FACT CHECK: Debunking Protestant Errors About Catholicism! “Nowhere in the Bible does it say to confess our sins to a priest!”

Claim: “The Bible nowhere mentions the sacrament of Confession or tells us to confess our sins to a priest.”

Fact check: False.

In our ongoing series answering common Protestant objections to Catholicism, Catholic convert and notable truther Nina Leone asked about the basis for the practice of confessing our sins to a priest. As I have attempted to do in previous articles dealing with apologetics, I will answer this from the testimony of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. I am aware that Protestants claim to go by Sola Scriptura, which itself has a plethora of definitions based on which Protestant you are speaking with. The most common definition I have heard is that Scripture is the final court of appeals for matters pertaining to doctrines of faith and morals.

However, as I have pointed out in previous articles, this definition itself is slightly misleading. The reality is that the final court of appeals for any Protestant is Private Interpretation. Whether the Protestant is relying on the say-so of their pastor, of an author they read, or a conference they attended, or their own personal understanding based on their reading of Scripture, it ultimately still boils back down to Private Interpretation of Scripture as the final court of appeals for matters pertaining to doctrines of faith and morals. Again, I point out the irony underlying all this, that there is no divinely inspired Table of Contents that God revealed to the Apostles. It took Catholic Bishops in successive councils to pray and determine which books qualified as divine revelation, and which ones did not. The reason their determinations were authoritative is because the Holy Spirit was guaranteed to lead the Church into all truth. Protestants take it for granted that these Bishops got it right on this issue, as well as other pertinent issues such as the Trinity and the Hypostatic Union and the Deity of the Holy Spirit, but somehow they got it wrong on a host of other issues. Implicitly, they are saying that the Holy Spirit was leading the Church in matters of doctrine, but there was an expiration date on this divine assistance.

I will utilize Sacred Scripture to demonstrate the Christian Sacrament of Holy Confession, however I will also highlight the teachings of the Early Church in order to demonstrate the consistency between the Apostolic Era with the Patristic Era. Unfortunately, many good intentioned Protestants today do not realize that the teachings and practices they adopt are really just a few hundred years old. Christianity, however, traces back to Jesus and the Apostles, and thus the teachings and practices of the Christian Religion can be found essentially in every generation. St. Paul actually wrote that the church founded by Jesus would exist in every generation. “To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!” (Ephesians 3:21). If the Sacrament of Confession is a man made invention, then surely we will not find it throughout history tracing back to the beginning. In that case, it would fall under the same category as Sola Scriptura, a man made invention of the 16th century. However, if we see the Sacrament of Confession being taught and practiced from the very beginning, then that means the denial of this practice is itself a man made invention. May we always stay faithful to God’s Word in all things.

So let us begin with some foundational points. Protestants often argue, “Only God can forgive sins.” Indeed, this is true, and we rejoice that they borrowed this belief from the Christians. Isaiah 43:25 teaches, “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” So right from the Old Testament, we see Sacred Scripture teaches us that God is the one who forgives sins. Yet, this does not prevent God from choosing to communicate His forgiveness through the priests. “He shall bring his compensation to the Lord, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord for his sin that he has committed, and he shall be forgiven for the sin that he has committed” (Leviticus 19:21-22). In Hebrew, the phrase, “shall make atonement” is wə·ḵip·per, and this same phrase is also used in Ezekiel 45:20 which utilizes the phrase in the context of being reconciled from sin.

So here we see two truths extracted right from the Old Testament. God forgives sins, and He chooses to communicate this forgiveness through His priesthood. In Psalms 51:4, David cries out, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.” Since sin is an offense first and foremost against God, then we must turn to Him to have our sins forgiven. But again, what mechanism does God command His people to utilize in granting them His forgiveness? Leviticus 4:26, “So the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin, and he shall be forgiven.”

Now, we know that God can not contradict Himself. And yet this is one of the primary objections by the Protestants against this biblical command. They argue that only God forgives sins, and that going through a priest contradicts this principle. However, if that were true, then it would apply as well in the Old Testament since it also plainly teaches the first principle, that God is the One who forgives sins, and that we must confess our sins to Him. The problem here for the Protestant position is that the Old Testament also reveals that God commands us to confess our sins, and receive our absolution, through the ministerial priesthood. This is not a contradiction, as the Protestants want to make it. This is God’s preference and command for His people.

Now, a common objection at this point arises: “That may have been true for the Old Covenant, but in the New Covenant, we are all priests, as 1 Peter 2:9 teaches.” So let us read 1 Peter 2:9, which says, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.” Fair enough, but hold on a second. The Old Covenant taught the same thing. Exodus 19:5-6 teaches, “Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” So, wait a second. In the Old Covenant, the people were also a kingdom of priests, a royal priesthood? So then, does that mean they all had the same role as the liturgical priesthood? Apparently not. The above cited passages of Leviticus 4, Leviticus 19, Ezekiel 45, among many others which could have been referenced, all applied specifically to the ministerial liturgical priesthood, which was comprised of men who also belonged to the royal priesthood and yet had a distinct role and function that was separate from that same royal priesthood.

So then, we need to ask the next question. What does the New Testament teach? In Matthew 9:2-6, we learn that Jesus, who is God incarnate, has the power to forgive sins. “And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? 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, pick up your bed and go home.” So, we see that the first principle aligns the same. In the Old Testament, God has the power to forgive sins. In the New Testament, we have Jesus, who is God, and thus He has the power to forgive sins.

Now, principle number two. We saw that in the Old Testament, we are called to confess our sins to God to receive forgiveness, as demonstrated in Psalm 51. In 1 John 1:8-9, in the New Testament, we read, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” So we also see that we are called to confess our sins to God in order for us to receive His forgiveness, by virtue of “the blood of His Son Jesus” (1 John 1:7). So this principle is also continued and fulfilled in the New Covenant.

So to principle number three. We saw in the Old Covenant that God communicated His forgiveness through the ministerial priesthood, which was distinct from the royal priesthood comprised of all the faithful. In John 20:21-23, speaking to the Apostles in the Upper Room after the Resurrection, Our Lord says, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending 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 them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” Jesus gives the Apostles the authority to forgive sins. The principles all remain the same and flow from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant, the primary change being that the New Covenant provides sanctifying grace which the Old Covenant did not since it was under the system of Law. But here is the harmony: God forgives sins; we must confess our sins to receive forgiveness; we confess our sins to the ministerial priests to receive God’s forgiveness, since He chooses to communicate His forgiveness through this means. In Hebrews, we learn that these sins could not be truly blotted out under the system of Law. But in the New Covenant, under the system of grace, there is true absolution and the inner workings of the Holy Spirit within our souls.

Regarding verse 23 specifically, when Our Lord says, “If you forgive the sins of any,” this is a Greek conditional clause of expectancy, which means it assumes that people will have to actually confess their sins to the Apostles in order for the Apostles to forgive them. In verse 22, Jesus breathes on them and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” which is the basis for this task of forgiving sins being elevated to a Sacrament. Our Lord’s sacrifice provided the possibility of forgiveness of sins by God, meaning complete and total absolution of sins. However, it is not automatic. In order to receive this forgiveness, we must repent of our sins. This is how the graces of the Atonement apply to the penitent, as designated and commanded by Jesus in this very passage. The Greek solidifies this point and drives it home. If the Protestant disagrees, they are more than free to take it up with Our Lord and Sacred Scripture.

Baptism cleanses us of all sin, Original and actual. However, for one who sins gravely after their Baptism, God has provided this means of ensuring our sins are completely absolved. Again, forgiveness is not automatic, nor is it owed to us by God. We must approach Him with contrition and repentance. As St. Peter writes, “For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins” (2 Peter 1:8-9). Our past sins are forgiven, but not our future sins which have not been committed yet. Forgiveness can only apply to sins committed and confessed. One of the grave errors of Protestantism is to assume we can keep sinning gravely against God, and He will accept it since we are already “saved.” This is presumption on God’s Mercy, and is itself a grave sin. When we fall into sin, we need to confess those sins. And God promises to forgive us of those sins if we are truly sorry for them. And He does this through the Sacrament of Confession.

Protestants talk about the splitting of the veil from Matthew 27:51, saying that priests are no longer necessary. But thus far we see this is not the template set up by Christ. The splitting of the veil signifies that direct access to God’s grace is now available. Thus, through the Sacraments, we receive sanctifying grace, the very life of God within the soul. And He cleanses us from within and makes us new creations. The Old Covenant could not do this, but under the New Covenant system of grace, we now have direct access to God’s grace within us and true absolution of all sins that we confess. The question remains, how does one receive this forgiveness? How does God desire us to confess? This is what Our Lord reveals in John 20. Through His Church, through His Apostles. He is the one mediator between God and man, and thus we now have nothing to prohibit the grace of God in the soul of man. And as He shows in John 20, He chooses to communicate this grace through His Church, because it is His Body and He is the Head. Without Him, the Sacraments would have no power or efficacy. But because He is the mediator between Heaven and Earth, we now have the graces of Heaven opened to us.

One passage that is interesting in this regard is from 2 Corinthians 2:10, where St. Paul teaches that any sins he has forgiven, he has done so in the person of Christ. The Berean Literal Bible translates it as, “Now to whomever you forgive anything, I also do; and indeed to whom I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, it is for the sake of you, in the person of Christ.” The Greek word for “in the person of” is prosōpō, and literally means “in the person of” or “in the presence of.” This term is also found, for example, in Hebrews 9:24 (“to appear in the presence of God”). We see that St. Paul forgives sins in the person of Christ, literally in His person or in His presence. This is exactly the Catholic Christian position. We confess our sins to God, and He forgives our sins through the ministerial priesthood (properly speaking, in the New Covenant, the Sacramental Priesthood). The priest communicates the forgiveness and absolution of God to us “in the person of Christ,” as St. Paul did for the Corinthians. Anyone denying this plain biblical truth will have to take it up with St. Paul. Here are some further translations of this passage to drive the point home:

KJV: If I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ.

NLT: And when I forgive whatever needs to be forgiven, I do so with Christ’s authority for your benefit.

ESV: What I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ.

ISV: Indeed, what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I did in the presence of the Messiah for your benefit.

Douay Rheims: For, what I have pardoned, if I have pardoned any thing, for your sakes have I done it in the person of Christ.

At this point, the Protestant again may try to object that we all have the same authority as the Apostles. However, again, St. Paul teaches something different. In 1 Corinthians 12:28-29, he writes, “And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?” The Corinthian church was having the same struggles that we find today in Protestantism. They were very divided. Some of them thought they had equal authority to St. Peter, St. Paul, St. James, and so on. And yet St. Paul rhetorically asks, “Are all apostles?” The answer is no. Not everyone is an apostle. The successors to the apostles are called bishops, as we see in Acts 1:20, when St. Matthias was called to replace Judas. The King James and the Douay Rheims both translate it the same: “Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take.” The Greek word for “bishoprick” is episkopēn, and is defined literally as one who has the office of supervision, ministry, oversight, the ability to oversee judgment. It is where we get the English word “Bishop.” We also see this term in 1 Timothy 3:1, “This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.” The office of successor to an apostle is called Bishop in the New Testament. Bishops are successors to the Apostles. Sorry Pastor Bob, not all are apostles.

Regarding the role of the ministerial priests, James 5:14-15 teaches, “Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man: and the Lord shall raise him up: and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him.” The Greek term for “priests” is presbyterous, where we derive the English term “priest.” The two terms are synonyms according to every basic dictionary. Here we again see the Christian teaching of the ministerial priest having the authority to forgive sins in the person of Christ, or one could say, the authority to communicate the forgiveness of God to the penitent.

Does the early Church back up the position of the Christian Religion, or does it negate it as the Protestants do? Let us see. Here is a sampling of their writings from the pre-Constantine era.

Didache, 70 AD: “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.”

St. Ignatius of Antioch, 110 AD: “For as many as are of God and of Jesus Christ are also with the bishop. And as many as shall, in the exercise of penance, return into the unity of the Church, these, too, shall belong to God, that they may live according to Jesus Christ… For where there is division and wrath, God does not dwell. To all them that repent, the Lord grants forgiveness, if they turn in penitence to the unity of God, and to communion with the bishop.”

Tertullian, 203 AD: “Regarding confession, some flee from this work as being an exposure of themselves, or they put it off from day to day. I presume they are more mindful of modesty than of salvation, like those who contract a disease in the more shameful parts of the body and shun making themselves known to the physicians; and thus they perish along with their own bashfulness.”

St. Hippolytus, 215 AD: “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.”

Origen, 248 AD: “A final method of forgiveness, albeit hard and laborious is the remission of sins through penance, when the sinner… does not shrink from declaring his sin to a priest of the Lord and from seeking medicine.”

St. Cyprian of Carthage, 251 AD: “Of how much greater faith and salutary fear are they who… confess their sins to the priests of God in a straightforward manner and in sorrow, making an open declaration of conscience… I beseech you, brethren, let everyone who has sinned confess his sin while he is still in this world, while his confession is still admissible, while the satisfaction and remission made through the priests are still pleasing before the Lord.”

We could keep going, in the post Constantine era, just to see what these holy and mighty Saints had to say. After all, these are the same individuals who had to fight off the Arian and Monophysite and Nestorian heresies, and defend the great truths of the Trinity and the Deity of Christ.

St. Athanasius: “Just as a man is enlightened by the Holy Spirit when he is baptized by a priest, so he who confesses his sins with a repentant heart obtains their remission from the priest.”

St. Basil the Great: “It is necessary to confess our sins to those to whom the dispensation of God’s mysteries (the Sacraments) is entrusted (the priests).”

St. Ambrose: “But what was impossible was made possible by God, who gave us so great a grace. It seemed likewise impossible for sins to be forgiven through penance; yet Christ granted even this to His Apostles, and by His Apostles it has been transmitted to the offices of priest.”

St. John Chrysostom: “Great is the dignity of priests. “Whose sins you forgive,” He says, “they are forgiven them” [John 20:23]… The things that are placed in the hands of the priest, it belongs to God alone to give… Neither angel nor archangel is able to do anything in respect to what is given by God; rather, Father and Son and Holy Spirit manage it all; but the priest lends his own tongue and presents his own hand.”

We see the Catholic Christian practice of receiving God’s absolution through confessing our sins to an ordained priest is rooted firmly in the Old Testament and the New Testament. We see this was the continuous belief and practice of the early Church, who had to deal with many heresies of the day and yet all taught the importance of confession in the Church, to God through the priest. We see Protestants broke with apostolic succession and thus carry no power to perform this ministry, nor do they carry its practice due to the man made tradition of Sola Scriptura. We now sincerely pray for all Protestants to convert to the Christian Religion established by Jesus Christ, found in His One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. May they find the joy and peace of receiving Our Lord in the Eucharist.

By: Joe Moreaux