John 20

He comes and stands among them with the ordinary Hebrew blessing that here is not ordinary: Peace be with you. Locked fear does not keep him out, and the greeting is a genuine word to frightened people.

Peace is spoken to a room that can still refuse it. They are gathered; Thomas is not (v. 24). Presence and greeting are sincere gifts. Wesley will tie the next peace to a minister’s own soul—this first peace is the Lord’s to a church that has not yet been sent.

Calvin: it did not happen without providence that all were assembled; Christ acted gently in not keeping them in suspense past evening. Shut doors prove weakness, yet they did not scatter—an example to struggle against flesh, not indulge fear into apostasy. Thomas, like a wandering soldier, withdrew from the standard of union and is justly deprived of this favor for now.

He stood among them though doors were shut—a miracle of presence, not a proof that his body is infinite or passed through planks like a ghost. Peace is “may you be well,” the risen Lord’s gift to a trembling flock he will not abandon.

Hands and side: the cross is still readable on the living man. Gladness follows sight. John will need this when Thomas demands the same wounds. The Lord offers evidence; he does not scorn their need to see.

Joy is a fitting response to sufficient signs. They saw the Lord—the same one who died. Faith is invited by wounds, not by a different Jesus. Gladness can still deepen; it is already more than verse 10’s going home.

Calvin: necessary confirmation, that by all methods they might be fully assured he was risen. Wounds after resurrection are not a theft of glory: he rose for us, and what confirms our faith is glorious to him. Their use was temporary, until the apostles were convinced—not a warrant for imagining a still-bleeding side in heaven.

Grief at his death is dispelled by his new life. Sight of the Lord is the Father’s kindness to weak faith. The same body will stand eight days later for Thomas; the church’s gladness rests on identified wounds, not on a rumor.

Peace again—then the as/even so of mission. Wesley: this peace is the foundation of a true gospel minister’s mission, peace in his own soul. Christ was the apostle of the Father (Hebrews 3:1); Peter and the rest, apostles of Christ. The analogy is not imaginary: the church is actually sent, not merely informed that the Son’s unique sending happened long ago.

Sending extends through these disciples into the ministry of the gospel to all nations. The as is analogical, not identical: they do not become incarnate redeemers. But it is not theater. Ministers who have peace are truly dispatched; hearers are truly addressed. The charge is a sincere commission under which people may go or refuse to go, preach or fall silent.

Calvin: the second peace aims at attention. Hitherto they had been heralds in Judea; now they are installed as apostles, ordinary ministers of the gospel, ambassadors to establish his kingdom. He does not resign the Father’s vesting of highest teacher-authority in the Son alone—“hear him” cannot be set aside. He does not send them to atone for sins or procure justification as he was sent. The only subject here is preaching. Succession takes nothing from Christ; he adorns the doctrine, not men.

The as/so ratifies their ministry with the Father’s own sending-authority behind the word, while keeping what is peculiar to the Son. Perpetual preaching, not a short errand; Christ’s mouth now speaks by apostles, his honor unimpaired.

He breathes and says Receive. Wesley: new life and vigour; as you receive this breath from my mouth, receive the Spirit from my fullness; the Holy Ghost influencing you in a peculiar manner to fit you for the embassy; an earnest of Pentecost. Receive is gift-language that still has to be received. The Spirit is not a human tool, and the earnest is not yet the tongues of fire.

Fitting for mission is grace, not native capacity—no Pelagius at Easter. They still insist the Spirit given for embassy can be grieved and that Pentecost’s fullness remains to be waited for in obedience (Luke 24:49). Breath plus word is an earnest offer from Christ’s fullness; it does not turn the disciples into machines. The Lord who breathes also commands them to receive.

Calvin: not one of the sons of men is qualified; Christ prepares them by the Spirit’s grace, and it is his glory alone to form those he appoints. He bestows the Spirit as his own, in common with the Father; the Spirit proceeds from him. They are sprinkled here, not filled until Acts 2; this breathing refers chiefly to that future magnificent sending. Sign and word are joined: they receive the Spirit because Christ promises, as sacraments depend on the testimony of the word—not because breath itself contains the Spirit, and not as a perpetual rite for mitred bishops to copy.

Calling is authenticated by the Spirit Christ actually gives. Empty office without the Spirit is a fraud. Effectual qualifying, from Christ, of those he sends: they have nothing from themselves (v. 23’s preface).

Forgive / withhold: Wesley will not let this become priestcraft. According to the tenor of the gospel—supposing them to repent and believe, sins are remitted; supposing them impenitent, retained. Are not the truly penitent forgiven without sacerdotal absolution? Are not the impenitent retained even with it? Then the commission is: (1) authority to declare the Christian terms of pardon; (2) power of ecclesiastical censures—excluding from and re-admitting into a congregation.

The hinge is the hearer’s repenting and believing. Ministers announce terms; they do not create pardon. Withholding is not a private grudge; it is the church’s truthful application of the gospel to remaining unbelief. Forgiveness is sincerely offered; it is not applied to the unrepentant by a formula. Both sides here reject a magical ear-confession. The Arminian edge is conditionality: the gospel’s pardon meets a free response grace enables and does not coerce.

Calvin: the sum of the gospel; do not separate this power from the office of teaching. The embassy’s meaning is reconciliation by unconditional pardon of sins—not that God ignores impenitence, but that the gospel’s principal design is to receive people by not imputing sins. Christ does not convey what is peculiar to himself; it belongs to him to forgive. He enjoins them to proclaim forgiveness in his name; he alone forgives through ministers. Lofty terms so consciences may believe God himself speaks in their person (2 Corinthians 5:20). Papists torture this into magical absolutions and whispered inventories of sins; Christ appoints preachers who seal the atonement on believers’ hearts, not confessors. The retain clause comes second, to terrify despisers; inviting all to salvation belongs to the gospel’s nature, destruction of rejecters is accidental to it. Whoever hears and will not embrace the promised forgiveness is liable to a severer sentence.

The power is the Word’s, not the man’s. Forgiveness announced is God’s own pardon to those who believe; retention is God’s verdict on those who refuse. Ministers are earthen ambassadors, not authors.