John 20:22,23 - Receive the Holy Spirit

20:22

Having just told them that He was sending them out as the Father had sent Him, so Jesus breathes on them saying “Receive the Holy Spirit”. Now we know that Pentecost was the great event that marked the receiving of the Holy Spirit, so what is this all about? Did they receive the Holy Spirit to some measure here, or was it purely symbolic, foreshadowing what would happen later? Well one thing we can be absolutely certain about is that their fulfilling of the mission was intimately connected with working together with the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit would be with them, and within them. All this is entirely consistent with all that Jesus has been teaching them from chapter 14 onwards.

So was it purely symbolic? I suspect not. The Holy Spirit is a person and we have a relationship with Him, He is not a force, and there are levels in a relationship. So Pentecost  marked the “marriage” , if you like, between the Spirit and the church, but this does not mean the disciples had no relationship with Him at all until that point. It is also worth noting that there are several major “fillings” of the Holy Spirit that occur after that. We have an ongoing, developing and empowering relationship with the Holy Spirit.

20:23

Now this verse is interesting and difficult to interpret. The Greek could be translated “they have been forgiven” rather than “they are forgiven”, likewise for “it is withheld”. It is probably best to understand this as part of the church's mission. The gospel is a message of forgiveness for sin. It is not the church that forgives, rather we proclaim God’s forgiveness to all who repent and believe. The forgiveness has already been earned by Jesus on the cross. Now this interpretation is fine for the first part of the verse and makes good sense, but what then about the second? “If you withhold ...”. Does it mean that the church can refuse forgiveness to people? Does it mean that if we don’t preach the gospel to a group of people then they are not forgiven? Well, as a church, we certainly should seek to proclaim the gospel to all peoples. Or, and I think this the most likely but I am not sure, does it mean that the gospel is the only means of forgiveness. So if someone refuses the gospel then they are refusing the only offer of forgiveness that there is?