The Sacrament of Confession in Scripture Part One

                                                                        

                                                                         I. Introduction

It is quite common in many Baptist circles to claim that nothing in Scripture teaches that we should confess our sins to a priest. As someone who was part of the Awana Program in various Baptist Churches when I was young, I began to learn about the books of the Bible and various passages of Scripture. Although I did not realize it at the time, my studies in Awana prepared me for the memorization of not only Scripture but also the doctrines of Christianity, which I study almost every day. Later, at about the age of thirteen, I began to study the history of Early Christianity. It was not long before I realized that the government of one pastor and multiple deacons had no origins in early Christian practice at all. In this post, I am going to set out to prove the Biblicity of confession before a priest. 

                                                                        II. The Sacrament of Confession in Scripture

For many Bible onlyiest, they say that we should not believe anything but what is taught in Scripture, specifically, the New Testament. Yet nowhere in the New Testament do we ever see believers confess their sins to God, outside the context of other Christians. 

In both Matthew 3:6 and Mark 1:5, we learn that those baptized by John the Baptist also confessed their sins to him. And while John the Baptist's baptism was different than Holy Spirit Baptism (Acts 2), nowhere did the New Testament Epistles ever rescind the confession of believers to another believer. 

Confessing sins to brothers and sisters was part of New Testament/Early Christian practice. This was never invented by man. On the contrary, those who say, ''I only need to confess my sins to God without anyone else,'' are the ones burdened with finding New Testament evidence for their thought. And while King David did confess his sins in private to God in the Psalms, if Baptists are to use the Psalms for justification of only privately confessing sins to God, then the Baptists should also embrace many other Old Testament practices which they claim are superseded by not being reinforced in the New Testament (for example, many Baptists reject infant circumcision/infant baptism by claiming that it lacks New Testament teaching). On the other hand, Orthodox and Catholic Christians, along with Lutherans and many Anglicans, are consistent in upholding the confession of sins to an individual, as confessing sins to a priest or someone else does not necessarily mean that one does not confess them to God. In fact, traditionally, many Christians who went to church for confession actually asked God for forgiveness while standing in the presence of the priest who witnessed their confession. 

During the Protestant Reformation, even the pastors of the Dutch Reformed churches would declare the forgiveness of sins to Christians in their congregations. Indeed, the early Calvinists looked a lot more like Catholics than they do today's mainstream Evangelicals. 

But if church practices for both Catholics and Protestants historically included one's confession of sins in the presence of a priest or pastor, what changed? Why do today's Baptists insist on just going to God for confession of one's sins? 

As Saint Jerome said, ''Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.'' This applies to those who isolate one Bible verse from the rest. Like Oneness Pentecostels, who isolate a verse or so to justify Christ being only a man rather than both God and man, the Baptists isolate one verse or so to justify their views. 

Evangelicals often appeal to Mark 2: 7, which they say teaches that only God forgives sins. A closer examination of the passage reveals that this is not the case, however. In fact, the claim that only God forgives sins was not made by Christ or the Apostles but, as the passage demonstrates, by the Pharisees themselves. Thus, the Baptists of today make the same claim as the Pharisees of old---which has no theological backing from the teachings of the New Testament Church. Having made many professions of unbiblical theology throughout their lives, we ought to be cautious in taking their opinions as the gospel. As they objected to the powers of Christ, the Pharisees resorted to claiming only God could forgive sins since they did not see Christ as God. 

In fact, in John 20: 23, Jesus gave the Apostles the power to forgive sins. Christ never claimed that only God has this power. He affirmed that the sins that the Apostles would forgive would be forgiven. Already, we see the origins of the priesthood in Christ's Apostles. 

Jesus also gave the Keys of the Kingdom to Peter in Matthew 16, and the keys were exercised by the apostles in Matthew 18. The Apostles established churches, assembled the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15), and exercised authority over local churches (Titis 1, 1 Timothy 3). The idea that they had no more authority than Christian laymen is ludicrous. In fact, they were clearly the bishops of their time, as evidenced by their work in the church. Their authority was never rescinded in the New Testament (except for Judas, who was replaced by Matthias in Acts 2). Throughout the New Testament, the offices of church leaders over the local churches are apparent in the New Testament Church after the Great Commission given to the Apostles (as evidenced by the work of Titus in Titus 1). 

Indeed, not only is the power of forgiveness of sins given to the Apostles but there is never an example of one confession in the New Testament where the believer only talks to God about their sins. In many ways, the idea that one does not need confession of sins relies on one holding a priestly office, which is the same argument used for the belief that none of us need church at all. Neither is Biblical. Saying, ''I only need God for forgiveness,'' is similar to saying, ''I don't need Baptism, the Lord's Table, or the church.'' Both thoughts are condemned in Scripture. 

As already mentioned, there is not one passage in Scripture that teaches or demonstrates any first-century believer simply taking their sins to God. All examples of confessions of sins in the New Testament are before other believers, as was the common practice of ancient Christianity. And since some leaders exercised a priestly ministry in the church (Titus 1, 1 Timothy 3, Acts 15, Romans 15: 15-16), it makes sense that Christians confess their sins before the priest/pastor so that he may shepherd the flock and guide them from repeating their sins again. 

As a sidenote, in the early church, confession of sins was public. This is confirmed in the Didache, which was written in the late first century---possibly close to the time of the composition of both 2 Peter and The Book of Revelation. In other words, one of the earliest Christian documents explains that the Christians at the time of Christ did not have the Baptist view of the Bible. 

The only verse in the New Testament to explicitly command Christians' confession of sins is James 5: 15, where the author tells believers to confess their sins to one another. And since confession was public before the church and in the presence of a priest, early believers received Christ's promise of absolution to those who confessed before those in prieslty minsitry (John 20: 23). 

Since the confession of sins was made in the presence of a priest in the New Testament (as evidenced by James 5), all Christians today would be wise to follow the pattern of the New Testament, lest they prove the unbiblical doctrines which they hold. And let me repeat again, nowhere in the New Testament is there one example of people privately only confessing their sins to God (which Catholics, Lutherans, and Orthodox do alongside confession to God before a priest). 

In fact, the sick man is to receive healing from the elders (James 5: 13-18). The context of the passage is not just about a man who is literally sick but is sick from his sins, who thus needs forgiveness (v. 15). 

The point of this post is not whether public or private confession is better. In general, Christians should confess their sins in the presence of a priest or pastor, as the mentioned passages in Scripture explain. 

In 2 Corinthians 5: 18, Paul also reveals that church clergy have been given power from God to reconcile believers to the Creator. Indeed, Jesus, who is our advocate, also gave authority to church officers (Matthew 16), and this was the understanding of the early Christians in the New Testament and post-New Testament era. 

But what about John 1:9?  The Bible teaches that God is faithful in forgiving us of our sins. Therefore, can we not just go to the Creator to confess our sins? 

First of all, Catholic and Orthodox Christians do confess their sins to God in the presence of the priest. That's important to remember. Neither Catholics nor Orthodox do, as some claim, that they confess to a priest instead of God. During the Sacrament of Confession, for example, Catholics read a prayer of confession to God as the priest listens. This practice is in harmony with James 5. 

Secondly, no one Bible verse should be isolated from the rest of Scripture. Yet consistently, Baptists do this with John 1: 9. It becomes convenient for them to cast out the rest of Scripture on this topic while only focusing on quoting this verse (with little to no historical or grammatical context to the verse). 

Thirdly, while John 1: 9 tells us that God does forgive us of our sins, the verse never implies that confession of sins should be made in private. In fact, when other passages such as James 5 and John 20 are taken into context, if anything, we should assume that John 1: 9 is about confession before the church. 

Fourthly, John 1: 9 is about confession before the church, as revealed in Greek. The verse, for example, uses the Greek word, homologeo, which universally always referred to public confession in Scripture. Unfortunately, many Baptists simply point to a verse in their English Bibles with no knowledge of New Testament Greek, the history of their church, or even the various passages in Scripture concerning the apostles and the priestly ministry of the church. 

Since the Apostles and their successors have the power to bind and loose (Matthew 16: 18-19, Acts 15, Titus 1, 1 Timothy 3, James 5), then Christians ought to confess their sins before the church still. To do otherwise would imply that not only that do we not need to reconcile to God and healing is not needed on our part, but that God made us as islands from one another---which He never did. 

                                                                                 III. Conclusion

In conclusion, not only are the Baptists left with the burden of defending their view of confession according to Scripture, but they are also burdened with the question of why they more correctly understand the New Testament than the Christians for the first 1500 years? Were the Baptists given some divine revelation from the Holy Spirit that the early Christians were not? Truly, not only are their views about confession lacking Biblical support, but they openly contradict everything we see about confession in the New Testament. 

Ironically, while Baptists claim to follow the Bible, the teachings of Scripture align far more with Catholicism about confession, the Eucharist, Baptism, church government, and marriage than they do with Baptist thought. And this is ironic, considering Baptists claim that Catholicism is one built on the traditions of man. Certainly, it is tragic that so many Evangelicals have separated themselves from how Scripture was historically understood while interpreting it through the lens of men centuries (many centuries) later. 

Which is why I wrote this post. I understand the Baptist mind. I understand that many of them claim to only believe something if it is taught in Scripture (even though Scripture explicitly contradicts their views on the frequency of communion, and nothing about Sunday School is mentioned in the Bible). In general, the theology of Baptists is built on man rather than that of Christ. 

Lastly, so far, I have proven that confession in the New Testament was not only private to God, but public before the entire church. This practice was not rescinded in the New Testament. In fact, the earliest Christians understood the sacrament this way. 

Much more on this topic could be said. More posts will come soon. In the meantime, search out the Scriptures mentioned in this post. Take time to pray and study concerning this heavy topic.