Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, etc.—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 Matthew 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.
JESUS APPEARS TO THE ASSEMBLED DISCIPLES. (John 20:19-23)
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 (John 14:27), but conveying it into their hearts, even as He "opened their understandings to understand the scriptures" (Luke 24:45).
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing John 20:23:
Psalms 32:1-2
Matthew 18:18
Mark 16:15
John 20:19-23
Acts 20:28
1 Corinthians 5:4
Revelation 1:10
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