To whom do we confess our sins?

[Guest shiloh357]

 

 Yeah, and it is that kind of surface, and superficial approach that fuels the RCC's idea that we must confess our sins to priests.  

I must admit my jaw dropped at this

People often object to confession of sins to priests saying that only God can forgive sins.  Christ’s opponents said exactly the same thing 2000 years ago and were rebuked for it.

“Why does this man speak thus?  It is blasphemy!  Who can forgive sins but God alone?”  

Sound familiar? 

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  (Matt 9:7-8)

The authority was given to men (plural), the Father gave it to Jesus and Jesus gave it to His Church.

In John’s account of the Great Commission, we read how Jesus, on the evening of His resurrection, gave to His disciples the authority to forgive sins as promised in Matt 9.  

Jesus knew that it would be necessary to continue the Great Commission after the death of the Apostles.  That is why Jesus promised: “lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matt 28:20).  

Christ’s authority continues in the Church until the close of the age, not just until the death of the Apostles.  

This authority was passed on from the Apostles to their successors in the Church. There is sin in the world today just as in the first century, so the divine remedy for sin is still necessary.

The Spirit remains in Christ’s Church forever and His authority lasts forever.

Paul tells how he was given the power to forgive sins from Jesus:   for if I forgave anything, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ  (2 Cor 2:10) and All this is from God, who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us this ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:18)

Paul wrote: for if I forgave anything, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ  (2 Cor 2:10).   Paul did not forgive sins of himself, but in the person of Christ. 

When we go to a priest to have our sins forgiven we are going to Christ.  The priest is acting “in the person of Christ.”

The idea of “me and Jesus” is foreign to scripture.

Paul compares Christians to the parts of a body.  Sin not only offends God, but also hurts the body.  If one member suffers, all suffer together with it (1 Cor 12:26). No Christian can say that he doesn’t need the other members, just Christ.  The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”, nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you” (1 Cor 12:21).

The bottom line is Christ gave authority to His Church.  The priests are the hands, the feet, the eyes of Christ.

 

The Roman Catholic Church isn't Christian.  The RCC has no authority to absolve sin and God never gave that authority to the apostles.   I am not surprised that you would reference the apostate church to make your case. 

When the Pharisees said that only God forgive sins,  Jesus didn't say they were wrong.   Jesus used that as an opportunity to prove He was God.    Jesus both healed the paralytic and absolved him of His sin, thus proving that He is God.

Jesus would of said so but said son of man making it very clear that authority has been given to men....hence why you see apostles driving out demons raising the dead and forgiven sin.

The apostles weren't roman catholic now were they?

Paul wrote: for if I forgave anything, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ  (2 Cor 2:10). But since you state no such authority has been given then Paul clearly must be lying or confer authority on himself

Arnt priests ambassadors of Christ? 

"Son of Man" isn't a reference to Jesus' humanity.  It was a reference to Jesus divine authority as the Messiah.  When Jesus called Himself the Son of Man, he was referencing the Son of Man prophecy of Daniel.   Jesus didn't claim they Pharisees were wrong.   He absolved sin as God, not as man.  There is a difference between being a "son of man" (human being) and the title of "THE Son of Man"  given to Jesus.  The Bible uses only one of them in reference to Jesus.    

Paul was not claiming to have the divine authority to absolve sin.   I can forgive a sin committed against me, but I cannot absolve a person of guilt.  Only God can do that.   The problem is that you are confusing the forgiveness commanded to Christians and the divine authority to absolve sin that only God has.   God didn't delegate that authority to anyone, not even Paul. 

[Guest shiloh357]

Shiloh

 

 Son of Man" isn't a reference to Jesus' humanity.  It was a reference to Jesus divine authority as the Messiah.  When Jesus called Himself the Son of Man, he was referencing the Son of Man prophecy of Daniel.   Jesus didn't claim they Pharisees were wrong.   He absolved sin as God, not as man.  There is a difference between being a "son of man" (human being) and the title of "THE Son of Man"  given to Jesus.  The Bible uses only one of them in reference to Jesus.    

Your deflecting it states very clearly.

When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men  (Matt 9:7-8)

 

Do you notice the words authority to men.....men plural no? Authority no?

What does men mean? What does authority mean?

 

 Paul was not claiming to have the divine authority to absolve sin.  

Ummm in case you missed it

Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; 

 

if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

 

From the perspective of the people who had not yet come to embrace Jesus as God, it would appear that God had given divine authority to men.   Matthew isn't making a doctrinal comment.  He is simply relating how the people felt at the moment they saw the miracle.  

Again, forgiving sin isn't necessarily the same as absolving sin.   God can forgive sin in the sense that he can absolve us and remove all guilt.    He has not transferred that level of authority to any man and the Bible never claims that has.

I have already addressed the verse in John.   Jesus is not giving anyone the power or authority that is God's alone to absolve sin.   Jesus was giving his apostles the authority to adjudicate in the congregations.  

[Ezra]

Roman Catholicism says to confess our sins to a priest.

Which is correct?

We confess our sins to God, only.

We confess our faults to other believers.  

Faults and sins are not the same thing.

Correct. But this is a good example of corrupting the Bible text to change doctrine.

TEXTUS RECEPTUS paraptoma = faults

ἐξομολογεῖσθε ἀλλήλοις τὰ παραπτώματα, καὶ εὔχεσθε ὑπὲρ ἀλλήλων ὅπως ἰαθῆτε πολὺ ἰσχύει δέησις δικαίου ἐνεργουμένη

CRITICAL TEXTS  hamartia = sins

ἐξομολογεῖσθε οὖν ἀλλήλοις τὰς ἁμαρτίας καὶ προσεύχεσθε ὑπὲρ ἀλλήλων, ὅπως ἰαθῆτε. πολὺ ἰσχύει δέησις δικαίου ἐνεργουμένη.

The critical texts have relied entirely on corrupted Greek manuscripts so "faults" has been changed to "sins" and εὔχεσθε has been changed to προσεύχεσθε .  Also please note how the Catholic Douay-Rheims version changes "healed" to "saved", even though the word iaomai means "healed".  That is a doctrinal change since the Catholic Church introduced the Confessional as well as other erroneous doctrines and practices.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Confess therefore your sins one to another: and pray one for another, that you may be saved. For the continual prayer of a just man availeth much.

King James Bible
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

Strong's Concordance

iaomai: to heal

Original Word: ἰάομαι
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: iaomai
Phonetic Spelling: (ee-ah'-om-ahee)
Short Definition: I heal
Definition: I heal, generally of the physical, sometimes of spiritual, disease.

[missmuffet]

Question: "To whom are we to pray, the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit?"

Answer: All prayer should be directed to our triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches that we can pray to one or all three, because all three are one. To the Father we pray with the psalmist, “Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray” (Psalm 5:2). To the Lord Jesus, we pray as to the Father because they are equal. Prayer to one member of the Trinity is prayer to all. Stephen, as he was being martyred, prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59). We are also to pray in the name of Christ. Paul exhorted the Ephesian believers to always give “thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20). Jesus assured His disciples that whatever they asked in His name—meaning in His will—would be granted (John 15:16; 16:23).

We are told to pray in the Spirit and in His power. The Spirit helps us to pray, even when we do not know how or what to ask for (Romans 8:26; Jude 20). Perhaps the best way to understand the role of the Trinity in prayer is that we pray to the Father, through (or in the name of) the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit. All three are active participants in the believer’s prayer. 

Equally important is whom we are not to pray to. Some non-Christian religions encourage their adherents to pray to a pantheon of gods, dead relatives, saints, and spirits. Roman Catholics are taught to pray to Mary and various saints. Such prayers are not scriptural and are, in fact, an insult to our heavenly Father. To understand why, we need only look at the nature of prayer. Prayer has several elements, and if we look at just two of them—praise and thanksgiving—we can see that prayer is, at its very core, worship. When we praise God, we are worshipping Him for His attributes and His work in our lives. When we offer prayers of thanksgiving, we are worshipping His goodness, mercy, and loving-kindness to us. Worship gives glory to God, the only One who deserves to be glorified. The problem with praying to anyone other than God is that He will not share His glory. In fact, praying to anyone or anything other than God is idolatry. “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols” (Isaiah 42:8).

Other elements of prayer such as repentance, confession, and petition are also forms of worship. We repent knowing that God is a forgiving and loving God and He has provided a means of forgiveness in the sacrifice of His Son on the cross. We confess our sins because we know “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9) and we worship Him for it. We come to Him with our petitions and intercessions because we know He loves us and hears us, and we worship Him for His mercy and kindness in being willing to hear and answer. When we consider all this, it is easy to see that praying to someone other than our triune God is unthinkable because prayer is a form of worship, and worship is reserved for God and God alone. Whom are we to pray to? The answer is God. Praying to God, and God alone, is far more important than to which Person of the Trinity we address our prayers.

http://www.gotquestions.org/pray-Father-Son-Spirit.html

Edited October 26, 2015 by bopeep1909

[Retrobyter]

1 John 1:9 (AV)

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

James says:

James 5:16 (AV)

16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

David says:

Psalm 51:4 (AV)

4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

Roman Catholicism says to confess our sins to a priest.

Which is correct?

 

“To whom do we confess our sins?” In whom do you trust? While confession is important, it is also important to trust such a confession to one who will not betray that trust. Human beings are fallible creatures. Even with the best intentions, sometimes a trusted individual will ... let something slip. To the wrong person or in the wrong situation, such revelation could be devastating to all parties involved! To confess one’s sins to a human “priest" is to give that human being power over one’s life.

We are to confess our SINS to God, our Heavenly Father, alone!

We are to confess our FAULTS - our WEAKNESSES - to another person, who is also in the Messiah, so that he or she can pray for us and with us to combat those faults, those weaknesses.

I agree with Ezra and appreciate the effort he took on this subject.

Edited October 27, 2015 by Retrobyter
confirming Ezra

[FresnoJoe]

The Real Problem With Men Who Say They Are The Ones Who Can Forgive Sins

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23

Is The Seat Of The Holy One

For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. Isaiah 14:13-15

They Usurp

this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; Hebrews 10:12

~

PS: Beloved IMO Many, Far Too Many Denominations

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Philippians 2:13

Claim They Sit In The Seat

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Psalms 119:11

Of The Christ

I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. Psalms 42:8

Love, Your Brother Joe

[Guest shiloh357]

1 John 1:9 (AV)

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

James says:

James 5:16 (AV)

16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

David says:

Psalm 51:4 (AV)

4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

Roman Catholicism says to confess our sins to a priest.

Which is correct?

 

We confess our sins to God, only.

We confess our faults to other believers.  

Faults and sins are not the same thing.

I read what you wrote and thought maybe I was wrong because you are well studied so I went back to confirm what you said and found that faults and sins are one in the same.  It says we are to confess our faults, he was delivered up for our offenses (same word)  if by one mans offense (same word).  So I conclude that we need to do as he says and confess to one another our sins and pray for each other to be healed.  Thank you for provoking me to study!

I agree gdemoss, faults and sins are the same thing.  That is what I discover as well.

No, they are not the same thing.  Neither one of you know what you're talking about.   The word for "faults" in Greek is not the word for sin.   It is a completely different word.

James is not saying that we need to go to a person and confess our sins.   He is talking about Christians confessing their weaknesses to each others.  If a person knows that he is weak and liable to fall to a particular temptation, if he recognizes flaws and weaknesses in himself, he is commanded to confess that to other believers so they can pray for him, as he prays for others who have their own kinds of weaknesses.

You confess your sins to God alone.

[Guest shiloh357]

Shiloh

 

 

 

 

 

From the perspective of the people who had not yet come to embrace Jesus as God, it would appear that God had given divine authority to men.   Matthew isn't making a doctrinal comment.  He is simply relating how the people felt at the moment they saw the miracle.

 

 

Why do you persist in ignoring the plural...the perspective then would be singular God has given authority to this man and not men.

 

 

John’s account of the Great Commission,  Jesus, on the evening of His resurrection, gave to His disciples the authority to forgive sins as promised in Matt 9.  

 

 

Jesus established Christianity, no one has the right to change it.  For anyone to say otherwise is to say they know better than Jesus.  

 

 

Why do most people not doubt that the Apostles were able to heal people or that Peter raised a dead man?  Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven’, or to say, ‘Rise and take up your pallet and walk’?  (Mark 2:9).

 

 

 

I am not ignoring or doubting anything.  I simply don't accept theological or hermeneutical instruction from an unregenerate sinner.  

Jesus never gave the disciples authority to absolve people of sin.   You seem to want to ignore the difference between forgiveness and absolution.   I can forgive a sin committed against me.   But my act of forgiveness does NOT absolve another person of their guilt before God.   Jesus never transferred the authority of absolution to anyone.  

You claim no authority has been handed over to the church....that anything done in the name of Christ in the body of Christ has no substance. 

No, I never said that no authority had been handed to the Church.   I said that no authority to absolve sin had been handed over to the church.   You are promoting RCC doctrine, which is a lie of Satan. 

Christ gave Peter the keys to the kingdom, he gave his disciples his own Divine authority to make decisions and issue commands which would be binding upon all of his followers. The Apostles couldn’t do all these things if Christ hadn’t given them this Divine right.

 

The foregoing should now help make it clear why the Apostles could proclaim the forgiveness of sins, since Christ gave them the authority to act in his name. 

The "keys to the kingdom"  was a well-known rabbinic ordination term that referred to the authority to judicate, legislate and teach.   It had nothing to do with absolving sin.   Jesus gave rabbinic authority to the first Messianic Rabbis of Jerusalem.    Nowhere in the book of acts the any of the apostles ever absolve anyone of sin.

[gdemoss]

1 John 1:9 (AV)

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

James says:

James 5:16 (AV)

16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

David says:

Psalm 51:4 (AV)

4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

Roman Catholicism says to confess our sins to a priest.

Which is correct?

 

We confess our sins to God, only.

We confess our faults to other believers.  

Faults and sins are not the same thing.

I read what you wrote and thought maybe I was wrong because you are well studied so I went back to confirm what you said and found that faults and sins are one in the same.  It says we are to confess our faults, he was delivered up for our offenses (same word)  if by one mans offense (same word).  So I conclude that we need to do as he says and confess to one another our sins and pray for each other to be healed.  Thank you for provoking me to study!

I agree gdemoss, faults and sins are the same thing.  That is what I discover as well.

No, they are not the same thing.  Neither one of you know what you're talking about.   The word for "faults" in Greek is not the word for sin.   It is a completely different word.

James is not saying that we need to go to a person and confess our sins.   He is talking about Christians confessing their weaknesses to each others.  If a person knows that he is weak and liable to fall to a particular temptation, if he recognizes flaws and weaknesses in himself, he is commanded to confess that to other believers so they can pray for him, as he prays for others who have their own kinds of weaknesses.

You confess your sins to God alone.

Do you really think that telling someone that they don't know what they are talking about is a demonstration of convincing truth?  You prove nothing but the fact that you are condescending rather than condescending to us whom you are saying are if such low and ignorant estate. Contempt prior to investigation leaves a man in everlasting ignorance.  I ask you to demonstrate that which you say to be true but you make no valid conmections but speak only assertations that are unfounded.  You do not even offer reasonable proof from the scriptures themselves for that which you say is so.

I will demonstrate from tge scriptures why I am convinced that faults and sins are the same and you then can look them over and explain to me why these things I am seeing are not so and all who read can be edified by your understanding.  It will take me a bit but when I am done I shall post my conviction.  I ask for your patients with a young learning Christian such as myself.  You may be right but you have yet to demonstraight it in a way that is convincing.  "You don't know what your talking about" will never work, incase you didn’t know.

 

[gdemoss]

Paul wrote in Romans about justification by grace through faith not works of the law. He referenced Isa 53:8 in chapter 4 when he said

Rom 4:25

Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

The same word for faults found in James 5 is the word for offenses here.

Now, I will NOT go as far as saying that we MUST confess our sin before another Christian and that we CANNOT confess straight to God by confessing unto Christ alone.  I have not studied to build that case as of yet.  But I have determined that confession of sins, faults, transgressions, offenses or if there be any other suitable phrase or word to describe our fallen acts before other Christians who are instructed to pray for our healing is what James is admonishing us to do.

I gave a single example of nonrefutable evidence that this is truth.  There are many many more.  If you won't accept this one then you won't accept any.

Have a good day and be blessed.