How Do We Reconcile Jesus Giving Apostles Authority To Forgive Sins With The Belief That Only God Can Forgive Sins?

Q: I thought only God could forgive sins, but in John 20:22–23, Jesus gives the apostles the ability to forgive sins. How do we reconcile this?

A: It's a great question. Jesus gives the apostles the authority to forgive sins. There are a couple of passages in the New Testament that do that. You're making a good observation here. How can it say only God can forgive sins and then seemingly Jesus gives authority or permission to his disciples to forgive sins? Here's how I reconcile the two.

The disciples' ability or power to forgive sin comes underneath God's forgiveness of sin. What they have the right to do and the power to do is to declare sins forgiven in Jesus' name. You could never have a situation where God in heaven looks at sin and says, 'I'm not going to forgive him,' and the apostles come and override that. It's unimaginable.

The idea is pretty simple: the apostles have the ability to pronounce a person forgiven based on their evaluation of that person's repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, under the same basis that John talks about in the letter of First John. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There is tremendous power in hearing a flesh-and-blood human being assure you that you are forgiven. They don't actually have the power to forgive you, especially no power to forgive you in opposition to God. But to hear, 'You are forgiven because you've done what God said you should do to be forgiven,' that’s simply how I would reconcile that.