Misinterpretations often claim this grants priests or clergy personal, infallible power to forgive sins arbitrarily, as in mandatory sacramental confession, ignoring the context of gospel proclamation and reliance on the Spirit rather than human merit; others wrongly limit it exclusively to the apostles, denying its ongoing application to the church, or misconstrue it as coercive control over salvation apart from repentance and faith.
John 20:23
King James Version (1769)
23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
Jesus commissions his disciples with divine authority, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to declare the forgiveness of sins to those who repent and believe the gospel, and to affirm the retention of sins for those who reject it, underscoring their role in God's ministry of reconciliation and the church's proclamation of salvation on earth that aligns with heaven's decree.