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Electrical TheologyAdmin- Posts : 29
Join date : 2023-05-02
Age : 19 
The Sacrament of Confession
Fri May 12, 2023 11:27 am
Confession - What is it?
The sacrament of confession is where Catholics go to confess their sins, are given a clean conscience, and then blessed to go and live out their faith. This sacrament serves as a way for the faithful to cleanse themselves of their transgressions, especially after committing serious mortal sin. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states,
The Catechism further explains why one would need confession even after baptism,
Confession is essential because one can't enter heaven in a state of mortal sin (1 John 5:16-17). Thus, we need a way to cleanse ourselves of this sinful state and reconcile before God.
Why Confess Our Sins?
Most Protestants agree one should confess their sins to God, although I have heard some claim otherwise. The point of confession is showing God we are sorry for our sins and desire to be reunited with Him. For example 1 John puts confession and cleansing from sin on the same page:
And it isn't enough to say "if we confess our sins", but rather that we must as stated in James,
Many object and say confessing sins isn't necessary, because Christ has already forgiven us. This is a confusion between forgiveness and reconciliation. For example, perhaps I insult my neighbor and offend him in an emotional fury of anger. As I storm off, he thinks to himself, "I forgive him". I'm now forgiven. After some contemplating, I decide that I am sorry and apologize to him. He accepts my apology and we are then reconciled as friends once again. God may forgive us for our sins, but we must then go and be reconciled through the sacrament of confession to regain a pure heart and relationship with Him.
This is why, upon committing a mortal sin, a Catholic should immediately ask for forgiveness, where God will forgive him, but still seek the sacrament of confession to receive reconciliation.
Confessing to God
Many are confused by the sacrament of confession because one is confessing to a priest and not directly to God in prayer. First, when you are confessing to a priest you are confessing to God. The priest in the confessional is "in persona christi" or "in the person of Christ". He is Christ's representative. In other words, God is working through the priest to forgive the sins of the sinner. This makes more sense considering that our sins are offenses to God, not the priest. The priest is not the one we have sinned against, but he still stands as a mediator between God and man.
One Mediator
That statement of the priest being a mediator might have hit any Protestants like a ton of bricks, but I will quickly explain. Catholics believe that Jesus Christ is the one mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5). However, there are still what we call "subordinate mediators" that exist. Let's look at an example. Suppose your friend walks up to you and says, "I have been feeling down lately, can you pray for me?" you would hopefully agree and begin to pray for your friend's request. This makes you a mediator of their prayer request. You are taking their prayer, and giving it to Jesus.
When looking at subordinate mediators another way of viewing it is like this:
THE FATHER (receives the mediation)
↑↑↑
JESUS (all mediations must go through Him)
↑↑↑
MAN (subordinate mediations can occur here)
Notice how all mediations must pass through Christ as the one mediator. Imagine you have a request to the king written on a piece of paper. The King’s apprentice is the only person you can give it to. It doesn’t mean you can’t give that paper to a friend, who then carries it for you to the apprentice. The same is with prayers, all mediations ultimately go through Christ, but subordinate mediations can occur within men before sent to Christ.
Why Confess to a Priest?
Many believe they can simply confess to God in prayer and not to a priest. What's important to note is, in both instances we are confessing to God, but God has given us a set way of going about it. God gave the authority of ministering the sacraments to the priests, but first to the apostles. Take the gospel of John for example:
The Father sent Christ as the one mediator, thus Christ sent them as subordinate mediators. Here Christ gave the apostles the authority to forgive sins. As we've already noted in the article on the papacy, in Acts 1 bishops are successors of apostles. So a bishop would then take his place and receive the same authority to carry on the commission of Christ. The concept of men of authority in the church receiving confessions from the Christians is clearly laid out in the Bible.
What Did the Early Church Say?
The Church Fathers have much to say on the sacrament of confession. First, let's look at what the Didache (a first century catechism) says on the matter:
Confession in the early church was far different than it is now, but the core elements are the same. The early church father, Tertullian, identified one early penitential practice called the exomologesis in his work ‘De Paenitentia". This practice showed a great sorrow toward one's sins.
Hippolytus goes in great detail about the role of a priest:
Cyprian of Carthage makes similar statements:
The early church preached the necessity of confession. It is without any doubt.
Conclusion
Confession is an important step in our growth in holiness. We are called by God to confess our transgressions, reconcile ourselves before God, and live the faith. The sacrament of confession allows us to do this through the ministry of Christ's Church, the Catholic Church.
The sacrament of confession is where Catholics go to confess their sins, are given a clean conscience, and then blessed to go and live out their faith. This sacrament serves as a way for the faithful to cleanse themselves of their transgressions, especially after committing serious mortal sin. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states,
CCC 1422
"Those who approach the sacrament of Penance obtain pardon from God's mercy for the offense committed against him, and are, at the same time, reconciled with the Church which they have wounded by their sins and which by charity, by example, and by prayer labors for their conversion. "
The Catechism further explains why one would need confession even after baptism,
CCC 1426
"Conversion to Christ, the new birth of Baptism, the gift of the Holy Spirit and the Body and Blood of Christ received as food have made us "holy and without blemish," just as the Church herself, the Bride of Christ, is "holy and without blemish." Nevertheless the new life received in Christian initiation has not abolished the frailty and weakness of human nature, nor the inclination to sin that tradition calls concupiscence, which remains in the baptized such that with the help of the grace of Christ they may prove themselves in the struggle of Christian life. This is the struggle of conversion directed toward holiness and eternal life to which the Lord never ceases to call us."
Confession is essential because one can't enter heaven in a state of mortal sin (1 John 5:16-17). Thus, we need a way to cleanse ourselves of this sinful state and reconcile before God.
Why Confess Our Sins?
Most Protestants agree one should confess their sins to God, although I have heard some claim otherwise. The point of confession is showing God we are sorry for our sins and desire to be reunited with Him. For example 1 John puts confession and cleansing from sin on the same page:
1 John 1:9
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
And it isn't enough to say "if we confess our sins", but rather that we must as stated in James,
James 5:16
"Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working."
Many object and say confessing sins isn't necessary, because Christ has already forgiven us. This is a confusion between forgiveness and reconciliation. For example, perhaps I insult my neighbor and offend him in an emotional fury of anger. As I storm off, he thinks to himself, "I forgive him". I'm now forgiven. After some contemplating, I decide that I am sorry and apologize to him. He accepts my apology and we are then reconciled as friends once again. God may forgive us for our sins, but we must then go and be reconciled through the sacrament of confession to regain a pure heart and relationship with Him.
This is why, upon committing a mortal sin, a Catholic should immediately ask for forgiveness, where God will forgive him, but still seek the sacrament of confession to receive reconciliation.
Confessing to God
Many are confused by the sacrament of confession because one is confessing to a priest and not directly to God in prayer. First, when you are confessing to a priest you are confessing to God. The priest in the confessional is "in persona christi" or "in the person of Christ". He is Christ's representative. In other words, God is working through the priest to forgive the sins of the sinner. This makes more sense considering that our sins are offenses to God, not the priest. The priest is not the one we have sinned against, but he still stands as a mediator between God and man.
One Mediator
That statement of the priest being a mediator might have hit any Protestants like a ton of bricks, but I will quickly explain. Catholics believe that Jesus Christ is the one mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5). However, there are still what we call "subordinate mediators" that exist. Let's look at an example. Suppose your friend walks up to you and says, "I have been feeling down lately, can you pray for me?" you would hopefully agree and begin to pray for your friend's request. This makes you a mediator of their prayer request. You are taking their prayer, and giving it to Jesus.
When looking at subordinate mediators another way of viewing it is like this:
THE FATHER (receives the mediation)
↑↑↑
JESUS (all mediations must go through Him)
↑↑↑
MAN (subordinate mediations can occur here)
Notice how all mediations must pass through Christ as the one mediator. Imagine you have a request to the king written on a piece of paper. The King’s apprentice is the only person you can give it to. It doesn’t mean you can’t give that paper to a friend, who then carries it for you to the apprentice. The same is with prayers, all mediations ultimately go through Christ, but subordinate mediations can occur within men before sent to Christ.
Why Confess to a Priest?
Many believe they can simply confess to God in prayer and not to a priest. What's important to note is, in both instances we are confessing to God, but God has given us a set way of going about it. God gave the authority of ministering the sacraments to the priests, but first to the apostles. Take the gospel of John for example:
John 20:21-23
"Again Jesus 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’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.'”
The Father sent Christ as the one mediator, thus Christ sent them as subordinate mediators. Here Christ gave the apostles the authority to forgive sins. As we've already noted in the article on the papacy, in Acts 1 bishops are successors of apostles. So a bishop would then take his place and receive the same authority to carry on the commission of Christ. The concept of men of authority in the church receiving confessions from the Christians is clearly laid out in the Bible.
What Did the Early Church Say?
The Church Fathers have much to say on the sacrament of confession. First, let's look at what the Didache (a first century catechism) says on the matter:
Didache 4:14, 14:1 [A.D. 70]
“Confess your sins in church, and do not go up to your prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of life. . . . On the Lord’s Day gather together, break bread, and give thanks, after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure.”
Confession in the early church was far different than it is now, but the core elements are the same. The early church father, Tertullian, identified one early penitential practice called the exomologesis in his work ‘De Paenitentia". This practice showed a great sorrow toward one's sins.
Tertullian, De Paenitentia [A.D. 203/204]
“Thus, confession is a discipline for a man’s prostration and humiliation, enjoining a manner, even as regards dress and food, conductive to mercy. It commands one to lie in sackcloth and ashes, to cover the body with mourning, to cast the spirit down in sorrow, to exchange the sins which have been committed for a demeanor of sorrow; to take no other food or drink except what is plain, not, of course, for the sake of the stomach, but for the sake of the soul; …”
Hippolytus goes in great detail about the role of a priest:
Apostolic Tradition 3 [A.D. 215]
“[The bishop conducting the ordination of the new bishop shall pray:] God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . Pour forth now that power which comes from you, from your royal Spirit, which you gave to your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and which he bestowed upon his holy apostles . . . and grant this your servant, whom you have chosen for the episcopate, [the power] to feed your holy flock and to serve without blame as your high priest, ministering night and day to propitiate unceasingly before your face and to offer to you the gifts of your holy Church, and by the Spirit of the high priesthood to have the authority to forgive sins, in accord with your command.”
Cyprian of Carthage makes similar statements:
The Lapsed 15:1–3 [A.D. 251]
“The apostle [Paul] likewise bears witness and says: ‘ . . . Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord’ [1 Cor. 11:27]. But [the impenitent] spurn and despise all these warnings; before their sins are expiated, before they have made a confession of their crime, before their conscience has been purged in the ceremony and at the hand of the priest . . . they do violence to [the Lord’s] body and blood, and with their hands and mouth they sin against the Lord more than when they denied him.”
The early church preached the necessity of confession. It is without any doubt.
Conclusion
Confession is an important step in our growth in holiness. We are called by God to confess our transgressions, reconcile ourselves before God, and live the faith. The sacrament of confession allows us to do this through the ministry of Christ's Church, the Catholic Church.
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