Confessing to a Priest

Confession, where did this practice come from? Is it in the bible? Confession is in the bible and it comes from Judaism, which is where Christianity came from.

Leviticus 5:5-6= than whoever is guilty in any of these cases shall confess the sin he has incurred, (6) and as his sin offering for the sin he has committed he shall bring to the Lord a female animal from the flock, a ewe lamb or a she goat. The priest shall then make atonement for his sin. Also continues through Leviticus 5:7-19.

As we can see here, Confession to a priest was practiced by the Jews. Now why don’t we have to offer a lamb, goat or a ram anymore?

In Exodus 12:5, they used a lamb for a sacrifice as well. As we see in 1 Peter 1:19, Christ is the Lamb, and in John 1:29, Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The lamb had to be unblemished as we see in Exodus 12:5 as well. Christ had no sin as we see in 1 John 3:5. So Christ is the sacrifice sent from God the Father, there is no need for any other sacrifice for the atonement of sins. Jesus was and will always be the ultimate sacrifice.

So the next question is, did Jesus carry this practice over to his Apostles and Disciples? Well let’s look into the New Testament to see.

James 5:16= therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. So here we can clearly see that we are supposed to confess our sins to one another. Does that mean anyone? Let’s look more into it.

John 20:22-23= and when he (Jesus) had said this, he breathed on them (Apostles) and said to them, “Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins your retain are retained.” Now, here we can see Jesus himself is giving the power to the apostles (the first priest of Christianity) the power to forgive sins. Notice the only times God breaths on people in scripture. Two times in the bible God breaths on the human body. First to Adam when he gave him a physical life with a soul, and second when Jesus breaths on the apostles. Giving them the spirit of new life, as we get when we are forgiven our sins.

So the next question is, can any follower of Christ (disciple) forgive someone their sins? Or does it have to be someone ordained into the church by the authority of the church. Notice Jesus didn’t give all his disciples the power to forgive sins. Just the first priest received this authority. There is a separation between the two. These were the leaders of the church and the faithful followers. Plus, in Judaism the people couldn’t just go to anyone to have there sins forgiven with a sacrifice. It had to be a priest.

Matthew 9:5-8= which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven, or to say, ‘rise and walk? But you may know the Son of man has the authority on earth to forgive sins….(7) He rose and went home. (8) When the crowds saw this they were struck with awe and glorified God who had given such authority to human beings. As we see here, at the end of verse (8) it says, God had given such authority to human beings, as in plural, more than one. Jesus is God and has the authority to give the power to human beings as he did in John 20:22-23.

Matthew 16:19= I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”.  Jesus was talking to Peter, giving him the authority to bind and loose, such as rules of the church and binding and loosing sins on earth.

2 Corinthians 2:10= whoever you forgive anything, so do I (Paul). For indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been in the presence of Christ. Paul is saying here that whatever and whoever he forgives, is in the place of Christ forgiving. Just as he stands in the place of Christ’s forgiveness, so do priest.

(CCC) 1457, 1532, 1401, 1415, 1467, 2490, 1851, 1480-84, 1455-58, 1448, 2040

-AVM