Two unique events took place when Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection. He appeared to His fearful disciples who were shut behind closed doors. Among other words of affirmation, He said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven” (John 20: 22-23).

When Jesus breathed the Spirit into the disciples, they became the first born-again humans on earth. Inside each disciple came the Spirit with the presence and power of God. Jesus also said they would carry the power to forgive sins. 

Several years ago, in a matter of two days, I was able to lead three different people to the Lord. Initially, I could discern their reluctance to follow the Lord. In each case, I simply shared what Jesus came to proclaim, the simple Gospel. I said to each of them, “If the Lord were to appear to you right now and tell you He has forgiven all your sins, what would you say to him?” Each person said without hesitation, “Yes, I would receive Him.” As those words came out of their mouth, I said, “You are forgiven!”

There will always be a variety of interpretations of what Scripture means. I call some of these interpretations theological best guesses. Jesus simply said to His disciples, “If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven.”

I always go to the simplest explanation to affirm the meaning of a text, like a child hearing the words from the Lord. When I was able to present the simplest explanation of the Gospel to three different people, each responded to that simple explanation. I can still remember the shock on their faces when they were given a simple explanation of the Gospel that included them.  We have made the Gospel a complicated subject to explain followed by a lot of personal hoops we demand that people jump through. Jesus kept it simple and so should we.