What is the context?
That evening the disciples are behind locked doors because they are afraid. Jesus stands among them, speaks peace, and shows them His hands and side. The risen Lord is the same Jesus who was crucified. Their fear gives way to joy.
Jesus then sends them as the Father sent Him. He breathes on them and tells them to receive the Holy Spirit. Their task is joined to His authority and His gift; it is not something they are expected to carry out by confidence or ability alone.
The words about forgiving and withholding sins belong within that sending. Jesus is commissioning His disciples to serve His work of reconciliation. The passage does not describe permission to grant or refuse forgiveness on a personal whim.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Christians agree that Jesus gives the Spirit and entrusts His followers with a mission involving forgiveness. They differ over how this authority is exercised in the church.
The Catholic Church teaches that God alone forgives sins and that Christ entrusted the ministry of absolution to the apostles. In its Catechism, paragraphs 1441–1449, this authority continues through bishops and priests in the sacrament of reconciliation: forgiveness of sins and restoration of communion with the church.
The Reformed Westminster Confession, chapter 30, connects the church’s keys with the ministry of the gospel and church discipline. The kingdom is opened to repentant sinners through the gospel and release from church censure, and shut against the unrepentant through the Word and discipline. This describes a real responsibility entrusted to church officers, with God’s Word governing its exercise.
The Lutheran Small Catechism’s explanation of the Office of the Keys emphasizes that Christ’s called ministers forgive repentant sinners and withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant by His command. A repentant person can receive that spoken forgiveness as Christ’s own assurance, rather than merely a pastor’s personal opinion.
The relationship to Pentecost also needs care. Wesley on verse 22 describes a gift anticipating Pentecost, and Calvin on verse 22 describes an initial gift before the fuller empowering in Acts 2. These commentators do not take the later Pentecost account to mean that Jesus gives His disciples nothing here.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
The breathing recalls the biblical theme of God giving life: Genesis 2:7 describes God breathing life into the first man, and Ezekiel 37:9–14 joins breath, God’s Spirit and the restoration of Israel. This is a parallel between the passages. John does not explicitly call this scene a fulfillment of either one, and Ezekiel’s promise should still be read in its own setting.
Here the risen Jesus gives His Spirit and sends His disciples to carry the message of forgiveness. New life leads outward into service: His peace is something they receive, and His mission is something they are sent to continue.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.