"Only God Can Forgive Sins"
The Logical and Scriptural Reasons for the Sacrament of Penance
MARIO DERKSEN
 

The sacrament of Reconciliation, commonly referred to as "confession," has always been an object of great opposition for Protestants. Many of them still misunderstand the teaching. The priest does not forgive sins on his own power, as if he were God. It is never the priest who forgives the sin, but Christ using the priest to bestow forgiveness on his beloved children. Just as Jesus lets us have a share in creation (by equipping us with genitalia), so he also lets his people share in the bestowal of the forgiveness of sins. This latter blessing or power, however, Jesus did not give to everybody, but only to people ordained to the priesthood, as will be shown. The key passage to note is John 20:21-23:
 

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."
The first thing to note here is that Jesus breathes on his disciples. This is the second time in all history that God breathes on man (the first time was when he gave man the breath of life, in Genesis 2:7). Surely, something significant is happening. Christ then goes on to say that if they (the Apostles) forgive the sins of people, then they are forgiven. If they do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. Here Protestants object by saying that the original Greek should be translated as "If you forgive men's sins, they have been forgiven them...." Well, I am not a Greek scholar and it is unfitting for me to say whether it should be translated this way rather than the way it has been, but I do know that the original Greek word is in a perfect tense [of the verb aphiemi], suggesting near past. But either way, it does not change the fact that Jesus is here giving his Apostles the power to forgive and retain sins. If they forgive them, then God has forgiven them. If they retain them, then God has retained them. You see that by the mere changing of tenses, the context and meaning is not altered in the least.

Many, if not all, Protestants have tried to find their way around John 20:21-23. They try to make it Jesus' words mean something like, "If God forgives their sins, then you proclaim them forgiven" or, "If you deliver the Gospel to people, then they shall be freed from their sins." However, this is not what Jesus said. He said plainly and simply: "If you forgive men's sins, they are forgiven. If not, then they are not." These are the Lord's Words, not mine. Jesus had ample opportunity to state what he said in all kinds of different ways. He did not, however.

How do we know that Jesus gave this power to his Apostles ONLY and not to everybody? To answer this question, we must first note that John's Gospel nowhere uses the term "Apostles" as a reference to the Twelve.  So the omission of that term here is insignificant. At least the power was only explicitly given to the disciples that were in the upper room, that is for sure (see verse 19). We can further reason that from the context the term "them" in verse 22 is used in the same sense as it is in verse 24  where it refers to the Twelve.

One might wonder how St. Thomas, who was not present at the time Jesus conferred the sacramental power of Penance to the Apostles, received this gift. There are several theories: (1) Jesus gave it to him afterwards, but it is just not mentioned; or (2) St. Peter, who has the Keys to the Kingdom (Matthew 16:19), gave it to him.

Of course, the typical Protestant response to all of this is, "But only GOD can forgive sins!" And that is true. Of course. But the Sacrament of Penance does not deny this. We're not saying the priest forgives the sins instead of God. Rather, and AGAIN, God works through the priest. Neither do we believe that we should go to confession INSTEAD of "praying straight to God," but rather, one should do BOTH, not either/or.

Let us take a look at Matthew 9:5-8:
 

For 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 then said to the paralytic-"Rise, take up your bed and go home." And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.
 
Here we have it from the BIBLE. Look at the bold parts. Jesus says he forgives sins in his human, not his divine, capacity (wherefore he uses the term "Son of MAN" vs. "Son of God"). We then read that God had "given such authority to MEN." This proves it all right there. God gave the authority/power to absolve from and retain sins to MEN. Note it says MEN, not MAN (the Greek word used is anthropois, and that is plural). He was not referring to only Jesus.

Biblical Examples of Confession
Old Testament

In the Old Testament, we read about mandatory confession of one's sins to a priest:

Leviticus 5:5-6:

When a man is guilty in any of these [sins], he shall confess the sin he has committed, and he shall bring his guilt offering to the Lord for the sin which he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin.
This passage implies auricular confession to a priest because the priest did not know what sacrifice to offer for atonement unless he was told the sin by the penitent.

New Testament

In the New Testament, there is a lot more that has to do with confession:

2 Corinthians 5:18-19:

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
Note that St. Paul says his is a ministry of reconciliation; it is, therefore, not merely a message. He actually does a service in order for the people to get reconciled to God. This is only explicable by admitting that he acted as a confessor--that is, people came to him, confessed their sins, and he absolved them.

2 Corinthians 2:10-11:

What I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, to keep Satan from gaining the advantage over us; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
Wow! Here St. Paul says he has forgiven people's sins....and he even explains that this was in the name of Christ, that is, he was present in him. It was, then, not Paul himself who absolved, but Christ acting through Paul. The addendum "to keep Satan from gaining advantage over us" might beyond that actually indicate that Paul was aware of the graces that are obtained through the reception of the sacrament of Penance.

There is also an appeal to confession in 1 John 1:9: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." St. John is very plain here. He says it flat out.

James 5:14-16:

Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects.
Here we have an example of forgiveness of God through a priest in action. St. James tells us that, if we are sick, we are to call for the priests (=elders) of the church. By the prayer of that priest, the sick person's sins will be forgiven; that's what the text says plainly!! Then James goes on to say, "Confess your sins to one another." Here, however, Protestants make the mistake of lifting the whole verse out of context by insisting that it means "everybody is to confess his/her sins to anybody." Not true. Let's stick with the context. It refers to the sick person confessing his/her sins to the priest and vice versa (the priest can, after all, encourage the sick person to confess his/her sins by letting him/her know about some of his own sins). Thus, verse 16 concludes or summarizes the preceding verses.

The Bible itself, then, proves that God has given human beings the authority to absolve others from sins--not on their own authority, but as tools of God Most High.
 

Besides all of those biblical reasons, there are also a few reasons that quite simply appeal to logic. In his book Catholicism and Fundamentalism, Karl Keating notes five of them (pp.188-89). Let me list and explain each of them briefly.

We ought to receive the Sacrament of Penance because...
 

Jesus never engaded in doing vain acts. He would not have instituted this sacrament if he had wanted us to seek forgiveness by praying "straight to God," by simply not receiving it. Since we have seen, though, that Christ did institute this sacrament, i necessarily follows that he wants us to make practical use of it.
   
It is always valuable to look for the reasons why people behave the way they do. Why do many people avoid confession? Because it is a humble experience to tell one's sins to a priest and be honest about one's sinfulness! Very often it is the case that people who do not want to go to confession do not go there not because they don't believe in the sacrament's theology, but rather because they're trying to escape their own sinfulness. But here we remember Christ's words: "Whoever humbles himself will be exalted" (Mt 23:12). It is, then, a very good idea to learn a lesson in humility by going to confession. The sacrament humbles us. Consequently, we shall be exalted.
  By receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation, certain graces are obtained which, quite naturally, are not received when confession is omitted. The sacrament restores our spiritual life and, with it, pours out the gifts of the Holy Spirit on us. Who would not want to take part in such an event?

 

We have all probably doubted now and then whether God has forgiven a particular sin. Maybe we weren't contrite enough, sincere enough, or did not have the necessary faith. This confusion does not occur when one is absolved of one's sins by a priest, because if you are not properly sorry for your sins, you would not go to confession to begin with. Furthermore, you can be sure your transgressions have been blotted out because Christ himself, speaking through the priest, has said so.
  Malachi 2:7 reminds us that "the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts." After we have confessed our sins, we do not only get absolved from them, but we also
obtain advice on how to behave, that is, what to do, what not to do, etc., in order to lead a spiritually good life. One can ask the priest questions about things that are unclear. Such is not an option for somebody who refuses to receive Reconciliation.

So, confession is very important for our spiritual life. The Bible teaches it, and it also follows from logic.
Jesus wants you to be as spiritually healthy as possible, and therefore he instituted this consoling and grace-giving sacrament. Now it's up to you to make use of it.
 

Special thanks go to John Hellmann, Heritage of the Apostles
 

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