A correspondent writes:
I’m asking for answers to the following two questions because I’m
genuinely curious. I believe the Lord wants His people, the body of
Christ, to be united. And, I believe understanding is one of the first
steps toward unity.Why do Roman Catholics confess to a priest instead of directly to
God? 1 John 1:9 seems to indicate to me I can confess directly to God,
and He’ll forgive me.I have a friend who prays to Mary, the mother of Jesus. I don’t find any biblical basis for praying to anyone other than God.
In regard to the first, 1 John 1:9 says:
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
You’ll note that this is an affirmation of the value of confession (i.e., God will forgive us if we confess our sins), but it does not address the mode of confession. That is, it does not say whether we should confess directly to God or Jesus or whether he will us to confess through the agency of a priest.
The latter matter is addressed in John 20:21-22 (also by St. John, it is worth noting), where we read the following:
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."
Jesus thus commissioned his ministers to forgive or retain sins. For a minister to know whether he should forgive or retain a particular sin, he must know about the sin and whether the person has repented of it. Only with such information could he know whether the sin should be forgiven or whether it should be retained. Since most priests are not telepathic and are not given knowledge of such matters directly by God, if follows that we must tell them about the sin and about the present state of our will toward it. Hence, we have to confess the sin and that we have repented.
Confession is thus indicated as the mode by which we are to confess, at least for those sins grave enough to require this.
Incidentally, it is worth noting that 1 John 1:9 indicates that we must continue to approach God via confession when we have sinned. This means that, contrary to a popular impression among many Protestants, it is not the case that all our sins past, present, and future are forgiven when we become Christian. Only our past sins are forgiven. If we commit new sins, we need to repent of these and be forgiven of them. This is why he established confession, so that we might have a visible and efficacious sign (i.e., a sacrament) of God’s forgiveness as an ongoing part of the Christian life.
The fact that he established it indicates that we should avail ourselves of it.
And thus the early Christians understood the matter.
In regard to praying to the saints, I’d recommend that you check out THIS PAGE and also THIS ONE.
Thanks for your willingness to investigate these matters. Hope this helps, and God bless!
Hi Jimmy,
It’s good that you addressed the topic of confession as there are question playing in my mind on this topic. I hope you’d have time to help me out.
I understand that we Catholics should first be sorry and repent of our sins *before* we go to confession. In fact, that is why one goes to confession.
Questions:
– Do we ask God for forgiveness before going to confession? (besides during confession).
– And if so, do we receive forgiveness before going to confession, even though full restoration of communion with the Church is not completed until the completion of penance? Or does forgiveness only occur during confession?
– If confession is the mode the Christ wanted, how do Protestants obtain forgiveness?
Thanks.
“Since most priests are not telepathic and are not given knowledge of such matters directly by God”
Isn’t it neat that our Catholic Church has priests like Padre Pio that require us to make such qualifiers when we have discussions about confession?
🙂
This post prompted me to drag out Luther’s Small Catechism and re-read the questions in the section on “the Office of the Keys.” Interestingly enough, the footnotes indicate that the three questions on the Office of the Keys “may not have been composed by Luther himself but reflect his teaching and was included in editions of the catechism during his lifetime.” Sample quote:
“I believe that when the called ministers of Christ deal with us by His divine command, in particular when they exclude openly unrepentant sinners from the Christian congregation and absolve those who repent of their sins and want to do better, this is just as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ our dear Lord dealt with us Himself.”
So confession to the pastor is clearly a part of Lutheran doctrine, but is not necessarily practiced in Lutheran churches today (or at least the churches that I have encountered). Certainly one could arrange a meeting with a pastor or an elder, but the practice is not necessarily encouraged.