<p>20:23- see on Lk. 11:4.</p><p><em>If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained</em>- Grammatically, the &quot;any&quot; refers to any type or class, rather than 'any individual'. This encourages us to understand this as John's version of&nbsp;the great commission to take the Gospel to all kinds of people; see on :21,22. &quot;If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven&rdquo; (Jn. 20:21,23 NIV). These words have always been problematic for me, especially that last phrase. Can God&rsquo;s forgiveness really be limited by the forgiveness shown by fallible men? Yet if these words are taken as a record of the great commission to go and preach, and the ellipsis is filled in, things become clearer: &lsquo;I am sending you to preach the Gospel and baptism of forgiveness; if you do this and men respond, then the Gospel you preach really does have the power to bring about forgiveness. But if you don&rsquo;t fulfil the commission I give you to preach forgiveness, then the sins of your potential hearers will remain unforgiven&rsquo;. Again, the forgiveness and salvation of others is made to depend upon our preaching of forgiveness. &ldquo;Whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained&rdquo; becomes the equivalent of &ldquo;he that believeth not shall be damned&rdquo;. The disciples did not go out into the world and tell some people that they were forgiven and others that they were not. There is no historical account of them doing that at all. Rather we see them going out into the world preaching the good news of forgiveness for any who wished.</p><p>Commentators have noted that the language of retaining here is similar to how the Rabbis spoke, and the basis upon which they either excommunicated or 'received into fellowship'. The Lord is saying that this power is not in their hands, but is in the hands of the preacher of the Gospel. And instead of stipulating who is in and out, they should take the Gospel of God's radical acceptance to the world. This is a powerful challenge to latter day Judaists within Christian churches who think in exactly these categories of receiving into fellowship or putting out of fellowship. That same mentality likewise misses the focus now placed by the Lord on taking the message of fellowship with Him out into the world, and leaving God to decide who finally is 'in' or 'out' on the basis of their acceptance or rejection of His offer.</p><p>The Greek for &lsquo;retain&rsquo; strictly means &lsquo;to hold / bind&rsquo;, and that for &lsquo;remit&rsquo; means &lsquo;to loose&rsquo;. This has evident connection with Mt. 16:19, where the keys of the Gospel of the Kingdom (which we all possess) have the power to bind and loose, i.e. to grant or not grant forgiveness. Jn. 15:8,16 also has some reference to the great commission: &ldquo;&hellip;so shall ye be my disciples&hellip; that <em>ye should go</em> into all the world and bear fruit, and that your fruit converts? should abide&rdquo;. The eternal life of the converts is a fruit brought forth by the preacher&rsquo;s obedience to his Lord&rsquo;s commission. Likewise through the preaching of John, he turned men&rsquo;s hearts- the idea of repentance, being brought about by the preacher (Mal. 4:6).<br />20:24 There's meaning in the fact that Thomas' other name, Didymus, is given (Jn. 20:24). 'Didymus' means literally 'the double', presumably implying he was a twin. But 'Didymus' is a form of the same Greek word we find in Mt. 28:17, describing the 'doubt', literally the doubleness, i.e. the double mindedness, which there was in the disciples. Again, the element of doubt and lack of faith is being emphasized.</p>