John Calvin Commentary John 20:21

"Jesus therefore said to them again, Peace [be] unto you: as the Father hath sent me, even so send I you." — John 20:21 (ASV)

Jesus saith to them again, Peace be to you. This second salutation seems to me to have no other purpose than for the Lord to receive the degree of attention that was due to the greatness and importance of the subjects on which he was about to speak.

As the Father hath sent me. By these words, Christ, as it were, installs them in the office to which he had previously appointed them. True, they had already been sent throughout Judea, but only as heralds, to issue a command that the supreme Teacher should be heard, and not as Apostles, to execute a perpetual office of teaching. But now the Lord ordains them to be his ambassadors, to establish his kingdom in the world. Therefore, let it be held by us as an established truth, that the Apostles were now, for the first time, appointed to be ordinary ministers of the Gospel.

His words amount to a declaration that until now he has discharged the office of a Teacher, and that, having finished his course, he now confers on them the same office. For he means that the Father appointed him to be a Teacher on this condition: that he should be employed for a time in pointing out the way to others, and should, afterwards, put those persons in his place to supply his absence. For this reason Paul says that he gave some, apostles; some, evangelists; some, pastors, to govern the Church until the end of the world (Ephesians 4:11).

Christ therefore testifies, first, that though he held a temporary office of teaching, still the preaching of the Gospel is not for a short time but will be perpetual. Again, so that his doctrine might not have less authority in the mouths of the Apostles, he directs them to succeed to that office which he has received from his Father, places them in his place, and bestows on them the same authority. It was proper that their ministry should be ratified in this manner, for they were unknown persons and of humble condition. Moreover, though they had the highest splendor and dignity, we know that all that belongs to humans does not approach the excellence of faith.

It is not without reason, therefore, that Christ communicates to his Apostles the authority which he received from the Father, so that he may declare that the preaching of the Gospel was committed to him, not by human authority, but by the command of God. But he does not substitute them in his place in such a way as to resign to them the highest authority as a teacher, which the Father intended to be vested in him alone.

He therefore continues, and will eternally continue to be, the only Teacher of the Church. There is only this difference: he spoke with his mouth as long as he lived on earth, but now speaks by the Apostles. The succession or substitution, therefore, is of such a nature that it takes nothing from Christ; his authority remains full and entire, and his honor unimpaired, for that decree by which we are commanded to hear him, and not others, cannot be set aside:

This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him,
(Matthew 17:5).

In short, Christ intended here to adorn the doctrine of the Gospel and not humans.

It should likewise be observed that the only subject addressed in this passage is the preaching of the Gospel, for Christ does not send his Apostles to atone for sins and to procure justification, as he was sent by the Father. Accordingly, he makes no allusion in this passage to anything that is peculiar to himself, but only appoints ministers and pastors to govern the Church, on this condition: that he alone keeps possession of the whole power, while they claim nothing for themselves but the ministry.