“Then the Son of man left this earth. But not before handing over the job of remitting sins to his ordained men (John 20:23).”
John 20:23 doesn’t give authority to a sinful man to forgive sins, but instead it gave authority to the apostles to write the Holy Scripture which is the Word of God and cleanses us by faith in Jesus Christ, John 15:3, John 13:10, Romans 10:17.
“They began to do so in Acts 2:38.”
How you extrapolate that the Apostle forgave the sins and not God in Acts 2:38 proves either that you are repeating what you have read somewhere else or have a serious reading comprehension problem or both you choose.
You say his word cleanses us. Do you believe Acts 2:38 is his word?