If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained. John 20: 23

During Jesus’ time on earth, the Jews wanted to stone Him because He said He could forgive sins. They called his claim blasphemous; for they said only God can forgive sins. They were right in their attribution and, of course, Jesus was right in His declaration.

The above verse was spoken by Jesus to His disciples. It has caused some in the religious community, today, to think that the verse gave the disciples, and now gives them, an innate power to pass judgment on others. They are wrong. That right only belongs to God. Only He knows the heart.

The only authority that the disciples had was that of being representative leaders of the church. Jesus gave them, and the church leaders since then, the authority to declare about sin that which is already declared from heaven.

We see this in Matthew 18: 18 (NASB), “Truly I [Jesus] say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” The key words here are “shall have been;” meaning it’s already stated or accomplished.

John 20: 23 is within the same context. In other words, the church can declare to a sinner that their sins have been forgiven if the sinner has repented. (That includes having confessed to God, and having asked for His forgiveness.)

In this way, the church speaks authoritatively because it is acting on God’s word. His word is that all who repent can have assurance that God will have compassion and will cast their sins into the depth of the sea (Micah 7:19).

On the flip side, the church can tell someone that their sin isn’t forgiven; that their sin remains if there isn’t repentance. Again, such a judgment is based upon heaven’s prior proclamation.

In either case, all the church is doing, is saying about sin what God says about sin. By doing so, the church’s action (binding and loosing) has been ratified in heaven.

No matter what they may call themselves – priest, bishop, whatever – the power to remit or retain sins does not come from them. The power originates with and is manifested by the worth of Jesus.

Only God can forgive sins. He does so, obligated by His word only.