Retain or Forgive

If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained. (John 20:23)

This verse has been a severely perplexing one for me for as long as I can remember. Something about the way it has been translated in nearly every version of the Bible just comes across in conflict with most of what I am learning about the nature of God's character. Either there is a major revelation needed about God that I have not yet seen (and that is always likely the case in many areas), or quite possibly the religious biases of translators has infected the renditions of this text to reflect the way they tended to view things. At this point I am leaning more toward the latter.

When I read this verse again this morning I stopped and asked God's Spirit to unpack this for me. I know God is willing to answer such requests, for He assures us that the Spirit is ready and eager to teach each one who is humble and open to learning more truth about God from His Word.

One thought that came to my mind was to begin looking for what others might have written about this. But I immediately dismissed that thought, for to do so would be like an act of unbelief on my part, assuming that God is unwilling to share truth with me firsthand. I have learned over recent years that God is far more faithful when we give Him a chance than we are often ready to believe. And when I give Him opportunity to teach me directly from the Word and by His Spirit, He has many times ravished my heart with surprising and refreshing revelations I could have never dreamed of and that I might never find by looking for other's opinions.

That is not to say I should never learn from others. I believe that God also speaks to anyone ready to be guided and taught by His Spirit. Different people may see different things in various passages, for each person has a unique perspective on life and truth. But I have come to believe that God wants each of us to come to Him directly first and give Him first chance at teaching us great things which we never before imagined before we chase off to study other people's opinions, whether they be inspired or not. By allowing God first place as our teacher and personal tutor, I believe we may find real truth much quicker and then He may lead us to similar revelations He has given to others to confirm and solidify what He has shown us.

That was a lot to explain a very simple point. But I feel compelled to explain myself sometimes which can take far longer than maybe necessary.

As a result of choosing to seek God as my tutor first to explain this verse for me, I decided to go to the Greek and see what clues I might find there. Almost immediately I began to see that the way this has usually been translated is not necessarily reflective of what Jesus was trying to get across. Rather, what I found there was far simpler than how it comes across in English. And although I lack training in how to read Greek and there may likely be much more there than my abilities can grasp, I highly suspect that a lot of preconceptions have also gotten mingled into the way most translations render this verse.

In the Greek there are far less words in this verse than what we see in English. But those words seem very potent to me, especially after studying in depth the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 18 that I have come to believe constitute the very heart of the message of salvation. In that chapter I was exposed to stupendous truths that I had never encountered before as I soaked in it intensely for over three months. What I discovered there were clear instructions on how we are to relate to offenses, which is translated from the very same Greek word that is here translated sin.

What I find very significant in this verse in the Greek is the lack of something that is often emphasized in the English renditions. In many translations it appears that Jesus is almost implying that the disciples were given some sort of authority to control whether other people could be forgiven of their sins or not. The way that so many translations read makes it sound like they were given authority commensurate with God to decide who should be pardoned and who would not. Quite possibly this slant was inserted into the text by subsequent people with vested interests in asserting assumed divine authority to intimidate and control others in ways that not even God uses. Abuse of authority has long been a serious problem in religion and Bible versions have too often been manipulated to imply support for such ideas even though they are out of harmony with its original intent.

Another problem with understanding this verse comes from so many people's serious misunderstanding about the whole issue of forgiveness. For anyone not clear on the real truth about forgiveness (and that includes most in my opinion at this point), it can be very confusing to figure out what Jesus was trying to say here.

If a person assumes that forgiveness is more along the lines of a pardon from God rather than an issue of holding onto or letting go of a grudge/offense, then what I am about to share will only be confusing. I have shared extensively on much of what I am learning about forgiveness elsewhere, and it is important to have that as the context for looking at this verse. But in short, what has become clear to me is that our problem with sin is not over an offended God waiting for us to grovel or impress Him enough in order to convince Him to let go of offenses He holds against us. Rather, the obstacles that prevent us from being reconciled to God are the offenses we hold against others as well as against Him. God is not our problem; the lies we believe about Him are our problem.

In the Greek there are different words that have been translated into the same English word forgiveness. This is one cause for much of our confusion in trying to understand the issue of forgiveness. Herb Montgomery is one of the best explainers of this concept and I highly recommend listening to his explanations of the two main words in the Greek related to this. Those words in Greek are aphiemi and charizomai. The difference in meaning between these two words that are both translated forgiveness are stunning and even liberating for those fearful that God has not forgiven them or struggling to know how to forgive others from the heart.

What I found in this verse by looking at the Greek is that it is very simple and straightforward, almost simplistic in nature. It is almost as if Jesus is stating the obvious so simply that it borders on insulting. But because of the dullness of the disciples who had been so intent on believing Jesus had come to carry out the agenda of the Jewish nation rather than to reveal the truth about God's character of love, Jesus had to make His point as direct and plain as possible to redirect their attention to what was most important for them to think about. That's what I sense when looking at this passage in its context.

In the Greek I see only 6 different words in this text. Two of them make up the word whosoever, so that leaves only four other words for the rest of the verse. Let me attempt to simplify it as close to the Greek version of this verse as I can in a rough transliteration of the verse. Here is the first part.

Anyone, whomever, offenses forgiven reflexively.

What I find compelling in the first half of this verse is that it strongly seems to suggest that forgiveness is more about the person doing it, letting go of the offense within their own heart, rather than what is happening to anyone else. The last word in this first phrase in the Greek refers to the person doing the forgiving, not the person being forgiven. This is very consistent with everything I learned about forgiveness in Matthew 18 where Jesus is trying to show us how important it is to let go of all offenses against everyone. This focuses attention squarely on how holding onto any offense poisons our own soul instead rather than making it an issue of keeping our blame focused on anyone else.

This fits very closely with the principle Jesus brought on in what is called 'The Lord's Prayer'.

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions. (Matthew 6:12, 14-15)

Here is my rendition of the second half of this verse.

Anyone, whoever, retains.

Yes, it really is that simplistic. There seems to be no inferences at all in the original implying that something we do can control other people's ability to be forgiven or not. Rather the entire point of these words of Jesus appears to me to be all about the effect that our choices have on ourselves and how to relate to the offenses inside of our hearts. If we refuse to let go of offenses they always react back on ourselves more than anyone else.

I looked through a number of versions for this text and found some that seem to be closer to what I am finding in the original. Here is one of them.

Whenever you forgive sins, they are forgiven. Whenever you don't forgive them, they are not forgiven.

(John 20:23 GW)

This reminds me of when a child has to be told something that should be obvious and very simple, yet because they are so confused they have to hear it in its simplest form. I sense that this is just what Jesus was seeking to do with His disciples becaue their minds were so full of confusion they could not make much sense out of anything at that point.

These men had possibly become so depressed from how events had gone totally opposite of what they had expected over the past two days that they felt like they had lost all hope. And in one respect it might have been a good thing, for their hopes had long been misplaced in that they had been clinging so strongly to false expectations shared with their fellow Jews as to what the Messiah was supposed to do for them. Jesus had not yet gotten their attention away from all their own goals and dreams and expectations for both themselves as well as what they wanted from Him. Now He needed to rivet their focus on what they must think about in the present to move them in a new and different direction from where they had been trying to go for so long.

On top of that, consider all the injustice and violence they had just witnessed against their Master. They were very likely in danger of being seriously poisoned with the bitterness that springs from dwelling on such injustice. If all the offenses they had witnessed over the past few days were allowed to occupy their hearts, they would be in serious danger of slipping into the pit in which Satan traps all who follow that path. In the book of Hebrews it is called the 'root of bitterness.' This is an evil root-cellar that no one should fall into. Forgiveness was the key to their freedom, and Jesus was keen to remind them of this so they could begin to come into harmony with His way of living and His spirit.

Our greatest danger from sin is not only the damage that it causes all around us, but most of all the damage that holding onto an offense causes in our own heart. Holding onto offenses is sin, and in the Greek it is the same word. When this becomes clearer in our thinking it can begin to make more sense to us why God never needs to let go of an offense – for God never sins! This begins to explain why God's forgiveness – the absence of offenses in His heart – is unconditional, for He never allows offenses to reside in His heart to start with.

Many of our assumptions about God's forgiveness mistakenly involves thinking that we need to get Him to change His feelings towards us, to convince Him to let go of His offenses over our sins against Him. And while this is nearly always the case in our relationships to the sins others commit against us, it is never the case in our relationship with God. God never, ever takes offense or He could not be sinless. Once we get that straight in our head we can begin to better understand the real power in the truth about forgiveness and how it relates to each person involved.

Quite likely the disciples were harboring feelings of offense towards those who had just crucified Jesus. In addition, that very morning Mary and other women had shown up claiming to have seen Jesus personally, yet the text seems to indicate that they had refused to believe the women. Very possibly these men had taken offense at the women, thinking that if indeed it were true that Jesus was alive, He should have come to the men first instead of only revealing Himself to women and expecting the men to believe only on their testimony.

To allow women to be legal witnesses was completely contrary to all custom and tradition for them, so it is easy to see why these disciples simply could not bring themselves to have that much faith simply based on the testimony of some 'sentimental, emotional women'. After all, the testimony of any woman was not even acceptable in their court systems so they likely felt justified in refusing to believe their testimony no matter how insistent the women were that they were speaking firsthand truth.

Given what John records about what happened when Jesus did finally appear to the men, it seems clear to me that His actions were something along the line of a rebuke to them, not unlike when He reprimanded Thomas for his unbelief. Jesus had to explicitly show them the wounds in His hands and side in order to convince them that He was indeed alive. This was far more evidence than any of the women had needed in order to believe in Him, and it is a sad narrative of the penchant all too many of us have as we resist embracing the truth about God's attitudes and His love towards us.

God's most difficult obstacle in the war to win us to faith in Him is the pride and unbelief fueled by the offenses harbored in our hearts. The major problem that sin causes within us preventing us from trusting fully in God is caused by the offenses that we cling to, refusing to let them go freely like Jesus demonstrated at the cross. The disciples were still a long way from emulating the example of Jesus they had just witnessed over the past few days, for they had much still to change to become more like Him. That is why I believe Jesus started His this teaching session with them by making a most fundamental point to begin – let go of all your offenses. When you let go of the offenses that are poisoning your hearts, then you will be freed to begin to grow more in grace and be empowered to embrace more glorious truths that I came to share with you.

In essence, what I hear Jesus saying to them in this verse, as well as to me, is this:

Anyone who chooses to let go of offenses will be free of offense. The main point here is freedom.

Anyone who refuses to let go of an offense will be entrapped by his refusal.

What Jesus is expressing here is yet another of the fundamental principles of reality that governs all of God's creation. It is similar to what He had said to Peter in the garden earlier – those who take up the sword will die by the sword. He had also articulated it in His teachings much earlier when He pointed out that the measure we choose to use against others will be the measure that will be used against us.

Tellingly, this verse comes directly after Jesus breathed on them and then in essence begged them to receive the Holy Spirit. This verse too has long been a bit mysterious to me until placed in the context that I am now seeing here. I believe Jesus was intent on getting His disciples to move in an entirely different direction from where they had ever gone before. He longed for them to see reality from a completely new perspective, from heaven's perspective. But they were still so caught up in their confused notions of what constituted the God's kingdom that they were still resistant to accepting the Spirit of Truth that He was longing to impart to them.

Notice that it does not say they were actually filled with the Spirit. It only indicates that He invited them to receive it. I suspect that if they had let go of their offenses and unbelief right then that they might have experienced an outpouring of the Holy Spirit right then. But they were still too full of confusion and offenses at this point to accept what Jesus longed to give to them, so they had to wait for another 50 days before they were finally emptied of all their offenses. Then they became receptive to this wonderful gift that Jesus had offered them right from the start.

I hear Jesus speaking to my own heart here too. I still feel all too dull of understanding and still have subconscious offenses deep inside against people who have wounded me in the past. I long to be freed of all these offenses and to also receive this gift of the Holy Spirit. I am sure Jesus is just as eager to breathe it on me as He was to impart it to those disciples. But quite likely it is the offenses still resident inside of me that prevents Him from having the space He needs to function effectively inside me. Like the disciples I am still filled with to many false notions of how the kingdom looks like or is supposed to operate. I need much more grace and healing and bonding into the body of Christ before I will be ready for that outpouring of power that will shake the world around me.

God, give me more grace along with more truth. Do whatever it takes to cleanse me of all offenses and resistance to You so that I can be liberated to become a clean and efficient channel of Your power and love and truth to the world around me.