confessions. only god can forgive, how can a priest ?

Question

you tell you're sins and the priest tell you to say whatever amounts of prayers to be granted forgiveness. what right has he to tell you that you're forgiven?

Answer 1

This question has been asked many times. Maybe we did not do a good of answering the question so here is a more informative and thorough explanation of the Cathlic Church regarding your question. After reading the material and you still have some questions I will be glad to answer them



Are all of our sins—past, present, and future—forgiven once and for all when we become Christians? Not according to the Bible or the early Church Fathers. Scripture nowhere states that our future sins are forgiven; instead, it teaches us to pray, "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" (Matt. 6:12).

The means by which God forgives sins after baptism is confession: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). Minor or venial sins can be confessed directly to God, but for grave or mortal sins, which crush the spiritual life out of the soul, God has instituted a different means for obtaining forgiveness—the sacrament known popularly as confession, penance, or reconciliation.

This sacrament is rooted in the mission God gave to Christ in his capacity as the Son of man on earth to go and forgive sins (cf. Matt. 9:6). Thus, the crowds who witnessed this new power "glorified God, who had given such authority to men" (Matt. 9:8; note the plural "men"). After his resurrection, Jesus passed on his mission to forgive sins to his ministers, telling them, "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you. . . . Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (John 20:21–23).

Since it is not possible to confess all of our many daily faults, we know that sacramental reconciliation is required only for grave or mortal sins—but it is required, or Christ would not have commanded it.

Over time, the forms in which the sacrament has been administered have changed. In the early Church, publicly known sins (such as apostasy) were often confessed openly in church, though private confession to a priest was always an option for privately committed sins. Still, confession was not just something done in silence to God alone, but something done "in church," as the Didache (A.D. 70) indicates.

Penances also tended to be performed before rather than after absolution, and they were much more strict than those of today (ten years’ penance for abortion, for example, was common in the early Church).

But the basics of the sacrament have always been there, as the following quotations reveal. Of special significance is their recognition that confession and absolution must be received by a sinner before receiving Holy Communion, for "[w]hoever . . . eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord" (1 Cor. 11:27).


The Didache



"Confess your sins in church, and do not go up to your prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of life. . . . On the Lord’s Day gather together, break bread, and give thanks, after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure" (Didache 4:14, 14:1 [A.D. 70]).


The Letter of Barnabas



"You shall judge righteously. You shall not make a schism, but you shall pacify those that contend by bringing them together. You shall confess your sins. You shall not go to prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of light" (Letter of Barnabas 19 [A.D. 74]).


Ignatius of Antioch



"For as many as are of God and of Jesus Christ are also with the bishop. And as many as shall, in the exercise of penance, return into the unity of the Church, these, too, shall belong to God, that they may live according to Jesus Christ" (Letter to the Philadelphians 3 [A.D. 110]).

"For where there is division and wrath, God does not dwell. To all them that repent, the Lord grants forgiveness, if they turn in penitence to the unity of God, and to communion with the bishop" (ibid., 8).


Irenaeus



"[The Gnostic disciples of Marcus] have deluded many women. . . . Their consciences have been branded as with a hot iron. Some of these women make a public confession, but others are ashamed to do this, and in silence, as if withdrawing from themselves the hope of the life of God, they either apostatize entirely or hesitate between the two courses" (Against Heresies 1:22 [A.D. 189]).


Tertullian



"[Regarding confession, some] flee from this work as being an exposure of themselves, or they put it off from day to day. I presume they are more mindful of modesty than of salvation, like those who contract a disease in the more shameful parts of the body and shun making themselves known to the physicians; and thus they perish along with their own bashfulness" (Repentance 10:1 [A.D. 203]).


Hippolytus



"[The bishop conducting the ordination of the new bishop shall pray:] God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . Pour forth now that power which comes from you, from your royal Spirit, which you gave to your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and which he bestowed upon his holy apostles . . . and grant this your servant, whom you have chosen for the episcopate, [the power] to feed your holy flock and to serve without blame as your high priest, ministering night and day to propitiate unceasingly before your face and to offer to you the gifts of your holy Church, and by the Spirit of the high priesthood to have the authority to forgive sins, in accord with your command" (Apostolic Tradition 3 [A.D. 215]).


Origen



"[A final method of forgiveness], albeit hard and laborious [is] the remission of sins through penance, when the sinner . . . does not shrink from declaring his sin to a priest of the Lord and from seeking medicine, after the manner of him who say, ‘I said, "To the Lord I will accuse myself of my iniquity"’" (Homilies on Leviticus 2:4 [A.D. 248]).


Cyprian of Carthage



"The apostle [Paul] likewise bears witness and says: ‘ . . . Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord’ [1 Cor. 11:27]. But [the impenitent] spurn and despise all these warnings; before their sins are expiated, before they have made a confession of their crime, before their conscience has been purged in the ceremony and at the hand of the priest . . . they do violence to [the Lord’s] body and blood, and with their hands and mouth they sin against the Lord more than when they denied him" (The Lapsed 15:1–3 (A.D. 251]).

"Of how much greater faith and salutary fear are they who . . . confess their sins to the priests of God in a straightforward manner and in sorrow, making an open declaration of conscience. . . . I beseech you, brethren, let everyone who has sinned confess his sin while he is still in this world, while his confession is still admissible, while the satisfaction and remission made through the priests are still pleasing before the Lord" (ibid., 28).

"[S]inners may do penance for a set time, and according to the rules of discipline come to public confession, and by imposition of the hand of the bishop and clergy receive the right of Communion. [But now some] with their time [of penance] still unfulfilled . . . they are admitted to Communion, and their name is presented; and while the penitence is not yet performed, confession is not yet made, the hands of the bishop and clergy are not yet laid upon them, the Eucharist is given to them; although it is written, ‘Whosoever shall eat the bread and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord’ [1 Cor. 11:27]" (Letters 9:2 [A.D. 253]).

"And do not think, dearest brother, that either the courage of the brethren will be lessened, or that martyrdoms will fail for this cause, that penance is relaxed to the lapsed, and that the hope of peace [i.e., absolution] is offered to the penitent. . . . For to adulterers even a time of repentance is granted by us, and peace is given" (ibid., 51[55]:20).

"But I wonder that some are so obstinate as to think that repentance is not to be granted to the lapsed, or to suppose that pardon is to be denied to the penitent, when it is written, ‘Remember whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works’ [Rev. 2:5], which certainly is said to him who evidently has fallen, and whom the Lord exhorts to rise up again by his deeds [of penance], because it is written, ‘Alms deliver from death’ [Tob. 12:9]" (ibid., 51[55]:22).


Aphraahat the Persian Sage



"You [priests], then, who are disciples of our illustrious physician [Christ], you ought not deny a curative to those in need of healing. And if anyone uncovers his wound before you, give him the remedy of repentance. And he that is ashamed to make known his weakness, encourage him so that he will not hide it from you. And when he has revealed it to you, do not make it public, lest because of it the innocent might be reckoned as guilty by our enemies and by those who hate us" (Treatises 7:3 [A.D. 340]).


Basil the Great



"It is necessary to confess our sins to those to whom the dispensation of God’s mysteries is entrusted. Those doing penance of old are found to have done it before the saints. It is written in the Gospel that they confessed their sins to John the Baptist [Matt. 3:6], but in Acts [19:18] they confessed to the apostles" (Rules Briefly Treated 288 [A.D. 374]).


John Chrysostom



"Priests have received a power which God has given neither to angels nor to archangels. It was said to them: ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose, shall be loosed.’ Temporal rulers have indeed the power of binding; but they can only bind the body. Priests, in contrast, can bind with a bond which pertains to the soul itself and transcends the very heavens. Did [God] not give them all the powers of heaven? ‘Whose sins you shall forgive,’ he says, ‘they are forgiven them; whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.’ What greater power is there than this? The Father has given all judgment to the Son. And now I see the Son placing all this power in the hands of men [Matt. 10:40; John 20:21–23]. They are raised to this dignity as if they were already gathered up to heaven" (The Priesthood 3:5 [A.D. 387]).


Ambrose of Milan



"For those to whom [the right of binding and loosing] has been given, it is plain that either both are allowed, or it is clear that neither is allowed. Both are allowed to the Church, neither is allowed to heresy. For this right has been granted to priests only" (Penance 1:1 [A.D. 388]).


Jerome



"If the serpent, the devil, bites someone secretly, he infects that person with the venom of sin. And if the one who has been bitten keeps silence and does not do penance, and does not want to confess his wound . . . then his brother and his master, who have the word [of absolution] that will cure him, cannot very well assist him" (Commentary on Ecclesiastes 10:11 [A.D. 388]).


Augustine



"When you shall have been baptized, keep to a good life in the commandments of God so that you may preserve your baptism to the very end. I do not tell you that you will live here without sin, but they are venial sins which this life is never without. Baptism was instituted for all sins. For light sins, without which we cannot live, prayer was instituted. . . . But do not commit those sins on account of which you would have to be separated from the body of Christ. Perish the thought! For those whom you see doing penance have committed crimes, either adultery or some other enormities. That is why they are doing penance. If their sins were light, daily prayer would suffice to blot them out. . . . In the Church, therefore, there are three ways in which sins are forgiven: in baptisms, in prayer, and in the greater humility of penance" (Sermon to Catechumens on the Creed 7:15, 8:16 [A.D. 395]).


NIHIL OBSTAT: I have concluded that the materials
presented in this work are free of doctrinal or moral errors.
Bernadeane Carr, STL, Censor Librorum, August 10, 2004

IMPRIMATUR: In accord with 1983 CIC 827
permission to publish this work is hereby granted.
+Robert H. Brom, Bishop of San

May the Lord's peace be with you!

Answer 2

Jesus gave them the authority in John 20:19-23. It has been passed on through apostolic succession.

The priest is in the sacramental place of Jesus. When we confess our sins, he has the authority to forgive our sins. Just as a priest has the authority to marry people and baptize people. What is the difference? Why are so many okay with the authority to perform a sacramental marriage...but not forgive sins?

You could say then...we can just stand before God and say we are married...why don't people do that? Why go to the trouble of being married in a church, with a pastor or priest if you can just go to God?

I was raised Methodist and became Catholic 10 years ago. Confession is tough...no question about it. That's why so many want to just give it up under the guise that we can go directly to God....because that makes it easier on us. But there is a great deal of grace that comes with confession. It's amazing, I wouldn't have known if I hadn't experienced it. It's a beautiful sacrament. And I have to say, when I say my sins out loud to a priest, I'm much more aware if I commit them again...it's easier to keep sinning when you are just telling God you're sorry.

Answer 3

He cant. Your forgiven of your sins by the blood of Jesus not the prayers of some priest. Only god has the power to forgive. You are supposed to confess your sins directly to god and ask him to forgive you. The priest has no effect whatsoever.

Answer 4

Because Catholics beleive Jesus informed the disciples that those sins you forgive they are forgiven, they are forgiven.
Thats why. And then they added a penalty - in past times you had to pay money thats why theres so many hughe cathedrals.
Princes etc could do what they wanted as all they had to do was pay the priest and all his sins were forgiven.

Answer 5

I was a baptist and I converted to Orthodoxy. Orthodoxy is the first christian first since Christ. The priest does not do the forgiving he is a witness to the confession. He can also help guide your confession. The confession is a prayer to God. James 5:16: "Confess your trespasses to one another,
and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The efective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much."

Answer 6

I was raised Catholic, I am not here to address whether it is "right" or "wrong" to confess one's sins to a priest or not, the question is *how can a priest forgive you, in the context of the Catholic faith.*
The priest is a stand in for the Christ. He is a tool of the Christ, and in making your confession, you are not making it to a person, you are making it to the Christ, it just gives you a set of human ears to make it to.
I am having trouble finding the passages that I want to reference here...
There is one passage where the Christ appears to his followers, and tells them that whatever sins they wish to forgive in His name will be forgiven, and what sins they wish to retain in His name will be retained.
He also tells his followers, That which you make true on earth, I will make true in heaven.
This is a charge by the Christ to his followers to act in His name, and has been handed down through all the Popes, Bishops, Cardinals, Priests etc. since the time of St. Peter, the first Pope, as representatives of the Christ's presence on Earth. This includes the forgivness of sin. The priest is a stand in and emissary of the Christ in this respect. There is a movie titled "Dogma". The entire story is centered entirely around this part of Catholic dogma as it pertains to the forgivness of sin. The part of dogma that Aroundworldsports is referring to, is a blanket absolution called Plenary Indulgence, and the movie also centers on this point of Catholic dogma as well. As AWS said, Plenary Indulgence was often abused by the wealthy, who were looking for a blanket absolution in exchange for a hefty contribution.
The purpose of pennance is an act of atonement, sort of like an offering to the Christ, making a sacrifice, in the respect that you are sacrificing your time to say these prayers, and you are saying them at the altar rail as an offering to the Christ, and public acknowledgement that you are a sinner, which is a sacrifice of your ego, and act of humility, to humble yourself this way in public.
And if you enjoy dark comedies, and are not easily offended, Dogma is a great flick!

Answer 7

I dont believe one person can tell you to hail marys ect. for forgivness of sin God did say confess one to another but for me the forgiveness comes from and through God alone a priest can help lead one to Christ but only God can forgive for me that is a very intimate thing

Answer 8

i personally don't believe in telling ones sins to a person, only God can grant one the forgiveness you speak of. he has no right the priest especially when one watches tv and hears about certain things they cover up among themselves. unless you did someone wrong and feel the need to ask their forgiveness directly. apart from that do your confessions one on one with God and no other.

Answer 9

Don't you read the Bible? Christ breathed upon the apostles, the first priests of His Church, symbolizing a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and then said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit, Whose sins YOU FORGIVE, they are forgiven them". Pretty straightforward, don't you think? Sometimes I think Catholics must be the only ones who actually read the Bible! There are so many things clearly stated in the Bible that non-Catholics don't even seem aware of.

Answer 10

Some of them have put their entire life in to serving God and are anointed to do so. Maybe a lot are not, you will need to decide that. I am no priest but I can tell you right now that you are forgiven if your heart is truly sorry about your transgressions and that you will try to do the will of God.n

Answer 11

Under the New Covenant the only way anyone can obtain forgiveness of all their sins from God, past, present and future (Heb 10:12,14), is to believe that Jesus died to obtain forgiveness of their sins and to confess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. We need to confess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior once to obtain eternal forgiveness from God in the vertical relationship. In the horizontal relationship between man and man we are to confess our sins to one another and forgive one another. The Scriptures in John 20:23, James 5:16 and 1 John 1:9 deal with confessions of sins at the horizontal level. In 1 John 1:7 it is clear the Apostle John was referring to our walk in the horizontal level by mentioning our fellowship with each other. We should therefore confess our sins to those whom we sin against.