Why Priest only can forgive?

[Harmony1988]

We all know that in the Bible it says confess your sins to others, but anyone have a link to something that justifies confession only to a priest?

I know there are some obvious reasons like not wanting to confess your deepest darkest sins to your nextdoor neighbour or someone who would freak out etc.

 

[epostle]

The best nut-shell answer is found in two verses,

John 20:23 - Jesus says, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” In order for the apostles to exercise this gift of forgiving sins, the penitents must orally confess their sins to them because the apostles are not mind readers. The text makes this very clear.

James 5:16 - James clearly teaches us that we must “confess our sins to one another,” not just privately to God. James 5:16 must be read in the context of James 5:14-15, which is referring to the healing power (both physical and spiritual) of the priests of the Church. Hence, when James says “therefore” in verse 16, he must be referring to the men he was writing about in verses 14 and 15 – these men are the ordained priests of the Church, to whom we must confess our sins.

This is taken from much longer list:
scripturecatholic.com/confession.html

 

[grandfather]

We all know that in the Bible it says confess your sins to others, but anyone have a link to something that justifies confession only to a priest?

I know there are some obvious reasons like not wanting to confess your deepest darkest sins to your nextdoor neighbour or someone who would freak out etc.

We should definitely try to avoid freaking out etc. just anybody.

 

[Leopard]

Why Priest only can forgive?

Technically, this is not correct. Only God can forgive sins. He has, however, set up the Chuch to minister this forgiveness through the persons of the Apostles and their successors, the bishops. He has also given the Church in the persons of her bishops the authority to delegate this power to forgive sins to others, which the Church does when she ordains priests.

There are other ways one may obtain forgiveness for personal sins in the absence of a priest or bishop to confess to. Baptism may be validly ministered in an emergency to any unbaptized person by any person who uses the correct form, matter and intention. Baptism validly conferred remits all original and personal sins that the newly baptized Christian had previously committed.

After baptism, venial sins may be forgiven may be forgiven by worthy reception of Holy Communion, in the Penitential Rite at Mass, or by making an Act of Contrition. If there is not an opportunity for a person to confess any mortal sins for which he is sorry, these may be forgiven by making a Perfect Act of Contrition, although a person who is perfectly contrite will intend to confess these sins if the opportunity to do so later presents itself.

 

[Scottgun]

What he said. God forgives sins and the priest is His chosen instrument of that forgiveness.

 

[PBP]

Refer to 2Corinthians 5:18-20 Another passage confirming GOD using the priest as a tool for the ministry. As an analogy, its the same as what many TV evangelist portray as healing the bodies of their congregation except the sacrament of confession truely heals the soul and your relationship with GOD. Remember the Jews felt scandalized when Jesus forgave the man who was hurt because only GOD could forgive sins…Jesus received the power from GOD and he handed this down to the original apostles and they handed it down through succession to the priests we have today. Hence tradition !

 

[Gamera]

Scripture shows Jesus conferring this special power only to certain disciples in the upper room. “And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. If your forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retained the sins of any, they are retained,” John 20:22.

Don’t overlook the significance of Jesus having breathed on these disciples in the upper room and conferring a special power of the Holy Spirit at the same moment at which He authorized them to forgive sins on His behalf. Jesus didn’t do that with everybody. So not every Christian has received from Jesus the authority to forgive sins.

 

[ncgolf]

Don’t overlook the significance of Jesus having breathed on these disciples in the upper room and conferring a special power of the Holy Spirit at the same moment at which He authorized them to forgive sins on His behalf.

You are right … I believe the only other time God breathed on someone was in Genesis bringing Adam to life. Breathing by God is extremely powerful … in fact life giving … sacramental confession is life giving … spiritual life rather than physical life. Too bad it is an underused gift … probably the most underused.