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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Retain or forgive sins? | John 20:22 | Tamara Brewington | 204701 | ||
Dear Brother Tim, I have to agree to a point with your interpretation here as to the reason for why Jesus was saying for the disciples to go and forgive the sins of any and to go retain the sins of any. The reason is that you provided compelling evidence of how it would be possible for Jesus to say what He did. You put it in context with the rest of what scripture teaches about what it means to preach a message of reconciliation as being brougth by ambassadors of Christ who have the power to assure people that they have salvation, or to know that they don't and tell them their sins are not forgiven. Val hit on the same thing in different words and that struck me as a rather compelling representation of the function of preaching about salvation as being to present a means for the sinner to be forgiven. And in that sense the preaching would present the opportunity for sins to be forgiven by Jesus. Now that interpretation that you have given makes me wonder why Jesus would be breathing on them the Holy Spirit to make them witnesses when in fact He comes to them in Acts 1:4-8 to tell them to wait for the Holy Spirit to come to them with power so that they can to be His witnesses to do the very same thing you are telling me He was implying for them to do in John 20:22. That does not make sense... If what He was doing in John was breathing the Holy Spirit on them to anoint them and then telling them to go preach the message of recociliation in order to know for the sake of the sinner that they were saved or unsaved, why then does He tell them to wait for the Holy Spirit to come again in order to go preach that same message of reconciliation? I have asked someone before if John MaCarthur's take on John 20:22 is correct, that they did not receive the Holy Spirit, but just a pledge... The answer I received was that the Greek is saying that He blew on or blew in the Holy Spirit on or in them and that this was not a mere pledge. So now, while I can agree with your explanation of using passages which can explain the concept of how sins get forgiven I am left with a question of why Jesus wanted them to wait for something He had already done? God Bless, Tamara |
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2 | Retain or forgive sins? | John 20:22 | Morant61 | 204703 | ||
Greetings Tam! Excellent question! I can't give you anything definitive, but I can suggest two possibilities. 1) John 20:22 may have been a foreshadowing of what was going to happen in Acts 2. Perhaps the disciples received here something that the rest of the church would not receive until Acts 2. 2) Or, another possibility, they did not in fact receive the Holy Spirit until Acts 2. Notice that the text of John 20:22 never specifically says that they received the Holy Spirit. Jesus commands them to, but the text does not specifically say that they did. If pressed, I would probably go with option 2. However, Scripture simply doesn't give us enough to answer the question dogmatically. :) Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |
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3 | Retain or forgive sins? | John 20:22 | Tamara Brewington | 204731 | ||
Dear Tim, I understand we can't answer this dogamtically as to what exactly is meant by Jesus, not by us, that He was breathing, blowing in or on the Holy Spirit on them in terms of the scope of the what the results of that was for them. What, though do you think about the fact that Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit on them, or blew in the Holy Spirit on them? I highly doubt that John meant that as a figurative language denoting a pledge or else he would have used different language to describe what Jesus did. John says Jesus blew in or out, or on, the Holy Spirit on them. As a literal interpretation Jesus did not command them in that passage to receive the Holy Spirit at all, He breathed Him on or in them, He didn't command them that. What He commnaded was to retain or forgive sins. Or are you saying He didn't blow on, or in, or out, the Holy Spirit on them as the text indicates as a literal interpretation? Happy 4th of July to you and your whole family. God Bless, Tamara |
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4 | Retain or forgive sins? | John 20:22 | Morant61 | 204734 | ||
Greetings Tam! Just for clarification, you wrote: "What, though do you think about the fact that Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit on them, or blew in the Holy Spirit on them? I highly doubt that John meant that as a figurative language denoting a pledge or else he would have used different language to describe what Jesus did. John says Jesus blew in or out, or on, the Holy Spirit on them. As a literal interpretation Jesus did not command them in that passage to receive the Holy Spirit at all, He breathed Him on or in them, He didn't command them that. What He commnaded was to retain or forgive sins. Or are you saying He didn't blow on, or in, or out, the Holy Spirit on them as the text indicates as a literal interpretation?" The text never says that Jesus breathed anything on or in them. It simply says "He breathed on them". Secondly, He did command them. The word 'receive' is an imperative. Here is the complete text of the verse again. John 20:22 - "And with that He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit" Have a great 4th my friend, I have to get ready for work. :-) Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |
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