Giovanni 20:23
Come è interpretabile secondo te Giovanni 20:23? Oggi ho parlato con una
persona molto convinta di sé, che affermava si trattasse della
confessione sacramentale correlata alla successione apostolica.
Possibile che non ci siano interpretazioni alternative?
"A chi perdonerete i peccati, saranno perdonati; a chi li riterrete, saranno ritenuti".
Se si confronta questo con Matteo 16:19 si vede come "le chiavi" promesse a Pietro sono ora date a tutti gli apostoli e che quindi tutti hanno similmente il potere di aprire e chiudere, di rimettere i peccati e di ritenerli. Il significato di questo è palese quando si osserva, nel Nuovo Testamento, in che modo gli apostoli "rimettano i peccati" e li "ritengano".
Si tratta del grande mandato di predicare l'Evangelo, quel che il Salvatore dà per la prima volta al vs. 21: «Pace a voi! Come il Padre mi ha mandato, anch'io mando voi». Nel vs. 23 troviamo il modo in cui dovranno eseguire questo mandato. Essi, infatti, ricevono lo Spirito Santo [prefigurato al vs. 22: "Detto questo, soffiò su di loro e disse: «Ricevete lo Spirito Santo"] per poter presentare infallibilmente al mondo i termini di questo grande mandato. Il fine del grande mandato è questo: «Così è scritto, che il Cristo avrebbe sofferto e sarebbe risorto dai morti il terzo giorno, e che nel suo nome si sarebbe predicato il ravvedimento per il perdono dei peccati a tutte le genti, cominciando da Gerusalemme" (Luca 24:46-47). Sono così chiari i seguenti fatti:
(1) Gesù ha affidato ai Suoi apostoli il mandato di far conoscere al mondo l'Evangelo.
(2) Egli comanda loro di predicare "la remissione dei peccati".
(3) Egli dà loro una misura del Suo Santo Spirito, e li esorta. "...ma voi, rimanete in questa città, finché siate rivestiti di potenza dall'alto" (Luca 24:49), cioè in occasione della prossima Pentecoste.
(4) In quell'occasione cominciano a predicare "in tutte le lingue" l'Evangelo, i cui termini sono: "Ravvedetevi e ciascuno di voi sia battezzato nel nome di Gesù Cristo,
per il perdono dei vostri peccati, e voi riceverete il dono dello
Spirito Santo" (Atti 2:38).Ecco così come, diretti dallo Spirito Santo, essi "rimettono" o "ritengono" dichiarando i termini secondo i quali Iddio perdona in Cristo. Lo fanno attraverso la loro predicazione. Questa facoltà non è limitata a loro soltanto (in quanto apostoli), ma è concessa a chiunque, dopo di loro, annuncerà questo Evangelo, la parola della riconciliazione: "Così la fede viene da ciò che si ascolta, e ciò che si ascolta viene dalla parola di Cristo" (Romani 10:17); "Infatti Dio era in Cristo nel riconciliare con sé il mondo, non
imputando agli uomini le loro colpe, e ha messo in noi la parola della
riconciliazione" (2 Corinzi 5:19).
Rimettere i peccati o ritenerli, consiste, così, in questo: "Chi avrà creduto e sarà stato battezzato sarà salvato [gli saranno rimessi i peccati]; ma chi non avrà creduto sarà condannato [gli saranno ritenuti]" (Marco 16:16).
L'interpretazione del tuo interlocutore si fonda sui tipici presupposti del Cattolicesimo romano. Presume infatti che per "peccati" qui si intendano singole trasgressioni alla legge di Dio (estranee al contesto di questi brani) che sarebbero "confessabili" ai successori degli Apostoli ed ai loro "delegati autorizzati" i quali, così, impartirebbero o no l'assoluzione. Il sistema sacramentale e sacerdotale del Cattolicesimo, però, è da considerarsi uno sviluppo, un'involuzione istituzionale, dei concetti molto semplici presentati dal Nuovo Testamento. Neghiamo, infatti, che nel Nuovo Testamento vi fossero gerarchie ed istituzioni ecclesiastiche e che alle ordinanze di Cristo (il Battesimo e la Cena) fosse attribuito un qualsivoglia "potere magico" gestibile solo da una casta sacerdotale autorizzata, né tanto meno che vi fossero altri "sacramenti" come la confessione ecc. (formalizzati secoli dopo). Vedere tutto questo nel Nuovo Testamento è una forzatura anacronistica.
I concetti di "rimettere" e "ritenere" i peccati possono senz'altro essere ripresi nell'esercizio della disciplina di chiesa, cioè quanto la comunità cristiana locale attua, attraverso i suoi ministri, per mantenere l'ordine e la disciplina interna. Tutto questo, però, può essere inquadrato in un contesto molto diverso da quello del Cattolicesimo, riflettendo la pratica della chiesa primitiva. Vedasi i concetti di "disciplina di chiesa " e "patto di chiesa".
[Matthew Henry] One particular branch of the power given them by their
commission particularized (v. 23):
"Whosesoever sins you remit, in
the due execution of the powers you are entrusted with, they are remitted to
them, and they may take the comfort of it;
and whosesoever sins you retain,
that is, pronounce unpardoned and the guilt of them bound on,
they are
retained, and the sinner may be sure of it, to his sorrow." Now this
follows upon their receiving the Holy Ghost; for, if they had not had an
extraordinary spirit of discerning, they had not been fit to be entrusted with
such an authority; for, in the strictest sense, this is a special commission to
the apostles themselves and the first preachers of the gospel, who could
distinguish who were in the
gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity, and
who were not. By virtue of this power, Peter struck Ananias and Sapphira dead,
and Paul struck Elymas blind. Yet it must be understood as a general charter to
the church and her ministers, not securing an infallibility of judgment to any
man or company of men in the world, but encouraging the faithful stewards of the
mysteries of God to stand to the gospel they were sent to preach, for that God
himself will stand to it. The apostles, in preaching remission, must begin at
Jerusalem, though she had lately brought upon herself the guilt of Christ's
blood: "Yet you may declare their sins remitted upon gospel terms."
And Peter did so, Acts 2:38; 3:19. Christ, being risen for our justification,
sends his gospel heralds to proclaim the jubilee begun, the act of indemnity now
passed; and by this rule men shall be judged, ch. 12:48; Rom. 2:16; Jam. 2:12.
God will never alter this rule of judgment, nor vary from it; those whom the
gospel acquits shall be acquitted, and those whom the gospel condemns shall be
condemned, which puts immense honour upon the ministry, and should put immense
courage into ministers. Two ways the apostles and ministers of Christ remit and
retain sin, and both as having authority:—[1.] By sound doctrine. They are
commissioned to tell the world that salvation is to be had upon gospel terms,
and no other, and they shall find God will say
Amen to it; so shall their
doom be. [2.] By a strict discipline, applying the general rule of the gospel to
particular persons. "Whom you admit into communion with you, according to
the rules of the gospel, God will admit into communion with himself; and whom
you cast out of communion as impenitent, and obstinate in scandalous and
infectious sins, shall be bound over to the righteous judgment of God."
[Gill]
Whosesoever sins ye remit,.... God only can
forgive sins, and Christ being God, has a power to do so likewise; but
he never communicated any such power to his apostles; nor did they ever
assume any such power to themselves, or pretend to exercise it; it is
the mark of antichrist, to attempt anything of the kind; who, in so
doing, usurps the divine prerogative, places himself in his seat, and
shows himself as if he was God: but this is to be understood only in a
doctrinal, or ministerial way, by preaching the full and free remission
of sins, through the blood of Christ, according to the riches of God's
grace, to such as repent of their sins, and believe in Christ;
declaring, that all such persons as do so repent and believe, all their
sins are forgiven for Christ's sake: and accordingly,
they are remitted unto them; in agreement with Christ's own words, in his declaration and commission to his disciples; see
Mr 16:16. On the other hand he signifies, that
whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained:
that is, that whatsoever sins ye declare are not forgiven, they are not
forgiven; which is the case of all final unbelievers, and impenitent
sinners; who dying without repentance towards God, and faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ, according to the Gospel declaration, shall be
damned, and are damned; for God stands by, and will stand by and
confirm the Gospel of his Son, faithfully preached by his ministering
servants; and all the world will sooner or later be convinced of the
validity, truth, and certainty, of the declarations on each of these
heads, made by them.
[Jamieson, Fausset, Brown]
Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them,
&c.--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
Mt 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.
[Geneva Bible] The publishing of the forgiveness of sins by
faith in Christ, and the setting forth and proclaiming the wrath of God in
retaining the sins of the unbelievers, is the sum of the preaching of the
gospel.
[Johnson]
Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, etc.
It will be seen at once, by a comparison with
Matt. 16:19,
that the keys then promised to Peter are now given to all the apostles,
and all have similar power to open and shut, to remit sin, and to bind.
The meaning is plain when we consider, first, the charge that the
Savior was making, and, secondly, look forward and see how that charge
was carried out; or, in other words, observe the apostles "remitting
sins" and retaining them. It is the Great Commission to preach the
gospel that the Savior gives for the first time in
verse 21.
It is with reference to carrying out that Commission that he speaks in
verse 23.
It was in order that they might present the terms of that Commission
infallibly to the world that the baptism of the Holy Spirit was
imparted, of which there is a foreshadowing in
verse 22.
The great end of that Commission was to declare to men "repentance and
remission of sins"
in the name of Christ. The following facts are manifest: (1) The Savior
gave to his apostles his Commission that they might make known his
will. (2) He bade them preach "remission of sins."
(3) He gave them a measure of the Holy Spirit,
and bade them wait until "endued with power from on high"
by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. (4) When the Holy Spirit fell, they
spoke as it "gave them utterance"
(
Acts 2:4).
(5) They then declared, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, the
terms on which "sins could be remitted." To anxious sinners they
answer, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus
Christ,
for the remission of sins."
Here, then, they, directed by the Holy Spirit, "remit" and "retain"
sins by declaring the terms on which Christ will pardon. Thus, also,
they do in their preaching recorded through the Acts of the Apostles
the very thing that the Savior gave them power to do. This power was
not imparted to a hierarchy, nor to any ecclesiastical body, but to the
apostles, and was fulfilled by them in declaring to the world the
conditions of pardon and condemnation under the Commission of our
Lord.
[Lightfoot]
Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever
sins ye retain, they are retained.
[Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted.] He had formerly given them a
power of 'binding and loosing'; and therefore probably bestows something more upon them
now than what he had conferred before. For,
I. It would seem a little incongruous for our Saviour to use an action so new and
unwonted, such as was his 'breathing upon them,' to vest them only with that power which
he had before given them.
II. The power of 'binding and loosing' was concerned only in the articles and decisions
of the law; this power which he now gives them reached to the sins of mankind. That power
concerned the doctrines; this, the persons of men.
Now that we may understand the words that are before us, let us a little consider what
is said, Luke 24:46: "Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and
to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be
preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." Which words we may
suppose he spoke before he uttered what is in this verse. And so might there not, upon the
occasion of those words, arise some such scruple as this in the apostles' breasts:
"Is it so indeed? must remission of sins be preached to those in Jerusalem who have
stained themselves with the blood of the Messiah himself? 'Yes,' saith he, 'for whose
soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them.'" To this those words of his upon
the cross have some reference, Luke 23:34; "Father, forgive them," &c. And,
indeed, upon what foundation, with what confidence could the apostles have preached
remission of sins to such wretched men, who had so wickedly, so cruelly, murdered their
own Lord, the Lord of life, unless authorized to it by a peculiar commission granted to
them from their Lord himself?
[Whose soever ye retain, they are retained.] Besides the negative included in
these words, that is, "If you do not remit them, they shall not be remitted,"
there is something superadded that is positive. That is,
I. There is granted to them a power of smiting the rebellious with present death, or
some bodily stroke.
II. A power of delivering them over to Satan. Whence had St. Peter that power of
striking Ananias and Sapphira with so fatal a bolt, whence St. Paul that of striking
Elymas blind, whence of delivering over Hymeneus and Alexander to Satan, if not from this
very commission given them by Christ? Christ himself never exercised this power himself.
There was not one person whom he struck either with death or any afflictive disease: some
indeed he raised, when they had been dead, and infinite numbers of the sick and diseased,
whom he cured: he snatched several from the power of the devils; he delivered none
to them. That the apostles therefore might be capable of performing things of so high a
nature, it was necessary they should be backed and encouraged by a peculiar authority:
which if we find not in this clause, "Whose soever sins ye retain, they are
retained," where should we look for it? And therefore, when he endows his apostles
with a power which he never thought fit to exercise in his own person, no wonder if he
does it by a singular and unusual action; and that was 'breathing upon them,' verse 22.
But we must know, that whereas, amongst other mighty powers conferred, we reckon that
as one, viz. 'delivering over unto Satan,' we are far from meaning nothing else by it but
'excommunication.' What the Jews themselves meant by that kind of phrase, let us see by
one instance:
"Those two men of Cush that stood before Solomon, Elihoreph and Ahijah the
scribes, sons of Shausha. On a certain day Solomon saw the angel of death weeping: he
said, 'Why weepest thou?' He answered, 'Because these two Cushites entreat me that they
may continue here.' Solomon delivered them over to the devil, who brought them
to the borders of Luz; and when they were come to the borders of Luz they died."
Gloss: "He calls them Cushites [ironically], because they were very
beautiful. They 'entreat me that they might continue here.' For the time of their death
was now come: but the angel of death could not take their souls away, because it had been
decreed that they should not die but at the gates of Luz. Solomon therefore delivered them
over to the devils; for he reigned over the devils, as it is written, 'And Solomon
sat upon the throne of the Lord, for he reigned over those things that are above, and
those things that are below.'"
Josephus also makes mention of the power that Solomon had over the devils. God
taught him an art against demons. The belief of either of these stories is at the
liberty of the reader. Only from the former we may make this observation, That a power of
'delivering over to Satan' was, even in the Jews' opinion, divine and miraculous. We
acknowledge this to have been in the apostles, and in the apostles only: and I know
nowhere, if not in the words we are now treating of, from whence otherwise the original of
this power and authority can be derived.
III. It seems further, that at this very time was granted to the apostles a commission
to confer the Holy Spirit on those whom they found qualified, and that in these words,
"Receive ye the Holy Ghost": i.e. "Receive ye it to distribute it to
others." For although it cannot be denied but that they received the Holy Ghost for
other reasons also, and to others ends, of which we have already discoursed; yet is not
this great end to be excluded, which seemed the highest and noblest endowment of all, viz.
that Christ breathing upon them inspired them with the Holy Ghost, with this mighty
authority and privilege, that they should be capable of dispensing it to others also.
[Wesley] Whose soever sins ye remit - (According to the tenor of the
Gospel, that is, supposing them to repent and believe) they are
remitted, and whose soever sins ye retain (supposing them to
remain impenitent) they are retained. So far is plain. But here
arises a difficulty. Are not the sins of one who truly repents, and
unfeignedly believes in Christ, remitted, without sacerdotal
absolution? And are not the sins of one who does not repent or
believe, retained even with it? What then does this commission
imply? Can it imply any more than,
1. A power of declaring with authority the Christian terms of
pardon; whose sins are remitted and whose retained? As in our
daily form of absolution; and
2. A power of inflicting and remitting ecclesiastical censures?
That is, of excluding from, and re-admitting into, a Christian
congregation