Thank you for the post and scriptural references. Just curious but what do the Calvinists do with John 20:23?
http://home.netcom.com/~jealsup/b2151.html
21 Therefore [Jesus] said to them again, “Peace to you (pl.). Just as the Father commission-sent (Gr. “apostello”) me I also send forth (Gr. “pempo”) you (pl.). 22 And having said this thing he breathed on (Gr. “emphusao”) and says to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 Of whomever you might forgive the sins they are forgiven to them, of whomever you (pl.) hold fast, they are/have been held fast.
I would suggest this is not so much a power as it is a privilege. The word “retain” is the powerful word “kratos”: holding on to something even for one's own use. I believe that if we forgive the sins of another both giver and recipient are set free of the cosequenses. “If you forvive the sins of any they are forgiven.”
We must ask if sins are retained, “By whom?” “If you do not forgive the sins of any they are retained.” This speaks of the sin retained by the one who does not forgive; this no longer speaks of the one who committed the sin. From psychology we know that we tend to become the very things we hate. This verse is a bondage breaker; through forgiveness we can prevent sin to repeat itself in history from generation to generation.