21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. (John 20:21-23 KJV)
William Burkitt’s Commentary
Observe here, 1. The repetition of our Saviour’s endearing salutation to his desciples, Peace be unto you, peace be unto you. This was no more than might be needful, to signify his firm reconciliation to them, notwithstanding their late cowardice in forsaking of him, and flying from him, when the storm fell upon him.
Observe, 2. How Christ doth renew his disciples’ commission for the work of the ministry, who possibly were much discouraged with the remembrance of their faint-heartedness in the time of his sufferings. He doth therefore anew commissionate them, and sends them forth in these words, As my Father hath sent me; that is, to preach, plant, and propagate the gospel; so send I you. By the same authority, and for the same ends, in part, for which I was sent by my Father, do I send you; namely, to gather, to govern, and instruct my church.
Learn hence, that when Christ left the world, he did not leave the church destitute of a gospel ministry, which shall continue to the end of the world. As Christ was sent by the Father, so are his ministers sent by him: and they may expect, he having the same authority and commission, the same success and blessing; and the contempt cast upon them and their message, ultimately reflects upon God and Christ, whose messengers they are.
Observe, 3. How Christ that sends them forth, doth furnish them with the gifts of the Spirit for their office: He breathed on them, and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost; that is, the gift of the Holy Ghost. They had received the Holy Spirit before as a spirit of sanctification: here they receive it in his extraordinary gifts to fit them for their office. And Christ’s conferring the Holy Ghost, by breathing upon them, shews that the Holy Spirit proceeds as well from the Son as from the Father. And as by God’s breathing the first man was made a living soul; so by Christ’s breathing upon the apostles they were quickened and extraordinarily enabled for the service they were called to.
Learn hence, that when Christ sends forth and about his work, he will furnish them with endowments answerable to their vast employment; and the best furniture they can have, is the Holy Spirit in his gifts and qualifications suitable to their work: He breathed on them, and said, received ye the Holy Ghost.
Observe, 4. How Christ asserts their authority in the discharge of their commission, and declares, that what they act ministerially according to their commission here on earth, is ratified in heaven: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted.
Where note, that there is a two-fold power of remitting or forgiving sins; the one magisterial and authoritative, (this belongs to Christ alone;) the other ministerial and declarative, (this belongs to Christ’s ambassadors, who have a power in his name to bind and loose.) It is a pious not of St. Austin upon this place, that Christ first conferred the Holy Ghost upon his apostles, and then said, Whose sins ye remit, they are remitted. Thereby intimating, that it is not they, but the Holy Ghost by them, that puts away sin: For who can forgive sin but God only? The power of forgiving sin, that man hath, is only to declare, that if men be truly and really penitent, their sins are forgiven them for the sake of Christ’s satisfaction.