**”As the Father has sent me, so I send you...Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (St. John 20, 21-23).**
The Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession/Penance) is given to the apostles by Jesus Christ himself!
The passage in John, 20:19-23 was not given to the Apostles alone but to all disciples which includes us as Christians. This was never supposed to be limited to a priestly line of Bishops and their successes. It is command given to all believers so they can prepare themselves for God’s forgiveness. When you add the proceeding verses 19 & 20 it shows that it was given to the disciples. There is no mention of Apostles and/or of this having been given to them alone to pass on to their successors. This can only be concluded by the Church or anyone else if you only read verses 21-23 and pretend 19-20 do not exist.
John 20:19-23 (American Standard Version)
19 When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
20 And when he had said this, he showed unto them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad, when they saw the Lord.
21 Jesus therefore said to them again, Peace be unto you: as the 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 Spirit:
23 whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
This has nothing to do with the forgiving of sins we commit against God by an earthly human, be it a priest or any one else. All of those sins have all ready been forgiven by God through the finished work of Christ. All we have to do is repent and forgive the sins against us by other humans.
John 20:21-23 deals with those sins committed by others against us. We have to forgive those people for God to be able to forgive our sins against Him.
Christ speaking to binding and loosing and how it is a command for all of us to bind and loose.
Matthew 18:18-35 (New American Standard Bible)
18 “Truly I 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.
19 “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.
20 “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”
Forgiveness
21 Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
23 “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.
24 “When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him.
25 “But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made.
26 “So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’
27 “And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt.
28 “But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’
29 “So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’
30 “But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed.
31 “So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened.
32 “Then summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.
33 ‘Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’
34 “And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.
35 “My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”
This is the biblical meaning of binding and loosing. You have to forgive to be forgiven. It has nothing to do with priests and confessionals. How arrogant and/or deceived can a man be that he thinks he has the right to forgive sins for God and the wisdom to determine a just punishment/penitence.
What bothers me is how few, if any, people understand this principle and what effect it will have on their salvation because of how the Church has misrepresented this important truth. BnB