Do we need to confess our sins to man?

Question

Catholics believe we have to confess our sins to a priest to be forgiven. If we need a priest to have our sins forgiven why did Jesus when He taught the apostles to pray did He tell them to ask God to forgive their sins? If we need to go through a priest why would Jesus when He taught them to pray tell them to ask God to forgive their sins? I see no where here where He tells them to confess to man but instead to confess to God. So why confess to man?

Luke 11:2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
Luk 11:3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
Luk 11:4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

Just to add. I am not Catholic. I am non-denominational but mainly Pentecostal. My main motivation in this is to point out confession to a priest is not needed.

The Carmelite - would you mind showing me one place in the Bible where someone confessed their sins to the Apostles?

The Carmelite - your answer is what I have come to expect when I ask questions like this. Dance around the issue. Quite simply if we need to confess to a priest why did Jesus tell His apostles to pray to God to forgive them? Not to confess to man but to God.

lovinghelpertojoe - my mother was raised Catholic and her side of the family still is. I know from them and from studying that many practices of the catholic church are not Biblical. I try with these questions to lead them to the truth. My mom when she was growing up never read the Bible. If my grandma found out she touched it she was in trouble. My mom has tried to convince her mom and has bought her Bible's to try to get her to read. It has not worked. Thankfully when my grandfather died a pentecostal preacher was there and he got saved. I truly fear for my catholic relatives. Not because all Catholics are lost but because mine figure they have gotten the needed check marks and are fine. When what they really need is saved.

Jack - my interpretation and your interpretation of John 20:21-23 vary. To me all that means is the apostles were told if any man becomes a Christian you can say with authority their sins are forgiven. If not you can say with the same authority they are not. You can continue to confess your sins to man if you want. I will skip the priest and go directly to God.

Answer 1

I was raised in a Catholic home, pulling out of it as an older teen, and keeping away from religion of any kind up until about 18 months ago when I became a Christian. Growing up, I am not even sure we had a Bible in our house. If we did, I know for sure that I NEVER saw my mom, the devoted Catholic, pick it up and read it. She was raised in a VERY strict Catholic home, and my aunts were strong Catholics as well. Still, the Bible did not seem to be a big part of their religion or faith. Neither, it seemed, was prayer.

One of the things that was so profound to me when I was born again, was that so much of what Catholics hold near and dear cannot be found in the Bible. I see now, looking back, and too late to try to help my mom, who passed away just before my being saved, that she had no real relationship with our Lord at all.

In getting to know many at our wonderful church, which, gratefully, very much follows God Word, there are a large number of former Catholics.

Please, Catholics out there, I am not trying to "bash" your beliefs, but I do speak from a whole lot of experience being raised as a Catholic. I even had my older daughter baptized at birth.

God Bless you for another wonderful question.

Answer 2

"Do we need to confess our sins to man?" Well, unless you read Matthew 3:6, Mark 1:5, and James 5:16 differently than I do, yes ... we do.

But that's not what you're asking; you are taking issue with the Sacrament of Reconciliation, also called confession. And the answer here is ... no, we don't.

Catholics, like all Christians are supposed to do, confess their sins to God through Christ. But forgiveness of sins isn't a feeling; it's a sacrament. That's why, in John 20:21-23, Jesus gave the Apostles the authority to forgive sins in His name. During the act of making a confession I am not handing a list of my sins to a priest who will then collect them all from his parish and somehow hand them on to God. The priest is not there on his own authority, but that which he was given by Christ. I am confessing my sins to and receiving absolution from Christ.

Have you not heard, and possibly agreed in other contexts, that Christ's work on earth is done with our hands? For that matter, didn't human hands write the books of Scripture under divine inspiration? If you can accept that, then it can't be too much of a stretch to grasp this concept either, especially since it is Scripturally based.

Edit: Your response to Jack indicating your own interpretation of John 20:21-23 is certainly interesting but takes a bit of a large step away from the passage's wording; I would stop just short of calling it convoluted, but only just. Consider also these: Matt. 9:8 and Matt. 18:18.

Central to all of it, however, is that this is apostolic authority. And so what you're saying is that you do not recognize any such authority ... which is the real reason behind most fundamentalist and Protestant objections to the doctrines of the Church. I understand; I used to be there. Most of my relatives still are. Peace be with you.

Answer 3

Edge,
Christians are told that if they sin to ask GOD for HIS' Forgiveness. If we Publicly Sin then we are to ask the Church members to pray for us. This is a public prayer and we should publicly confess that we have sinned. Have a wonderful evening and a glorious week!
Thank YOU,
Eds

The Confession to a "priest" is a Catholic idea and not a Biblical idea.


..

Answer 4

Jesus gave his apostles the power to forgive the sins of men when "He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (JN 1:22-23). It was to ONLY these men that Jesus breathed upon and imparted his spirit in a special way.

That's step 1. Step 2 says that in order for these men to forgive the sins, they must first HEAR the sins -- because John says in his first letter (1 John 5:15-17) that there is a difference between sin that is deadly and sin that is not.

"If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There IS sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death".

Step 3, then, is that a determination must be made as to whether the sin is deadly (mortal) or not deadly (venial). From there, an appropriate penance can be given/made.

Why? Because when one sins, the effects of it go to EVERYONE in the one body of Christ. Forgiveness is from God....THROUGH the sacrament of confession. BUT the effects of the sin must rectified by way of penance....to bind up the wound caused to others.

Go ahead....try slandering your neighbor....see if that action doesn't also hurt his/her family and others. God would forgive YOU....how will you make amends to the family members? Yes....you could apologize BUT how will you make amends to those who have become hurt from what THEY told to others? We truly are all interconnected. When one member of the body hurts, all members hurt.

Further, the entire NT was written in Greek (Koine, to be exact...not today's modern Greek). The Greek term for elder is Presbyteros -- Presbyter....which became shortened to priest! Priests, therefore ARE mentioned in the NT....if not, why would Paul mention the PRIESTLY duty? "....a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God..." (ROM 15:16). Again, how can one have a priestly duty if there are no priests?

Yes, we are ALL priestly people BUT DON'T FORGET.....Moses was specially called by God to be the one intermediary between God and the Hebrew people. When his own sister complained that they were ALL priestly people, God struck her with leprosy!!!!! Moses had to intercede and plead for her puffed-up pride.

So they said, “Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?” And the LORD heard it……So the anger of the LORD was aroused against them, and He departed. 10 And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was, a leper. NUM 12:4-5; 9-10


ALSO -- again, the power for "mere men" to forgive sins was passed on to them by Jesus after he breathed on them!!!!! He did not perform this action on just anyone!

Answer 5

The concept of confession of sin to a priest is nowhere taught in Scripture. First, the New Testament does not teach that there are to be priests in the New Covenant. Instead, the New Testament teaches that all believers are priests. 1 Peter 2:5-9 describes believers as a “holy priesthood” and a “royal priesthood.” Revelation 1:6 and 5:10 both describe believers as “a kingdom and priests.” In the Old Covenant, the faithful had to approach God through the priests. The priests were mediators between the people and God. The priests offered sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. That is no longer necessary. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we can now approach God’s throne with boldness (Hebrews 4:16). The temple veil tearing in two at Jesus’ death was symbolic of the dividing wall between God and humanity being destroyed. We can approach God directly, ourselves, without the use of a human mediator. Why? Because Jesus Christ is our great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-15; 10:21), and the only mediator between us and God (1 Timothy 2:15). The New Testament teaches that there are to be elders (1 Timothy 3), deacons (1 Timothy 3), bishops (Titus 1:6-9), and pastors (Ephesians 4:11) – but not priests.

When it comes to confession of sin, believers are told in 1 John 1:9 to confess their sins to God. God is faithful and just to forgive our sins as we confess them to Him. James 5:16 speaks of confessing our trespasses “to one another,” but this is not the same as confessing sins to a priest as the Roman Catholic Church teaches. Priests / church leaders are nowhere mentioned in the context of James 5:16. Further, James 5:16 does not link forgiveness of sins with the confession of sins “to one another.”

The Roman Catholic Church bases their practice of confession to a priest primarily on Catholic tradition. Catholic do point to John 20:23, “If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." From this verse, Catholics claim that God gave the apostles the authority to forgive sins, and that authority was passed on to the successors of the apostles, e.g. the bishops and priests of the Roman Catholic Church. There are several problems with this interpretation. (1) John 20:23 nowhere mentions confession of sin. (2) John 20:23 nowhere promises, or even hints, that the authority to forgive sins would be passed on to the successors of the apostles. Jesus’ promise was specifically directed to the apostles. (3) The New Testament nowhere states that the apostles would even have successors to their apostolic authority. Similarly, Catholics point to Matthew 16:19 and 18:18 (binding and loosing) as evidence for the Catholic Church’s authority to forgive sins. The same three above points apply equally to these Scriptures.

Again, the concept of confession of sin to a priest is nowhere taught in Scripture. We are to confess our sins to God (1 John 1:9). As New Covenant believers, we do not need mediators between us and God. We can go to God directly because of Jesus’ sacrifice for us. 1 Timothy 2:5, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”

Recommended Resource: The Gospel According to Rome: Comparing confession sin priest and The Word of God by James McCarthy.

Answer 6

They believe the priest represents Christ, that whole apostolic succession thing. Christ died for all the sins of His people, that work is done. There is no more forgiveness needed. If one believes in the total sufficiency of Christ's work for the forgiveness and justification of the believer, then much of the RCC dogma falls apart.
We confess our sins to God, not for forgiveness, but for restoration of the fellowship lost when we sin. Same goes for each other, when we sin against another person, in order to restore the friendship or fellowship, we need to confess that sin to them.

Answer 7

I think Protestants must be illiterate. The Scriptures make it very clear Jesus authorized men to forgive sins:

"Jesus said to them again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.' And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, '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

When non-catholics talk on traditions of men they are talking in reality of themselves. Protestantism is the best example of following the "traditions of men." Virtually every Protestant church, denomination, sect and cult can be traced to some human founder(s) within the past 500 years. Whether it is Luther, Calvin, King Henry VIII, Wesley, Knox, Joseph Smith (Mormon), Russell (JW), Eddy (Christian Scientist) or any number cropping up to this very day, all Protestants follow the "traditions of men." Some, such as Lutherans, use the very name of their founder in their denomination name. Others closely identify with their founders, such as those who call themselves "Calvinists." All approach the Bible and interpret it in accordance with the "traditions of men" they have inherited

This is for Lovinghe ............above
The false doctrine of "Once Saved, Always Saved" seems to have blossomed with Fundamentalist Christians although it's origins date back to 16th century Calvinism. The perfect example of how this doctrine is false is Judas Iscariot. He believed in Jesus Christ, walked with Him, was one of the Twelve and was given the same powers from Him as the others. Yet what Christian believes that Judas Iscariot went to Heaven? According to this doctrine, I would say Fundamentalist Christians would have to believe Judas is in Heaven as he more than met the requirements of salvation according to this doctrine.

Answer 8

certainly, the Bible is examine daily of the 365 days in plenty worldwide. There are 4 (sometimes purely 3) readings from the Bible in each and each Mass. First reading is an previous testomony reading, then a Psalm, then a sparkling testomony reading (not a Gospel reading), and finally a Gospel reading. The Mass is split into 2 substantial areas, the Liturgy of the be conscious (while the Bible readings are examine), and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. throughout the Liturgy of the Eucharist, area of the final Supper is recited via the priest, Matthew 26:26-28. this is, in accordance to Catholic concept, while the priest consecrates the bread and wine into the Holy Eucharist. throughout the time of a era of three years, the whole Bible is examine interior the Mass. Mass is asserted each and on a daily basis in each and every usa of the worldwide. there's a three 365 days scriptural cycle (I forgot the call of this cycle, if any). in case you circulate to Mass daily for 3 yrs immediately, you've heard the whole Bible, previous testomony and New testomony. Do Catholics examine the Bible? interior the Mass, sure, each and on a daily basis. In inner maximum, many do. It relies upon on the guy. previously Vatican II, Catholics weren't inspired to examine the Bible as much as they are immediately. in recent times, sure, Catholics are very plenty inspired to examine the Bible each and on a daily basis. authentic! i replaced right into a non secular Catholic from 1987 to 2000. Bible reading replaced into inspired very plenty.

Answer 9

We are not told to confess to a priest because a priest is what each of us is if we are really Christians. This is what it says: James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

Answer 10

I as a Catholic like to confess to a father
because I mean come on a murderer can confess to god alone
but it takes courage [at least for me] to confess to god through a person