Actually, that’s not true of the word Peter uses to describe all believers. He uses Hierateuma, the word used to describe Levitical/Aaronic Priests.
Yes, this is true. We are not debating the Priesthood of All Believers here though, just the clerical presbytery and episcopate as they relate to Sacraments and a sacramental worldview and worship.
No Protestant has specifically answered my questions one at a time in the OP, though.
I’m not sure what you’re referring to in James. It says nothing about confessing to a bishop, but to each other.
I may have accidentally put the wrong reference. I meant to put the Scripture where it talks about the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, and the Presbytery and forgiveness of sins.
The only time bishops are mentioned are in 14-15 regarding anointing. Confession is explicitly mentioned as “to one another.” I won’t contest that Jesus gave his Apostles the authority to forgive and withold it.
And, via Apostolic Succession, the bishops also inherit this authority, since they were set in place by the Apostles as successors.
For sins committed after baptism, a different sacrament is needed. It has been called penance, confession, and reconciliation, each word emphasizing one of its aspects. During his life, Christ forgave sins, as in the case of the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1–11) and the woman who anointed his feet (Luke 7:48). He exercised this power in his human capacity as the Messiah or Son of man, telling us, “the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (Matt. 9:6), which is why the Gospel writer himself explains that God “had given such authority to men” (Matt. 9:8).
Since he would not always be with the Church visibly, Christ gave this power to other men so the Church, which is the continuation of his presence throughout time (Matt. 28:20), would be able to offer forgiveness to future generations. He gave his power to the apostles, and it was a power that could be passed on to their successors and agents, since the apostles wouldn’t always be on earth either, but people would still be sinning.
God had sent Jesus to forgive sins, but after his resurrection Jesus told the apostles, “‘As the Father has sent me, even so I send 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; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’” (John 20:21–23). (This is one of only two times we are told that God breathed on man, the other being in Genesis 2:7, when he made man a living soul. It emphasizes how important the establishment of the sacrament of penance was.)
Christ told the apostles to follow his example: “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you” (John 20:21). Just as the apostles were to carry Christ’s message to the whole world, so they were to carry his forgiveness: “Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matt. 18:18).
Truly, a priest doesn’t forgive sins, he pronounces forgiveness given by Christ.
