Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them

 

Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them

 

John 20:21-23 “Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.』

Those who have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit are called saints. In other words, they are those who have been born again through water and the Holy Spirit. Water baptism symbolizes death to sin and death to the world. Therefore, just as God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, he raises saints through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

We must know exactly whether the saint has received the power to forgive sins from Christ or is a person who teaches the principles and doctrines of forgiveness of sins.

Mark 2:9-12『Whether is it easier to say, “Sick of the palsy,” Thy sins will be forgiven thee; or to say, “Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?” But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,)I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We have never seen it on this fashion.』A certain scribe heard what Jesus said and said, “This is blasphemy.” He said that only God can forgive sins, so what authority does a human, Jesus, have to forgive sins?

Matthew 28:18-20 says, "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." The Bible says that God has given Jesus Christ all authority in heaven and on earth. 1 Corinthians 1:24 says, "But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God."

However, Jesus gave this power to the twelve disciples. Matthew 10:1 "And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease." "Casting out demons and healing the sick" means forgiving sins and making the kingdom of God come.

Luke 10:9-10 "And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say," Jesus grants authority to the seventy so that the kingdom of God may come. Casting out demons is the work of changing sinners into righteous people. In order to change from sinners to righteous people, we must repent and become dead to sin. The sacrificial offering plays that role, and we can say that it is the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Before Jesus died on the cross, he gave authority to his disciples, and after his resurrection, he breathed the Holy Spirit into his disciples and granted them the authority to forgive sins. Jesus himself did these things to his disciples.

What about the saints today? The saints are those who have a temple built in their hearts. The old temple has collapsed and a new temple has been built in heaven, and the kingdom of God has come. In the past, the temple of Israel had a sanctuary and a most holy place. The most holy place contained the ark of the covenant, which contained the two stone tablets, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant, according to Hebrews. In Hebrews 9:4, "Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;" These three symbolize the Father, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, Christ is present in the new temple. After His resurrection, Jesus Christ promised His disciples that He would come soon.

John 14:1-3 『Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.』

When the temple in the soul is established, it becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 3:16 “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” The presence of the Holy Spirit of God is the presence of God and the presence of Christ. Today, church people may think that the Father, Christ, and the Holy Spirit exist separately, but the theory of the Trinity is that God is one. To humans, it may seem that God works as three persons, but the important thing is that God is one. Therefore, in the temple of God in the soul, the Father, Christ, and the Spirit of the saints work as one through the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, when the resurrected Christ ascends to heaven and returns to the soul of the saints, the saints become the temple and the kingdom of God.

This is a fact that only those who possess faith from heaven can realize. Those who do not believe this only believe in words that they are the temple, but the power of God does not work. Faith is too difficult to explain in words. Because it is not a faith that one believes in, but a faith that comes from heaven. Galatians 3:23-24 says, "But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith."

In today's church community, those who perform the baptism ceremony are those who graduated from theological seminaries and were ordained as pastors. The baptism ceremony is an act of declaring that one has died to sin. It is not an act of declaring that one has become a citizen of the kingdom of God. When one is declared dead to sin, the sinner is freed from sin. This is because the dead have no right of prosecution. Therefore, God gives new life because they are free from sin. There are two problems today. People are baptizing without knowing the meaning of the baptism ceremony, and since only those who graduated from theological seminaries and were ordained as pastors perform baptism, it is a strange logic that only pastors are granted the power that Jesus' disciples receive. How many fake pastors are there today? The truth of the Bible is being distorted.

The power that Jesus Christ gives to his disciples is not given to graduates of theological seminaries, but to saints who are born again of water and the Holy Spirit. However, those who call themselves saints do not participate in the ceremony of forgiveness of sins. Even though the kingdom of God (heaven) comes into the hearts of saints, if they do not even know what the kingdom of God (heaven) is, they are not saints.

The baptism of forgiveness of sins is not in the ritual, but in the word. When a believer repents of being a sinner, realizes the meaning of the death and resurrection of the cross, and believes that he dies in union with Jesus Christ and is resurrected in union with Him, this becomes baptism (water baptism and the baptism of the Holy Spirit). Baptism is not in the ritual, but is circumcision of the heart. Circumcision means that the flesh has died. If a saint believes that he has received the power to forgive sins from Christ, he must exercise the power to forgive sins in the name of Jesus Christ while preaching the gospel to those who repent.