Is confession to priests is a biblical principle?
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Ivan Mugisha
Sep 16, 2015, 4:33:17 AM9/16/15
to Kanombe Sabbath School Branch
On September 1, a Catholic International news agency (ZENIT.Org)
published an announcement by Pope Francis in which he intends the
upcoming Jubilee Year of Mercy, “to be an encounter with God the Father,
‘whose tenderness is almost tangible, a Father who welcomes and
forgives, forgetting completely the sin committed.’ He expanded
faculties for priests to forgive abortion at confessions. Following
these pronouncements, Daily Monitor of September 3, carried the story
and provoked a number of reactions from the public on the forgiveness of
sins. Many readers have given comments such as ‘can the Pope or a
Catholic priest forgive sins?’ Why don’t the victims confess to God
directly? The question is, is it biblical to confess to a Catholic
Priest?
In the story of a paralysed man (Mt 9:1-7; Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26) Jesus demonstrated that he had authority on earth to forgive sins and to heal. This same Jesus instituted the sacrament of penance and reconciliation in his Church. This Church still exists today with Apostolic succession of the priesthood and history clearly shows that the Pope derives his descendency from Peter the Apostle. This is the Church which Jesus addressed in John 20:21-23, he said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” Since Christ entrusted to his apostles the ministry of reconciliation, bishops who are their successors, and priests, the bishop’s collaborators, continue to exercise this ministry by virtue of the Sacrament of Holy Orders; they have power to forgive all sins “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”. This work was to be carried out beginning from Jerusalem (Luke 24: 47-48).
St Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians (2Cor 5:18-21) said that any person who belongs to Christ has become a new person, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us….” This statement is certainly in reference to the ministry of Ordination. St James while talking about Power of Prayer (James 5:13-16) said, “…You should call for the elders of the Church (reference to ordained priesthood) to come and pray for you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord….And if you have committed any sin, you will be forgiven. Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is wonderful and effective”.
The purpose of this Sacrament is the conversion of the heart, interior conversion which is Jesus’ call. This follows true repentance and reconciliation.
Many Christians who question this Sacrament argue that “how can I tell my sins to a mere man? They forget that priests are not mere men. Christ actually did appoint a priesthood, which should not only represent him and stand for him, but should in a certain sense be Himself – that is to say, that he should exercise divine powers through its agency. Therefore devotion and reverence towards the priest is a direct homage to the eternal priesthood of which the human minister is a partaker. The priest, regardless of his spiritual status, who has received the faculty of absolving from the authority of the Church, can forgive sins in the name of Christ. The office and the officer are two different things. No disputes or legal issues have risen from a Catholic confession given in the confessional box. It would be a betrayal on the part of the priest to use this information in anyway.
Mr Okoth is a concerned Christian. okoth...@yahoo.com
SOURCE: http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Commentary/Confession-to-priests-is-a-biblical-principle/-/689364/2867740/-/7hybabz/-/index.html
In the story of a paralysed man (Mt 9:1-7; Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26) Jesus demonstrated that he had authority on earth to forgive sins and to heal. This same Jesus instituted the sacrament of penance and reconciliation in his Church. This Church still exists today with Apostolic succession of the priesthood and history clearly shows that the Pope derives his descendency from Peter the Apostle. This is the Church which Jesus addressed in John 20:21-23, he said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” Since Christ entrusted to his apostles the ministry of reconciliation, bishops who are their successors, and priests, the bishop’s collaborators, continue to exercise this ministry by virtue of the Sacrament of Holy Orders; they have power to forgive all sins “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”. This work was to be carried out beginning from Jerusalem (Luke 24: 47-48).
St Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians (2Cor 5:18-21) said that any person who belongs to Christ has become a new person, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us….” This statement is certainly in reference to the ministry of Ordination. St James while talking about Power of Prayer (James 5:13-16) said, “…You should call for the elders of the Church (reference to ordained priesthood) to come and pray for you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord….And if you have committed any sin, you will be forgiven. Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is wonderful and effective”.
The purpose of this Sacrament is the conversion of the heart, interior conversion which is Jesus’ call. This follows true repentance and reconciliation.
Many Christians who question this Sacrament argue that “how can I tell my sins to a mere man? They forget that priests are not mere men. Christ actually did appoint a priesthood, which should not only represent him and stand for him, but should in a certain sense be Himself – that is to say, that he should exercise divine powers through its agency. Therefore devotion and reverence towards the priest is a direct homage to the eternal priesthood of which the human minister is a partaker. The priest, regardless of his spiritual status, who has received the faculty of absolving from the authority of the Church, can forgive sins in the name of Christ. The office and the officer are two different things. No disputes or legal issues have risen from a Catholic confession given in the confessional box. It would be a betrayal on the part of the priest to use this information in anyway.
Mr Okoth is a concerned Christian. okoth...@yahoo.com
SOURCE: http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Commentary/Confession-to-priests-is-a-biblical-principle/-/689364/2867740/-/7hybabz/-/index.html
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