The Authority of Priests to Forgive Sins

JESUS gave His disciples the AUTHORITY TO FORGIVE SINS, and this authority still stands today through the successors of the early disciples:

JOHN 20:22-23: "As the Father has sent ME, so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained."

 

To say that this given authority lasted only until the death of the early disciples is also to say that JESUS' great commission of preaching the gospel to all nations is only good until the early disciples are alive. Friends, apostolic succession never ceases, the church will also never cease because JESUS promised that "not even the gates of hades shall prevail against her (Mt. 16:18)."

You might assert, "GOD ALONE CAN FORGIVE." But, isn't the same assertion made by the Pharisees questioning the authority of JESUS to forgive sins (Mk.2:7)? True, GOD alone can forgive, JESUS alone can forgive, BUT we should also not discount the fact that, in many occasions, GOD has delegated His authority to His appointed people. Take for example the authority He gave the disciples to cast out demons, the "binding-losing" authority given to Peter (Mt. 18:18), and, of course, the authority to forgive sins (Jn. 20:23), among others.

JESUS, before ascending to heaven, has appointed to us church authorities and the LORD wants us to listen to them and to their successors (Lk. 10:16-17), because through them, the LORD SPEAKS and through them, THE LORD FORGIVES.