Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." (John 20:21-23)
The Holy Spirit it seems was necessary for this kind of forgiveness. Peter's earlier question about how many times he should forgive a brother was a question about one man sinning against another, and of one man forgiving another. But if the Holy Spirit is necessary to forgive sins in the way the apostles are now forgiving sins, then God himself is involved in this forgiveness; that is, the apostles are forgiving sins in the name of God and in the person of Christ.
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