these events had occurred could the good news of what God had done through Jesus be announced. (4) The beginning of the offer of forgiveness in Jesus’ name. God had forgiven sins in the Old Testament (e.g., Lev. 4–5; 16; Ps. 78:38). Jesus during his ministry had offered forgiveness directly while on earth; he had that power (Mark 2:1-12). In the Johannine account, the resurrected Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to the disciples and with it the authority to forgive sins: “He breathed on them and said to