Reconciliation and the Bible

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How can I answer these objections to the sacrament of reconciliation?

'Confession is also called “RECONCILIATION.”

Christ alone on the cross “made reconciliation for the sins of the people” Heb. 2:17.

“God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.” 1 Corinthians 5:19.

“For if, when we were enemies, WE WERE RECONCILED to God by the death of his Son.” Romans 5:10.

“God, who HAS RECONCILED us to himself, by JESUS CHRIST.” II Cor. 5:18.

“And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet NOW HATH HE RECONCILED.” Colossians 1:21.

Notice that the Biblical reconciliation is:

1.** Past** tense.
  1. By Jesus Christ, not by a Catholic priest.
  2. We already possess reconciliation, we don’t get it at confession.’
This objection is found here; along with some other compleatly ridiculous objections. acts1711.com/romanerr1.htm

acts1711.com/romanerr2.htm
 
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RedDeathsMask:
How can I answer these objections to the sacrament of reconciliation?

1.** Past** tense.
  1. By Jesus Christ, not by a Catholic priest.
  2. We already possess reconciliation, we don’t get it at confession.’
Click to expand...
Jesus reconciled the world to God, yes. BUT we have to apply that reconciliation to ourselves by confession.

The foolish objections to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, which was, by the way, instituted by Jesus himself after the Resurrection, are alwlays from people who believe that you only have to accept Jesus as your personal Savior and you are saved, even if you keep committing grave sins the rest of your life!

If we live a sinful life, we are rejecting reconciliation. We must repent, confess, and be absolved, and, then change our lives, with God’s help.
 
2 Cor 5:18. Paul, referring to his having forgiven the incestuous man “in the person of Christ,” reminds the Corinthians: “God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us theministry of reconciliation.” The reconciliation is achieved by the cross. How that reconciliation is applied is through the means Jesus himself “God-breathed” into the Apostles on Easter night.

The Sacrament of Confession is entrusted to the Church, who is God’s minister of his reconciliation. “Whose sins you forgive . . .”

As you know, anti-Catholics will twist themselves into knots in order to avoid the “plain sense” of how these two texts work together with James 5:16 (which they say doesn’t mean confessing to a priest).

You will get some good discussion on this thread: forum.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=34187

Note especially the interchanges between Ozzie and me.
 
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RedDeathsMask:
How can I answer these objections to the sacrament of reconciliation?
'Confession is also called “RECONCILIATION.”
Christ alone on the cross “made reconciliation for the sins of the people” Heb. 2:17.
“God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.” 1 Corinthians 5:19.
“For if, when we were enemies, WE WERE RECONCILED to God by the death of his Son.” Romans 5:10.
“God, who HAS RECONCILED us to himself, by JESUS CHRIST.” II Cor. 5:18.
“And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet NOW HATH HE RECONCILED.” Colossians 1:21.

Notice that the Biblical reconciliation is:
1.** Past** tense.
2. By Jesus Christ, not by a Catholic priest.
3. We already possess reconciliation, we don’t get it at confession.’
Click to expand...
I was a “fallen-away” Catholic who returned to the Church some years ago. When I left the Church most people (that I knew) used the term Confession instead of the term Reconciliation. Upon re-entering the Church, I was told that the reason for the change in name was that some felt the word confession implied too strongly that an individual had actually sinned and the word reconciliation was more easily accepted because it did not point such a menacing finger at the confessor. To reconcile something basically means to fix it; while to confess something means to admit a wrongdoing. I did not completely understand but I accepted the name change because I recognized the Church has been around much longer than I have and is certainly much more informed as to the intentions of God. Besides, I understood that Confession does actually repair a broken situation and if a change in terminology is all that it takes to bring more people to Confession, I certainly have no problem with the end result. So, I suppose what I am trying to say here is that the two words actually mean different things and taken literally an anti-Catholic could use the term “reconcile” to point out Bible verses that support his/her claim that the Church was teaching incorrectly on the matter of Confession. However, is that really what the Bible verses are saying? Reread those verses substituting the term “reconciling” with the word “confessing” (using the proper tense of course). Now do they make sense?
Now the Bible does support the actual act of Confession. In John 20: 23 Jesus gave the Apostles the power to forgive or retain sin. Why would He give this power if he intended they never hear a Confession? In 2 Cor 5:17-20 we hear that God gave the Apostles the ministry of reconciliation. James 5:13-15 talks about having presbyters (Priests) called when someone is sick and dying so that the Priest might pray for the sick person to be healed and forgiven his/her sins. Then there is the famous James 5:16 that anti-Catholics really hate (Luther especially), where we are absolutely told to confess our sins to one another. I have heard it said that Luther actually wanted to take the book of James completely out of the new Protestant Bible because of this verse and James 2:14-24, which speaks about justification through works and faith and NOT just faith alone. He did not want to confuse his new church members with the facts (but that is a separate topic).
I hope that this helps. If anyone is offended by this post or disagrees with it, I apologize. I mean to offend no one. I am simply giving my opinion on the matter, which was asked. I am perfectly willing to discuss why I believe the way I do, but please hold off on any condescending or insulting remarks.
God bless.
 
OK, I tried explaining confession to an anti-catholic I know, I gave them this verse:

‘The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. (Jesus) said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 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: 20-23)

But he said that Jesus breathed on the disciples, not just the Apostles, how can I answer this?
 
Easily. The apostles are like cardinals, the disciples are like priests and bishops. Jesus breathed on the disciples–that is, on the “72” whom he had previously sent out. . .not on every single person who claimed to “follow him”. And those whom the apostles later made bishops or cardinals had the right to ordain more priests and bishops who in turn ordained more. . .
 
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RedDeathsMask:
OK, I tried explaining confession to an anti-catholic I know, I gave them this verse:

‘The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. (Jesus) said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 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: 20-23)

But he said that Jesus breathed on the disciples, not just the Apostles, how can I answer this?
Click to expand...
At least you can say the argument has completely changed. This person you know has gone from saying “Only God can forgive sins” to “Anyone who follows Jesus can forgive sins”

I would suggest that the power to forgive sins in greater or lessor amounts, rests in every person. This power is limited, I am sure that no human has the power to award any other human eternal life or eternal damnation. That power remains with God alone. But each of us can add burdens to those around us by not forgiving them or we can remove those burdens by forgiving them. These burdens are of various sizes. A parent has great power to lay down or take off burdens from their children. Spouses have substantial power over each other - although that can vary a lot. Priests (and any pastor) have a measure of that power over that flock. Again that power can vary depending on a persons faith.

The sacrament of reconciliation does not (I think) create this power, but it makes forgiveness most easily available to those who need it. It also depends on faith. A person who has no faith in the power of a priest to give forgiveness will not be able to receive it from a priest.

Hope some of this helps.

peace

-JIm
 
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RedDeathsMask:
OK, I tried explaining confession to an anti-catholic I know, I gave them this verse:

‘The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. (Jesus) said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 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: 20-23)

But he said that Jesus breathed on the disciples, not just the Apostles, how can I answer this?
Click to expand...
As I understand it, today’s Bishops are successors of the Apostles. I misspoke in my earlier post when I said that John 20:20-23 showed that Christ gave the “Apostles” the power to forgive sins. You are correct in saying that those receiving this authority were His disciples. However, that does not disprove the fact that Christ gave certain men the power to forgive sin. It only proves the case that he did. One can safely assume that those disciples were in fact Priests (Presbyters) of His new Church. Today the clergy have the same power to forgive sins (both Priests and Bishops).
 
I found these commentaries from The New American Bible, it does help:

"[19-29] The appearances to the disciples, without or with Thomas (cf John 11:16; 14:5), have rough parallels in the other gospels only for John 20:19-23; cf Luke 24:36-39; Mark 16:14-18.

12 [19] The disciples: by implication from John 20:24 this means ten of the Twelve, presumably in Jerusalem. Peace be with you: although this could be an ordinary greeting, John intends here to echo John 14:27. The theme of rejoicing in John 20:20 echoes John 16:22.

13 [20] Hands and . . . side: Luke 24:39-40 mentions “hands and feet,” based on Psalm 22:17.

14 [21] By means of this sending, the Eleven were made apostles, that is, “those sent” (cf John 17:18), though John does not use the noun in reference to them (see the note on John 13:16). A solemn mission or “sending” is also the subject of the post-resurrection appearances to the Eleven in Matthew 28:19; Luke 24:47; Mark 16:15.

15 [22] This action recalls Genesis 2:7, where God breathed on the first man and gave him life; just as Adam’s life came from God, so now the disciples’ new spiritual life comes from Jesus. Cf also the revivification of the dry bones in Ezekial 37. This is the author’s version of Pentecost. Cf also the note on John 19:30.

16 [23] The Council of Trent defined that this power to forgive sins is exercised in the sacrament of penance. See Matthew 16:19; Matthew 18:18."

usccb.org/nab/bible/john/john20.htm
 
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