The Lord's prayer and confession

[callofduty]

Hey Guy’s,

I have an honest question regarding confession to a Priest.

In the Gospels, Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray. We all know it as the Lord’s Prayer.

In the prayer, it seems we are taught to ask forgiveness from our sins directly from God.

“and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors”

Again, if this is Jesus teaching us how to pray, isn’t He showing us to ask God’s forgiveness directly?

Thanks in advance for any help with this…

 

[Cor_ad_Cor]

I don’t think you really understand the Catholic concept of Reconciliation. We DO ask God’s forgiveness; we don’t need a priest for that. Instead, we are admonished by James in Ch. 5, verse 16 “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” (NKJV)

In so doing (confessing to one another), we publicly acknowledge our sin - we “own” it and accept responsibility for it. It allows us to forgive ourselves. By the time we reach the door of the Reconciliation room, God’s forgiveness has already been given to the truly contrite and repentant heart. What we seek is an ability to live with ourselves and look ourselves in the mirror tomorrow. We also seek to apologize to the community that we have likely wronged in our sin.

The priest provides the community’s forgiveness to the repentant and offers a ‘prescription’ to set things right within ourselves via penance.

 

[ANNE_2]

Hey Guy’s,
I have an honest question regarding confession to a Priest.
In the Gospels, Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray. We all know it as the Lord’s Prayer.
In the prayer, it seems we are taught to ask forgiveness from our sins directly from God.
“and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors”
Again, if this is Jesus teaching us how to pray, isn’t He showing us to ask God’s forgiveness directly?
Thanks in advance for any help with this…

Yes, the Lord’s Prayer is in Jesus’s own words.

But we must take all of Jesus’s teachings in total.

Jn 20:22-23
“If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

The Catholic Church traces all the way back to the Apostles with Peter being our first Pope. The Protestant faiths did not come into existance until the 1500’s. The Bible that we all use also goes back to the Apostles who wrote the Gospels.
When Martin Luther made changes to the Bible in 1500’s, he got the Bible that he started with from our Church, so did Henry the VIII.

Pentecost (30/33AD)
The beginning of the (Catholic) Church; the Church exists before a determination of a canon or a definitive list of books of what was later called the Bible. The NT was not even written yet. The Bible is the book of the Church, we are not a church of the Bible.

**Melito, Bishop of Sardis (c. 170) **
Produced the first known Christian attempt at an Old Testament canon. His list maintains the Septuagint order of books but contains only the Old Testament protocanonicals minus the Book of Esther.

**Council of Laodicea (c. 360) **
A local council of the church in union with Rome produced a list of books of the Bible similar to the Council of Trent’s canon. This was one of the Church’s earliest decisions on a canon.

Council of Rome (382)
Local church council under the authority of Pope Damasus, (366-384) gave a complete list of canonical books of the OT and NT which is identical with the list later approved by the Council of Trent.

**Council of Hippo (393) **
Local North African Church council in union with and under the authority of the Bishop of Rome approved a list of OT and NT canon (same as later approved by the Council of Trent)

**Council of Carthage (397)**Local North African Church council in union with and under the authority of the Bishop of Rome approved a list of OT and NT canon (same as later approved by the Council of Trent)

Pope Innocent I, Bishop of Rome, 401-417 (405)
Responded to a request by Exuperius, Bishop of Toulouse, with a list of canonical books of Scripture; this list was the same as later approved by the Council of Trent.

**Council of Carthage (419) **
Local North African Church council in union with and under the authority of the Bishop of Rome approved a list of OT and NT canon (same as later approved by the Council of Trent)

**Council of Florence, an ecumenical council (1441) **
Complete list of OT and NT canon was drawn up; this list later adopted by the Fathers of the Council of Trent

 

[GKCT]

Confession to a priest–in persona Christi–enables us to receive Sanctifying grace which aids us in avoiding sins. And hopefully receive some good advice. Forgiveness via God grants us regular grace. And if we do not forgive others, then we ourselves are not forgiven. “Forgive us our sins, AS we forgive others.”

Also, by our teaching and our faith, we are not forgiven mortal sins just by saying an Act of Contrition—except under very extraordiary circumstances.

 

[Church_Militant]

Hi CoD,

Maybe these articles from my blog will help show you the full contest of the Bible’s teaching on confessing our sins and penance.

• **Catholic Confession **
• **Scriptures About Penance **

 

[neilbautista]

When we confess, we ask the Lord’s forgiveness. The Lord’s Prayer does NOT imply that we have to confess directly to God and don’t have to go anymore to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. But Jesus himself explicitly said: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” So there’s no conflict between the Lord’s Prayer and Jesus’ words instituting the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

 

[datavoyager]

I don’t think you really understand the Catholic concept of Reconciliation. We DO ask God’s forgiveness; we don’t need a priest for that. Instead, we are admonished by James in Ch. 5, verse 16 “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” (NKJV)

In so doing (confessing to one another), we publicly acknowledge our sin - we “own” it and accept responsibility for it. It allows us to forgive ourselves. By the time we reach the door of the Reconciliation room, God’s forgiveness has already been given to the truly contrite and repentant heart. What we seek is an ability to live with ourselves and look ourselves in the mirror tomorrow. We also seek to apologize to the community that we have likely wronged in our sin.

The priest provides the community’s forgiveness to the repentant and offers a ‘prescription’ to set things right within ourselves via penance.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is more than this - as a Sacrament, it is “a meeting with the Risen Christ” and “an outer and visible sign of inner and spiritual grace”

The Catechism states:

1468 "The whole power of the sacrament of Penance consists in restoring us to God’s grace and joining us with him in an intimate friendship. "Reconciliation with God is thus the purpose and effect of this sacrament. For those who receive the sacrament of Penance with contrite heart and religious disposition, reconciliation “is usually followed by peace and serenity of conscience with strong spiritual consolation.“Indeed the sacrament of Reconciliation with God brings about a true "spiritual resurrection,” restoration of the dignity and blessings of the life of the children of God, of which the most precious is friendship with God.”

and

1484 "Individual, integral confession and absolution remain the only ordinary way for the faithful to reconcile themselves with God and the Church, unless physical or moral impossibility excuses from this kind of confession."There are profound reasons for this. Christ is at work in each of the sacraments. He personally addresses every sinner: "My son, your sins are forgiven."He is the physician tending each one of the sick who need him to cure them. He raises them up and reintegrates them into fraternal communion. Personal confession is thus the form most expressive of reconciliation with God and with the Church.

By meeting the Risen Christ in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we are given the grace to admit our faults and perform our penance and thus receive the absolution from the Father through the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is this grace which blots out our sins, heals our wounds, strengthens us not to sin again and ultimately reconciles us with God and Man.

In short, the Sacrament of Reconciliation exists for our benefit, not for God’s - it is the means by which Christ has ordained that we ask for and receive forgiveness of sins as prescribed in the “Our Father”. It is a beautiful Sacrament and one for which I am particularly grateful!

 

[Holly3278]

There is a lot of pretext in the Bible for confessing your sins to another person:

DRC: Matthew Chapter 3

[1] AND in those days cometh John the Baptist preaching in the desert of Judea. [2] And saying: Do penance: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. [3] For this is he that was spoken of by Isaias the prophet, saying: A voice of one crying in the desert, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. [4] And the same John had his garment of camels’ hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins: and his meat was locusts and wild honey. [5] Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the country about Jordan: [6] And were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

DRC: Mark 1:5. And there went out to him all the country of Judea, and all they of Jerusalem, and were baptized by him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.

DRC: Acts 19:18. And many of them that believed, came confessing and declaring their deeds.

DRC: James 5:16. 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.

 

[pablope]

Hey Guy’s,

In the prayer, it seems we are taught to ask forgiveness from our sins directly from God.

“and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors”

Again, if this is Jesus teaching us how to pray, isn’t He showing us to ask God’s forgiveness directly?

Thanks in advance for any help with this…

It says forgiveness is two ways…you are asking for God’s forgiveness, you should also be willing to forgive those who tresspass against you.

It is silent on how to ask for mercy or forgiveness…the Church has the sacrament of Confession, as others have already pointed out and no need to repeat it here.

There are essentials towards true repentance and contrition.

There is the recognition of one’s sin and a desire to repent and reconcile with Christ, for sin separates us from Him. So, the first step is humility…the humility to admit our sins and our guilt.

Then we must be willing to also forgive those who sinned against us, those who “trespass against us”. Just as God, in his mercy, can forgive, we must also be willling to do the same.

 

[callofduty]

Hi CoD,

Maybe these articles from my blog will help show you the full contest of the Bible’s teaching on confessing our sins and penance.

• Catholic Confession
• Scriptures About Penance

Does anyone know at what point in the history of the universal church, did a priest become necessary for the act of asking God for forgiveness?

In other words, is there any writings of church fathers or historical accounts of when confession to a priest (sacrament) actually beame the common practice?

Most evangelical Christians that I know can’t figure out why you just can’t ask for God’s forgiveness directly.

Then again, my pastor teaches that once you are saved, your sins are forgiven, past, present and future (but I guess that is another discussion altogether)

 

[datavoyager]

The church teaches that in confession, you do confess your sins directly to God - the priest acts “in persona Christi”. It is not the priest who receives the contrite sinner and grants absolution but Christ himself.

Throughout the Gospels, Christ usually accompanied his healings with the forgiveness of the individual’s sins - a personal meeting with the person of Christ, in his humanity and in his divinity therefore forms part of the process of reconciliation.

With regards to the Fathers, as early as 390, St. Pacian, Bishop of Barcelona wrote to Sympronianus, leader of a heretical sect saying: “This (forgiving sins), you say, only God can do. Quite true: but what He does through His priests is the doing of His own power” (Ep. I ad Sympron., 6 in P.L., XIII, 1057).

To address some of the issues regarding forgiveness of sins past, present and future, you might want to consider the teaching of St. John Chrysostom. Regarding the forgiveness of sins through Christ, he declared that neither angels nor archangels have received such power - the priest’s power of forgiving sins “penetrates to the soul and reaches up to heaven”. He also states “it were manifest folly to condemn so great a power without which we can neither obtain heaven nor come to the fulfillment of the promises. . . . Not only when they (the priests) regenerate us (baptism), but also after our new birth, they can forgive us our sins” (On the Priesthood III.5 sq.).

God Bless,
DV

 

[Church_Militant]

Does anyone know at what point in the history of the universal church, did a priest become necessary for the act of asking God for forgiveness?

In other words, is there any writings of church fathers or historical accounts of when confession to a priest (sacrament) actually became the common practice?

Well CoD, take a look at James 5:14-16. The fact is that it was actually this way from the outset.
14] Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;
15] and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
16] Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects.

That word, “elder” is the Greek word, “presbuteros” and in Latin it’s “presbyteros” is the word from which 'priest" is derived. Moreover, the following link will take you to a bit that might help from my friend John Martignoni. Why do Catholics confess their sins to a priest, rather than going directly to God?
www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/%7Efisher/tmpdir/gnt/200514.gif

Most evangelical Christians that I know can’t figure out why you just can’t ask for God’s forgiveness directly.

Well, we do…in both cases. MORTAL AND VENIAL SINS

Venial sins are confessed all the time using a prayer we call an Act of Contrition.

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended thee and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they offend thee, my God, who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life.

Also during the Penitential Rite at the beginning of every Mass when we have several prayers but the best known is the Confiteor, which looks like this.

I confess to almighty God, and to you my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned through my own fault, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and what I have failed to do. I ask blessed Mary ever Virgin, all the angels and saints, and you my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God. Amen.

But keep in mind that Mortal sin (see 1st John 5:16-17) is far more serious and that is primarily the purpose of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and very much in line with Our Lord’s direct commission in John 29:19-23.

Then again, my pastor teaches that once you are saved, your sins are forgiven, past, present and future (but I guess that is another discussion altogether)

Indeed it is and is has been discussed & debated here a lot. You might wanna download this MP3 Bible study (Once Saved, Always Saved?) and go over John Martignoni’s notes with it and the open a thread on it if you want to.

 

[Bookcat]

Hey Guy’s,

I have an honest question regarding confession to a Priest.

In the Gospels, Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray. We all know it as the Lord’s Prayer.

In the prayer, it seems we are taught to ask forgiveness from our sins directly from God.

“and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors”

Again, if this is Jesus teaching us how to pray, isn’t He showing us to ask God’s forgiveness directly?

Thanks in advance for any help with this…

Yes indeed! and hopefully one only has venial sins (also called daily sins) which can be forgiven for example as we pray the Lords Prayer…

and Jesus gave the authority to forgive sins in the sacrament of confession as well (which would not only include venial sins but mortal sins…) after the resurrection at the end of the Gospel of John. They were to be able to forgive them …or hold them bound (like when the person is not sorry etc) which would involve then knowing what they where…

 

[Bookcat]

Does anyone know at what point in the history of the universal church, did a priest become necessary for the act of asking God for forgiveness?

In other words, is there any writings of church fathers or historical accounts of when confession to a priest (sacrament) actually beame the common practice?

Most evangelical Christians that I know can’t figure out why you just can’t ask for God’s forgiveness directly.

Then again, my pastor teaches that once you are saved, your sins are forgiven, past, present and future (but I guess that is another discussion altogether)

The Sacrament of Penance (confession) comes from Jesus. As I noted above one finds the authority being given as referenced in the Gospel of John (and the authority of the Keys mentioned in the other Gospels to bind and loose which has bearing in this too) . The Sacrament has though had various forms down through the centuries. The authority to bind and loose has been exercised in various ways.

The power to forgive sins has been exercised in various ways down through the centuries. It could be actually more public than we do today…and penance could even be publically done… For example at in the early centuries of the Church for some very grave mortal sins (like apostasy or idolatry) there was a very rigorous discipline… public penance for a good amount of time before one was forgiven of the sin and returned to full life in the Church Sacramentally. The more frequent and private form of confession as we know it now came more into wide practice in the 600’s…which is also a great help to living the Christian spiritual life (which is meaning that this form of the sacrament become more common…and eventually became the norm --though you can still I believe in some of the Eastern Catholic Churches see the Priest up at the front of the Church at the Iconostasis hearing confessions (which is more public…though still private…than in the west).

The last aspect of your question can be answered here:

catholic.com/thisrock/2002/0203sbs.asp

cin.org/users/james/files/pastpres.htm

 

[bjmad]

Early Church Fathers
The Letter of Barnabas [70-90 AD] Epistle of Barnabas
“You shall judge righteously. You shall not make a schism, but you shall pacify those that contend by bringing them together. You shall confess your sins. You shall not go to prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of light” (Letter of Barnabas 19 [A.D. 74]).

Ignatius of Antioch [50-117 AD] Epistle to the Philadelphians
“For as many as are of God and of Jesus Christ are also with the bishop. And as many as shall, in the exercise of penance, return into the unity of the Church, these, too, shall belong to God, that they may live according to Jesus Christ” (Letter to the Philadelphians 3 [A.D. 110]).

“For where there is division and wrath, God does not dwell. To all them that repent, the Lord grants forgiveness, if they turn in penitence to the unity of God, and to communion with the bishop” (ibid., 8).

Irenaeus of Lyons [120-180 AD] Adversus Haereses (Book I, Chapter 13)
“[The Gnostic disciples of Marcus] have deluded many women. . . . Their consciences have been branded as with a hot iron. Some of these women make a public confession, but others are ashamed to do this, and in silence, as if withdrawing from themselves the hope of the life of God, they either apostatize entirely or hesitate between the two courses” (Against Heresies 1:22 [A.D. 189]).

Hippolytus [170-236 AD] Against the Heresy of Noetus
“[The bishop conducting the ordination of the new bishop shall pray:] God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . Pour forth now that power which comes from you, from your royal Spirit, which you gave to your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and which he bestowed upon his holy apostles . . . and grant this your servant, whom you have chosen for the episcopate, [the power] to feed your holy flock and to serve without blame as your high priest, ministering night and day to propitiate unceasingly before your face and to offer to you the gifts of your holy Church, and by the Spirit of the high priesthood to have the authority to forgive sins, in accord with your command” (Apostolic Tradition 3 [A.D. 215]).

Tertullian [160-240 AD] On Repentance
“[Regarding confession, some] flee from this work as being an exposure of themselves, or they put it off from day to day. I presume they are more mindful of modesty than of salvation, like those who contract a disease in the more shameful parts of the body and shun making themselves known to the physicians; and thus they perish along with their own bashfulness” (Repentance 10:1 [A.D. 203]).

Origen [185-254 AD] De Principiis (Book IV)
“[A final 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 on Leviticus 2:4 [A.D. 248]).

Cyprian of Carthage [200-270 AD] Epistle 8
“Of how much greater faith and salutary fear are they who . . . confess their sins to the priests of God in a straightforward manner and in sorrow, making an open declaration of conscience. . . . I beseech you, brethren, let everyone who has sinned confess his sin while he is still in this world, while his confession is still admissible, while the satisfaction and remission made through the priests are still pleasing before the Lord” (ibid., 28).

Cyprian of Carthage [200-270 AD] Epistle 9
“inners 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’ [1 Cor. 11:27]” (Letters 9:2 [A.D. 253]).

Cyprian of Carthage [200-270 AD] Epistle 51
“And do not think, dearest brother, that either the courage of the brethren will be lessened, or that martyrdoms will fail for this cause, that penance is relaxed to the lapsed, and that the hope of peace * is offered to the penitent. . . . For to adulterers even a time of repentance is granted by us, and peace is given” (ibid., 51[55]:20).
“But I wonder that some are so obstinate as to think that repentance is not to be granted to the lapsed, or to suppose that pardon is to be denied to the penitent, when it is written, ‘Remember whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works’ [Rev. 2:5], which certainly is said to him who evidently has fallen, and whom the Lord exhorts to rise up again by his deeds [of penance], because it is written, ‘Alms deliver from death’ [Tob. 12:9]” (ibid., 51[55]:22).

Cyprian of Carthage [200-270 AD] Treatise 3
“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’ [1 Cor. 11:27]. 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 [the Lord’s] 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]).*

 

[bjmad]

Aphrahat/Aphraates [280-367 AD] Demonstration VI (Of Monks)
“You [priests], then, who are disciples of our illustrious physician [Christ], you ought not deny a curative to those in need of healing. And if anyone uncovers his wound before you, give him the remedy of repentance. And he that is ashamed to make known his weakness, encourage him so that he will not hide it from you. And when he has revealed it to you, do not make it public, lest because of it the innocent might be reckoned as guilty by our enemies and by those who hate us” (Treatises 7:3 [A.D. 340]).

Basil the Great, St [329-379 AD] Hexaemeron (Homily IX)
“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]).

Ambrose of Milan, St [340-397 AD] Concerning Repentance (Book I)
“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]).

John Chrysostom, St [347-407 AD] Homily 41 on First Corinthians
“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? ‘Whose sins you shall forgive,’ he says, ‘they are forgiven them; whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.’ What greater power is there than this? The Father has given all judgment to the Son. 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]).

Miscellaneous [Unknown] Canons of the Thirteen Holy Fathers (various dates)
“Confess your sins in church, and do not go up to your prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of life. . . . On the Lord’s Day gather together, break bread, and give thanks, after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure” (Didache 4:14, 14:1 [A.D. 70]).

Jerome, St [347-420 AD] To Pammachius Against John of Jerusalem
“If the serpent, the devil, bites someone secretly, he infects that person with the venom of sin. And if the one who has been bitten keeps silence and does not do penance, and does not want to confess his wound . . . then his brother and his master, who have the word [of absolution] that will cure him, cannot very well assist him” (Commentary on Ecclesiastes 10:11 [A.D. 388]).

Augustine of Hippo, St [354-430 AD] Tractate 41 (John 8:31-36)
“When you shall have been baptized, keep to a good life in the commandments of God so that you may preserve your baptism to the very end. I do not tell you that you will live here without sin, but they are venial sins which this life is never without. Baptism was instituted for all sins. For light sins, without which we cannot live, prayer was instituted. . . . But do not commit those sins on account of which you would have to be separated from the body of Christ. Perish the thought! For those whom you see doing penance have committed crimes, either adultery or some other enormities. That is why they are doing penance. If their sins were light, daily prayer would suffice to blot them out. . . . In the Church, therefore, there are three ways in which sins are forgiven: in baptisms, in prayer, and in the greater humility of penance” (Sermon to Catechumens on the Creed 7:15, 8:16 [A.D. 395]).

 

[EricFilmer]

Does anyone know at what point in the history of the universal church, did a priest become necessary for the act of asking God for forgiveness?

In other words, is there any writings of church fathers or historical accounts of when confession to a priest (sacrament) actually beame the common practice?

Earlier in this thread the following verse was posted:

Jn 20:22-23
“If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

These Apostles (who were the first priests) were given the power to represent Jesus in the act of Confession. If you think about it, there was no way for them to declare someone’s sins as being forgiven or retained unless the person first tells them what his sins are. Hence, confession to a priest was the concept from the beginning of the institution of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

 

[GKCT]

Eric

I had asked this question recently. MOMS presented this answer, which I believe to be correct. Think I also read this way back. Hope this helps. I would assume most of us believe that the sacrament was instituted by Christ at the Last Supper. But that wasn’t your question.

Over the centuries the concrete form in which the Church has exercised this power received from the Lord has varied considerably. During the first centuries the reconciliation of Christians who had committed particularly grave sins after their Baptism (for example, idolatry, murder, or adultery) was tied to a very rigorous discipline, according to which penitents had to do public penance for their sins, often for years, before receiving reconciliation. To this “order of penitents” (which concerned only certain grave sins), one was only rarely admitted and in certain regions only once in a lifetime. During the seventh century Irish missionaries, inspired by the Eastern monastic tradition, took to continental Europe the “private” practice of penance, which does not require public and prolonged completion of penitential works before reconciliation with the Church. From that time on, the sacrament has been performed in secret between penitent and priest. This new practice envisioned the possibility of repetition and so opened the way to a regular frequenting of this sacrament. It allowed the forgiveness of grave sins and venial sins to be integrated into one sacramental celebration. In its main lines this is the form of penance that the Church has practiced down to our day. "