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- Jun 10, 2015
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- Married
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John 20:21-23 "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’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Jesus gives the authority of the Church, the office of the keys. He gives the authority to forgive or withhold forgiveness. This does not mean that our sins were not atoned for by Jesus and it does not say those sins are not forgiven by God. The binding key is the announcement that the unrepentant sinner refuses to repent and desires to remain in his sin, which is rejecting the grace given to him. Forgiveness is received by faith and if we reject that we are sinning we reject the forgiveness won for that sin...so the connection of the binding key is that the sinner refuses to believe in his sin which rejects the forgiveness.
Jesus gives the authority of the Church, the office of the keys. He gives the authority to forgive or withhold forgiveness. This does not mean that our sins were not atoned for by Jesus and it does not say those sins are not forgiven by God. The binding key is the announcement that the unrepentant sinner refuses to repent and desires to remain in his sin, which is rejecting the grace given to him. Forgiveness is received by faith and if we reject that we are sinning we reject the forgiveness won for that sin...so the connection of the binding key is that the sinner refuses to believe in his sin which rejects the forgiveness.