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NASB | John 20:22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and *said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 20:22 And when He said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. [Acts 1:8; 2:1-3] |
Subject: Retain or forgive sins? |
Bible Note: Dear Colin, I'm glad, at least, that sola Scriptura is not yet a casualty of your doctrine. This passage in James is bearing for you an enormous amount of weight. You are, at least, not entirely alone in this interpretation. Although wholly rejected in the Reformation, the Roman Church reaffirmed their authority concerning the administration of general sacramental absolution (see Council of Trent, session 14, Canones de Sacramento Paenitentiae 4, 6 through 9), anathematizing everyone else. They use this particular passage, though, to support their teaching of "extreme unction" -- the, so-called, "last rights." Of course, they'd limit all this through the authority of apostolic succession, wherein they believe that Christ zotted the apostles, who zotted the elders, who zotted the pastors, who zotted ... etc. etc. If the zotting chain is broken, I guess, it all falls apart. Let's read the whole passage, in context. (I rather like Gary Zeolla's Analytical-Literal Translation of the New Testament, which I'll use here, if you don't mind.) Is anyone enduring hardship among you? Let him be praying. Is any being cheerful? Let him be singing praises. Is any sick among you? Let him summon the elders of the assembly [or, the church]. And let them pray over him, having anointed him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will cure the one being ill, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven to him. You yourselves be confessing your transgressions to one another, and be praying for one another, in order that you shall be healed [or, restored]. [The] petition of a righteous [person] itself has very powerful [or, many supernatural] effects. (James 5:13-16) Now, the Romanist exegetes have one up on you, Colin. They admit that the passage, in context, applies to those who are ill as the consequence of particular sin. They do not use it as a blanket authorization for the church's authority to forgive sins through confession. Interesting, though, that the causal connection you suggest isn't really necessary -- at least, in English. In other words, we don't see that the conditional "if he has committed sins..." doesn't necessarily mean "if the elders pray for him and he has committed sins..." One would think that the Holy Spirit might have rendered this causal connection a bit more clearly. After all, He is pretty emphatic about the remission of sins in Exodus 34:7; Psalm 32:1-2; 103:3; 130:4; Isaiah 43:25; 55:6-7; Jeremiah 31:34; Daniel 9:9, 19; Micah 7:18; Luke 5:20; 7:47-50; Acts 2:38; 10:43; 13:38-39; 26:18; Romans 3:24-26; 4:6-8; Ephesians 1:7; 4:32; Colossians 2:13; 3:13; Hebrews 10:17-18; 1 John 1:7-9. It is a blessing that He doesn't call us to build our doctrines entirely on the basis of a single Scripture. Perhaps Pastor Tim will be kind enough to shed a bit of light on the Greek in James 5:15. In Him, Doc |