confession

[NancyBlue]

Where and when did confession become part of the church?
Is their scripture?

 

[PhilotheaZ]

Confession became part of the Church when Jesus Himself instituted the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

You might even say there is a precedent for it in the Old Testament, which Jesus brings to fulfillment:

[The Lord said to Moses:] “Tell the Israelites: If a man (or a woman) commits a fault against his fellow man and wrongs him, thus breaking faith with the LORD, he shall confess the wrong he has done, restore his ill-gotten goods in full …” (Numbers 5:6-7)

Fast-forward to Jesus’ time. He gave to His apostles the power to forgive sins:

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” (John 20:22-23)

Now, it only makes sense that in deciding whether to forgive a person’s sins or not, the apostle (and his successors, the priests and bishops) would need to know what the sins are, and that the penitent is sorry for them and plans to amend his life. This requires confession.

We are specifically told to confess our sins in the Letter of James:

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. (James 5:16)

Now, if I am going to confess my sins to another person, it only makes sense that I would do it to the person (the priest) to whom Jesus has given the power to forgive in His name, and who is absolutely bound to secrecy. (I could confess my sins to another person who is not a priest, but I would not be sure of forgiveness, nor would I be sure of secrecy.)

Jesus also gave the Church the power to bind and loose when He said:

And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16:18-19)

This gives the Church very broad authority to determine exactly how Christ’s forgiveness is to be obtained. The Church has determined that the way we do this is by confessing our sins to a priest. The exact manner and frequency in which this is done has evolved over the history of the Church, but has always included the basic elements of the Sacrament:

• Contrition (sorrow for sin and purpose of amendment);
• Confession (of all serious sins);
• Satisfaction (performing some concrete action to make up for our sins); and
• Absolution (the action of God to forgive sin through the intervention of the Church, in the person of the priest).

 

[Belle10]

Here’s a great Catholic Answers article:

catholic.com/library/Forgiveness_of_Sins.asp