John 20:19-23
19-23. the same day at evening, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus—plainly not by the ordinary way of entrance.
and saith unto them Peace be unto you—not the mere wish that even His own exalted peace might be theirs (Joh 14:27), but conveying it into their hearts, even as He "opened their understandings to understand the scriptures" (Lu 24:45).20. And when he had so said, he showed them his hands and his side—not only as ocular and tangible evidence of the reality of His resurrection (See on Lu 24:37-43), but as through "the power of that resurrection" dispensing all His peace to men.
Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.21. Then said Jesus—prepared now to listen to Him in a new character.
Peace be unto you. As my Father hath sent me, so send I you—(See on Joh 17:18).22. he breathed on them—a symbolical conveyance to them of the Spirit.
and saith, Receive ye the Holy Ghost—an earnest and first-fruits of the more copious Pentecostal effusion.23. Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, &c.—In any literal and authoritative sense this power was never exercised by one of the apostles, and plainly was never understood by themselves as possessed by them or conveyed to them. (See on Mt 16:19). The power to intrude upon the relation between men and God cannot have been given by Christ to His ministers in any but a ministerial or declarative sense—as the authorized interpreters of His word, while in the actings of His ministers, the real nature of the power committed to them is seen in the exercise of church discipline.
Joh 20:24-29. JESUS AGAIN APPEARS TO THE ASSEMBLED DISCIPLES.