Confession
To whom should we confess our sins?
The Catholic Catechism states,
“Confession to a priest is an essential part of the sacrament of Penance” (para. 1456).
It also says,
“When Christ’s faithful strive to confess all the sins that they can remember, they undoubtedly place all of them before the divine mercy for pardon. But those who fail to do so and knowingly withhold some, place nothing before the divine goodness for remission through the mediation of the priest...” (para. 1456).
And,
“The Church, who through the bishop and his priests forgive sins in the name of Jesus Christ and determines the manner of satisfaction…” (para. 1448).
To summarize, the Catholic Catechism teaches: confession to a priest is essential; sins are forgiven through the ministry of the church and through the mediation of a priest; the Church forgives sins.
But the Bible teaches:
“For there is one God. There is also one mediator between God and the human race, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself as ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:5, 6).
The Bible clearly states that there is “one mediator between God and the human race.” Not two, not three, but one, Jesus Christ! If we want forgiveness, we must confess our sins to God through Jesus, because
“If we acknowledge our sins, he [God] is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing” (1 John 1:9).
When Jesus taught the disciples how to pray, He taught that we are to ask God to forgive our sins:
“ ‘This is how you are to pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors...’ ” (Matthew 6:9–12).
The Bible also shows us that God alone can forgive sins, as shown in Luke 5:17–25:
“One day as Jesus was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was with him for healing. And some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed; they were trying to bring him in and set [him] in his presence. But not finding a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the stretcher through the tiles into the middle in front of Jesus. When he saw their faith, he said, “As for you, your sins are forgiven.” Then the scribes and Pharisees began to ask themselves, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who but God alone can forgive sins?” Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them in reply, “What are you thinking in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.” He stood up immediately before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God.”
Thus we see that it is God alone who can forgive sins and that Jesus is God. The Bible also tells us that it is
“...God, who knows the heart...” (Acts 15:8).
Since it is God alone who knows the heart and can forgive sins, how can a priest know the sincerity or the motivation of the one who is confessing sin and, thereby, justly absolve or forgive that person’s sins? Only God knows what is truly in one’s heart. Since the Bible teaches that there is one mediator between God and the human race, why does the Catholic Church teach that it is through the mediation of a priest that sins are forgiven?
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