“He breathed on them and said: Receive the Holy Spirit. If you Forgive the sins of any, they are Forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” ~ Jesus (John 20:22-23)

 

It is extremely important to keep in mind here that Jesus was a firm & indeed an avid believer that every one of us was just as innately “holy” as he was choosing to be during his ministry (see John 12:44-47) – that we all contain the Holy Spirit within us at all times (see John 14:20), that we all have within us the “breath of God” (see John 14:26), that we all had the power to forgive others their trespasses against us – thereby freeing them to “become saved” by doing the same (see Matthew 6:14-15 & Mark 11:25).

Just as important, this passage makes it equally clear that it is we who retain the sins of others when we refuse to forgive them the same – that it is we who retain the pain and the anger and the resentment and the shame – and that it is we who actually imprison those others in their sins by refusing to use our power of forgiveness to open for them a doorway of atonement; by denying them unconditional Love – the same denial from their youth that inspired the feelings of low self-worth that inspired their transgressions against us in the first place.

 

Filed under: My Favorite Verses by Scaughdt