “Johannine Pentecost,” but that misses the point of the text and unnecessarily attempts to compress two events into one. This verse is a form of commission, and the disciples would have the Holy Spirit with them on this mission. Yet, this was not the moment that would send them out into mission. That would come after Jesus had ascended, and they had to learn to trust in him completely. They needed the deeper work of spiritual baptism that John the Baptist spoke about (Matthew 3:11). Jesus was giving his disciples the gift of faith and hope at that moment. This confirmation would hold them steady as they carried out the mission he had started.
John did not want to separate Jesus’ gift of the Spirit from Jesus’ resurrection. It was his resurrection that provided the opportunity for the Spirit to come. The verb breathed has no direct object in the Greek; it could simply be taken as an expression that he exhaled, as in a sigh. However, breath is often connected to the Holy Spirit because the word for “spirit” can also be translated as “breath” or “wind.” The simplest reading of verse 22 is that Jesus breathed on the disciples the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ breath was likely symbolic of his plan for his disciples. Just as he breathed out the gift of the Spirit, they would to receive this gift, along with his peace, as a matter of grace through faith.
The third signficant thing Jesus says comes in verse 23, which is another difficult verse to understand and apply. Part of the mission of the disciples was to offer God’s forgiveness to people. The disciples themselves would not forgive sins against God since only God can do that, but forgiveness is part of the gospel message. They would be the instruments of the Holy Spirit and bring forgiveness to those who repent. If they did not bring this message, people would not find repentance. They were key instruments in God’s kingdom. The thought here is similar to what Jesus said in Matthew 16:19 and 18:18. Jesus gave significant authority to the disciples in this mission. With authority comes responsibility. They were not to do this mission of forgiveness on their own. They could only do it through the power of the Holy Spirit working within them. Not everyone the disciples would speak to would seek forgiveness. The word of the gospel brings conviction, but some will ignore this and lose out on a forgiving word spoken through Jesus’ followers. Jesus’ resurrection offers peace, power, and forgiveness.
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