John 20:22,23 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

When he had said this, he breathed on them,— St. Luke, Luke 24:35 informs us, that the disciples from Emmaus told their brethren on this occasion, what things were done in the way. Among the rest, no doubt, they repeated the interpretations which Jesus gave of the prophesies concerning his own sufferings and death; but such a sense of the scriptures being diametrically opposite to the notions which the Jews in general entertained, a peculiar illumination of the Spirit was necessary to enable the apostles to discern it. This illustration they now received from Jesus, who, in token that he bestowed it, breathed upon them, and bade them receive it. See on Matthew 18:2. The effect of this illumination was, that by perceiving the agreement of the thing which had befallen him with the ancient prophesies concerning theMessiah, their minds were quieted, and they were fitted to judge of the present appearance, and of the other appearances which Jesus was to make before his ascension. Further, the expression receive ye the Holy Ghost; may have a relation, not only to the illumination of the Spirit which they now received, but to that which they were to receive afterwards in greater measure. Accordingly, it is added, John 20:23. Whose soever sins ye remit, &c. that is to say, "You are soon to receive the HolyGhost in the fulness of hiscommunications, whereby you will understand the will of God for men's salvation in the most comprehensive manner, and so be qualified to declare the only terms on which men's sins are to be pardoned." Some indeed carry the matter higher, supposing that this is the power of what they call "authoritative absolution;" yet the only foundation on which the apostlesthemselves could claim such a power, must either have been the gift of discerning spirits, which they enjoyed after the effusion of the Holy Ghost, 1 Corinthians 12:10 and by which they knew the secret thoughts of men's hearts, consequently the reality of their repentance; or it must have been some infallible communication of the will of Godconcerning men's future state, which was made to them: For, properly speaking, they neither forgave nor retained sins; they only declared amatter of fact infallibly made known to them by God. In the mean time, to render this interpretation feasible, the general expressions, whose soever sins ye remit, &c. must be very much limited, since it was but a single individual here and there, whose condition in the life to come can be supposed to have been made known to the apostles by revelation. But there cannot be a doubt that they were at the same time blessed with a greater measure of divine love than they had ever before experienced.