Priests forgive sins?

Question

This is sort of a part two to a previous question. Catholics believe Jesus gave the apostles the ability to forgive sins. Once again I know the verses this comes from please don't quote them to me. They then believe this ability was passed onto priests and bishops. In other words Priests have the ability to forgive sins. My question is then why do all believers not have this ability? Christ himself declared us to be priests. Is not Christ making us priests better than the apostles making us priests? If Christ has declared me to be a priest shouldn't I have all the rights accorded to a priest?

Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
Rev 1:6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Let me add I am not trying to attack Catholics. half my family is Catholic. I am just trying to point some things out.

Denie - the Bible makes it clear if we have sinned against someone we should make it right with them. The person who harmed you should truly have tried to make things right with you. If they have not and are not sorry they hurt you then their forgiveness is not certain. Let me find the verse I am thinking of.

Here we go.

Matthew 5:23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Mat 5:24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

It tells us here if we are coming to the altar and realize a brother has something against us to make it right and then come back. If the person who has hurt you has not tried to make it right then they are out of God's will.

Let me add that I do not believe we need to go to priests to be forgiven. I am just pointing out what I perceive to be fallacies in the Catholic religion.

Answer 1

I don't believe the Catholic priests went to the Cross of Calvary for my sins. John the Baptist said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." The Bible also says the "wages of sin is death." Only Christ offers eternal life and we come to the heavenly Father by no other way. Christ is the way and there is no other way. When we accept Christ He gives us the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit within us who convicts us of our sins and purifies and refines us. Whatever the Holy Spirit begins in us He is more than able to finish and accomplish it. We come to Christ just as we are and it is the Holy Spirit who convicts of sin, who purifies and refines and who teaches us all things.

No Priest, Pastor, Preacher or man/woman on earth can forgive sin - only Christ. For every word spoken and for every action taken we will stand accountable to Christ.

Heaven sets the standard and the earth follows heaven's lead.
It is the responsibility of the believers to forgive and have a forgiving spirit and to teach the conditions of forgiveness.

Without the shedding of Jesus' blood there would be no remission for our sins.

Those who accept Jesus are forgiven,
those who reject Jesus are condemned.
Sins have been washed (loosed) by the blood of Jesus.

Bind or loose -declare forbidden or declare to be allowed.

The authority Peter was possessed with was the Holy Spirit.
He that is in me is greater than he that is in the world.

Answer 2

The error in that thinking is that catholic priests have the authority to forgive sin. Jesus Christ is the only one who can forgive sin, and He's already done so by His atoning death on the cross. That forgiveness is given to anyone who believes in Him. The responsiblity of every believer, including catholic priests (if they are believers) is to deliver the message of God's plan of salvation. Since the false belief of the catholic church is that there is no salvation outside of the church, their message is garbled. Some catholics have seen the light and know the truth, however the church has claimed an authority that they do not have. The forgiveness of sin is God's job and no one else's.

Answer 3

As people we should be forgiving. The apostle were not "given the power to forgive" they were told that they should be forgiving. Remember if my brother sins against me 7 times how many times should I forgive him? The answer was 7 times 70. Only God is the ultimate forgiver. Priests and ministers are not better than us. They only work on Gods behalf. It is not up to them to forgive us they just point us in the right direction.

Answer 4

"Only god can forgive sins".....sound familiar? That was the unbelief of the Jewish elders when Jesus forgave the sins of those that were brought to him: 6"Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7"Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (MK 2:6-7). Fundies and others speak of the unbelief of the Jews....but so do those very same fundies -- espcially when it comes to this passage!

Yes, Jesus DID say 23"If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven" (JN 20:23).

HOWEVER..............

Read what comes just PRIOR to Jesus making this statement:

The 10 apostles (Judas was dead and Didymus/Thomas was missing) were in the upper room. Jesus BREATHED on them and gave them the Holy Spirit:

22"And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit" (JN 20:22). THEN he spoke of forgiving sins. Jesus did NOT say this to the entire crowd -- but to just the 10 and only after imparting his divine life on them.

Incidentally, it is from this passage that is understood the term of "being born again". The first time that God breathed on anyone -- that is, put his divine life into someone was back in Genesis when God put his own breath of life into Adam and subsequently into all of us.

Yes, we are all of us a priestly people. BUT from out of all who followed Jesus, he chose only 12 as his apostles: see MK 3:13-14). If YOU sincerely believe that we are all equally as priests, then why would churches need pastors? ANYONE among you, then, would be able to get up and lead the entire service. But such is not the case.....you hire a particular person to do that AND more and more of you are insisting that your pastors be ORDAINED....specially set aside for the task of preaching!!!!!!

Furthermore, read NUM 12:1-16 -- how Moses' own sister Miriam complained and grumbled about God speaking to Moses only...God heard her complaint and struck her with leprosy.

In Exodus 19:6, God does declare that we are a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, but still he had some put aside in a special manner (the tribe of Levi) to serve as priests (read all of EX. 28 and 29 about priestly vestments and ordination) -- above all the other tribes. No-one who was not of the house of Levi could ever be a priest.

Finally, Paul himself spoke of the PRIESTLY duty of proclaiming the gospel in his letter to the Romans. Why the choice of the word "priestly" if priests are not needed? Even the Protestant bibles use the term priestly. Paul claimed that he was called "to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel" (ROM 15:16).

Answer 5

Huh? You answered your own question. If Christ has declared me to ge a priest shouldn't I have all the rights accorded to a priest?
My wife's whole family is Catholic and we are Baptists. Guess I don't need to quote that there is one mediator between God and man.
We lovingly disagree with our Catholic friends. Have lovingly told them we accept scripture as authority over and above any written by man church dogma.
Perhaps answer to Catholics might be in their definition of Canon. Would like to hear our Top Contributer, Imacatholic2 answer this. He's too crafty to step in the ring with Baptists.
In His Service,
John the Baptist

Answer 6

If God has called you to preach or minister, then let nothing hold you back from doing God's work. But remember when Jesus died and the temple was destroyed-the veil between man and God was ripped, in this manner we can speak directly to God for forgiveness. If you became priest you would be ordained by God to do religious ceremonies such as marriage, baptism, and sermons...etc., but your would lead people to forgiveness because God is the one who forgives not man. Good Question..

Answer 7

What about the VICTIMS of sin???? Maybe this only refers to sins you commit against God. I just believe that if you hurt somebody...you should ask forgiveness from the person you hurt. Somebody did HORRIBLE things to me that affect me to this day. I went to a priest and told him I was having trouble trying to forgive that person (the person never asked for forgiveness from me..well..they did say"I'm sorry"...but laughed afterwards..I don't call that sorry.)...the priest said to pray that God would forgive that person. I told him" He didn't do it to God...he did it to ME !!!!!!" I imagine a priest forgave him and he's having a "happy" life..while I still suffer from PTSD .P.S. I could be wrong...but that verse about forgiving 70 X 7...I think the part before that says something like "if a brother sins against you and comes to you and asks forgiveness..." I TOLD this person to say he was sorry so I could forgive him...then he said "I'm sorry" in a "not sorry"...way and laughed. I don't believe that qualifies.
Edge...Would you go to somebody who you were deathly afraid of??????? I still have nightmares about him. He is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.

Answer 8

Jesus performed a miracle to demonstrate that He also had Divine power to forgive sin.

Luke 5:24
But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”

Answer 9

I will stick to my previous answer. here it is again.

Jesus said in John 20:23 “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”

There is a responsibility given to all followers of Jesus Christ to reconcile people to God. If his followers forgive others the sins that they have committed than it opens the door of opportunity for them to be forgiven by God. If we do not forgive their sins then we shut the door of that opportunity.

Unfortunately many followers have no idea of this responsibility given to us.

Answer 10

Only God can forgive sin. And you don't need a priest to be the middleman. Just ask, and you will be forgiven.