Do Catholic priests have the authority to forgive sins on earth?

[benedictus2]

When was the last time you read John 6:37? And where is the text that explicitly says we must go to Jesus through a priest or pastor? While one can go to God at times through another person ministering to/with them; there is no injunction in Holy Writ that says we must do this all the time. If we can’t go to God in prayer on our own without someone else’s “help” (mediation) then there is something wrong.

Of course we can go to God in prayer.

But ask yourself this, why is it that in the OT He specifically established a priesthood?

And in the NT, why did Jesus go to that lengthy discourse in John 6 which is so much more than verse 37. Jesus says to eat His flesh and drink His blood but does not give the wherewithal to do that.

Then again in John 20 He gives his apostle power to forgive sins. If all that is necessary is for us to go to God and ask for pardon for our sins, why then would Jesus do such an unnecessary thing? Why do that if it is not necessary? Do you think Jesus does and says unnecessary things?

 

[joe370]

Continued Prot101…

Origen - **[A filial 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, after the manner of him who say, “I said, to the Lord, I will accuse myself of my iniquity” (Homilies in Leviticus 2:4 [A.D. 248]).

Cyprian - 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 "*. 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 his body and blood, and with their hands and mouth they sin against the Lord more than when they denied him (The Lapsed 15:1-3 (A.D. 251]).

I entreat you, beloved brethren, that each one should confess his own sin, while he who has sinned is still in this world, while his confession may be received, while the satisfaction and remission made by the priests are pleasing to the Lord?" Cyprian,To the Lapsed,28-29(A.D. 251),in ANF,IV:445

Sinners may do penance For a set time, and according to the rules of discipline **come to public confession, and by imposition of the hand of the bishop and clergy receive the right of Communion. **But now **some] with their time [of penance] still unfulfilled . . . they are admitted to Communion, and their name is presented and while the penitence is not yet performed, confession is not yet made, the hands of the bishop and clergy are not yet laid upon them, the Eucharist is given to them; although it is written, “Whosoever shall eat the bread and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord” **I Cor. 11:27] (Letters 9:2 [A.D. 253])

Basil the Great - “It is necessary to confess our sins to those to whom the dispensation of God’s mysteries is entrusted. Those doing penance of old are found to have done it before the saints. It is written in the Gospel that they confessed their sins to John the Baptist [Matt. 3:6], but in Acts [19:18] they confessed to the apostles.” (Rules Briefly Treated 288 – A.D. 374)

John Chrysostom - Priests have received a power which God has given neither to angels nor to archangels. It was said to them: “Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose, shall be loosed.” Temporal rulers have indeed the power of binding: but they can only bind the body. Priests, in contrast, can bind with a bond which pertains to the soul itself and transcends the very heavens. Did [God] not give them all the powers of heaven? "…And now I see the Son placing all this power in the hands of men [Matt. 10:40; John 20:21-23]. They are raised to this dignity as if they were already gathered up to heaven (The Priesthood 3:5 [A.D. 387]).

Ambrose of Milan - “For those to whom [the right of binding and loosing] has been given, it is plain that either both are allowed, or it is clear that neither is allowed. Both are allowed to the Church, neither is allowed to heresy. For this right has been granted to priests only.” (Penance 1:1 – A.D. 388)

“Just as in the Old Testament the priest makes the leper clean or unclean, so in the New Testament the bishop and presbyter binds or looses not those who are innocent or guilty,but by reason of their office, when they have heard various kinds of sins, they know who is to be bound and who loosed.”
Jerome,Commentary on Matthew,3:16,19(A.D. 398),in JUR,II:202

“All mortal sins are to be submitted to the keys of the Church and all can be forgiven; but recourse to these keys is the only, the necessary, and the certain way to forgiveness. Unless those who are guilty of grevious sin have recourse to the power of the keys, they cannot hope for eternal salvation. Open your lips, them, and confess your sins to the priest. Confession alone is the true gate to Heaven.” Augustine,Christian Combat(A.D. 397)*