Joh 20:23 | KingComments | STEP | The Lord wishes them His peace a second time. The first time it was to make them personally partakers of that peace. Now it is as the starting point of their mission, to which He gives them the commission immediately following. To fulfill that mission they must stand in peace ( ). Into that peace He has brought them by the forgiveness of sins through His death, so that they may now bear witness to that in the world. Their mission He gives the same character as the mission with which the Father sent Him. This means that they must also do what He has done, which is to make the Father known ( ). They will do this by speaking of the Son, proclaiming Him and glorifying Him. He is the object of their testimony. After giving them His peace and instructing them to go into the world, He breathes on them. In doing so, He makes them partakers of His resurrection life. Before He became Man, as Creator, He had breathed the breath of life into Adam’s nostrils ( ). As a result, Adam became a living soul ( ). But the Lord Jesus is a life-giving spirit. He demonstrates this by now breathing on the disciples the breath of heavenly, eternal life, His own life, His resurrection life. This life is marked by the Holy Spirit Who gives the power to reveal that life. Their mission of proclamation implies that they show the eternal life, which is the Lord Jesus. The Holy Spirit always participates in the closest way in every blessing. It is important to see that Christ is not here giving the Holy Spirit as a Person to His disciples. As a Person, the Holy Spirit will come to earth entirely according to what He has said about it only when He has gone to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit from Him. That happens on the day of Pentecost. These are two different events. The breathing in of resurrection life takes place on earth and only applies to the apostles. The coming of the Holy Spirit takes place from heaven and concerns all believers who are formed into one body at that time. After the blessing received for the purpose of witnessing in the world, there is also a responsibility regarding others. Those who do not have this life are all sinners, without distinction between Jew and Gentile. On all sinners lies the judgment of God. But there is also grace. From that grace, the Lord instructs His disciples to forgive sins to all who accept their word and come to faith in the Lord Jesus. To forgive sins for eternity can only be done by God ( ). Once a person has confessed his sins, he may know that God has forgiven his sins ( ). It is then up to the disciples to acknowledge and ratify that forgiveness received from God. Such a person is accepted into the Christian fellowship. If they see that someone only outwardly professes to be a believer, they do not speak it out, thus such a person is not included in the Christian fellowship. The issue is the acknowledgment of someone as a believer or the refusal thereof. Practically, this happens in baptism. Then someone is acknowledged as a follower of the Lord Jesus. The baptizer forgives the sins of the person being baptized, that is, he accepts the person being baptized as accepted by God. We see the same principle when it comes to the church. Receiving believers to the Lord’s Table involves an acknowledgment of the forgiveness of one’s sins. By receiving such a person, the church is saying that the sins of such a person are forgiven. If the church refuses to receive someone on the basis of sins present and not judged, it means that such a person keeps his sins. That changes when he confesses his sins. Then he can be accepted as one whose sins have been forgiven and be received at the Table of the Lord.

‏ John 20:23

The Mission

The Lord wishes them His peace a second time. The first time it was to make them personally partakers of that peace. Now it is as the starting point of their mission, to which He gives them the commission immediately following. To fulfill that mission they must stand in peace (Eph 6:15). Into that peace He has brought them by the forgiveness of sins through His death, so that they may now bear witness to that in the world.

Their mission He gives the same character as the mission with which the Father sent Him. This means that they must also do what He has done, which is to make the Father known (Jn 17:18). They will do this by speaking of the Son, proclaiming Him and glorifying Him. He is the object of their testimony.

After giving them His peace and instructing them to go into the world, He breathes on them. In doing so, He makes them partakers of His resurrection life. Before He became Man, as Creator, He had breathed the breath of life into Adam’s nostrils (Gen 2:7). As a result, Adam became a living soul (1Cor 15:45). But the Lord Jesus is a life-giving spirit. He demonstrates this by now breathing on the disciples the breath of heavenly, eternal life, His own life, His resurrection life.

This life is marked by the Holy Spirit Who gives the power to reveal that life. Their mission of proclamation implies that they show the eternal life, which is the Lord Jesus. The Holy Spirit always participates in the closest way in every blessing.

It is important to see that Christ is not here giving the Holy Spirit as a Person to His disciples. As a Person, the Holy Spirit will come to earth entirely according to what He has said about it only when He has gone to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit from Him. That happens on the day of Pentecost.

These are two different events. The breathing in of resurrection life takes place on earth and only applies to the apostles. The coming of the Holy Spirit takes place from heaven and concerns all believers who are formed into one body at that time.

After the blessing received for the purpose of witnessing in the world, there is also a responsibility regarding others. Those who do not have this life are all sinners, without distinction between Jew and Gentile. On all sinners lies the judgment of God. But there is also grace. From that grace, the Lord instructs His disciples to forgive sins to all who accept their word and come to faith in the Lord Jesus.

To forgive sins for eternity can only be done by God (Mk 2:7). Once a person has confessed his sins, he may know that God has forgiven his sins (1Jn 1:9). It is then up to the disciples to acknowledge and ratify that forgiveness received from God. Such a person is accepted into the Christian fellowship. If they see that someone only outwardly professes to be a believer, they do not speak it out, thus such a person is not included in the Christian fellowship.

The issue is the acknowledgment of someone as a believer or the refusal thereof. Practically, this happens in baptism. Then someone is acknowledged as a follower of the Lord Jesus. The baptizer forgives the sins of the person being baptized, that is, he accepts the person being baptized as accepted by God.

We see the same principle when it comes to the church. Receiving believers to the Lord’s Table involves an acknowledgment of the forgiveness of one’s sins. By receiving such a person, the church is saying that the sins of such a person are forgiven. If the church refuses to receive someone on the basis of sins present and not judged, it means that such a person keeps his sins. That changes when he confesses his sins. Then he can be accepted as one whose sins have been forgiven and be received at the Table of the Lord.