Biblical Defense of Confession

[Mikeb85]

Can someone give a solid Biblical Defense of Confession to a priest?


.

Confess [your] faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
James 5:16

[Anglian]

The Scriptural references are very helpful, but the defects in the original question should not be allowed to pass without comment.

It is a very protestant habit to require a scriptural text. Of course heretics such as Arius backed their abominable heresies by citing scriptural texts; simply citing scripture proves nothing; it is the correct reading of scripture which matters - and that is only to be had within the Church out of which they emerged.

There was, after all, a time when there were Christians and there was no Bible; what did Christians do then to establish what the right teaching of the Lord was? They relied upon the Apostles and then upon the tradition established by the Apostles who had them from Our Lord Himself. The Bible is not an instruction manual which anyone can read the way he wants and make it mean what his own limited wisdom wants it to mean; it is the Word of the Lord.

Our Lord did not say: 'here is this book which I leave for you to know me', He founded a Church. Indeed, the Bible itself tells us how the first Christians managed to stay faithful to the teachings they received before there was any Bible.


1Tim. 3:15 "But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."

Here St. Paul tells his readers that the pillar and gound of the truth is the Church.

Read also what the blessed Saint Matthew tells us:

Mat 18:15-17 "But if thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother. And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more: that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. And if he will not hear them: tell the church. And if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican."

It is not incumbent on the Church to find in Holy Scripture a defence for all it does - although of course everything it does can be found in the Scriptures which it sanctioned. Those who receive the Scriptures of the Church but not its teaching and tradition must not be surprised if they only get half the story.

In Christ,

Anglian

[tiitmouse]

Can someone give a solid Biblical Defense of Confession to a priest?

[copticorthodoxy]

Hello ,
I copied these from a book called Priesthood for H.H. pope shenouda III pope of Alexandria and all St. Mark see

you could read the whole book here
http://www.copticpope.org/books/Priesthd.pdf



Confession To Priests Was An Established Fact From
The Time Of The Written Commandment An The Offering
Of The Sacrifice
(Lev 5:5-6) 'And it shall be, when he is guilty in any of these

matters,
that he shall confess that he has sinned in that thing;

{6} 'and he shall bring his trespass offering to the LORD for
his sin which he has committed, a female from the flock, a
lamb or a kid of the goats as a sin offering. So the priest shall
make atonement for him concerning his sin.
Here we see that the sinner would go to the priest and confess.
The priest in turn instructs the repentant of the proper sacrifice
fitting to the circumstances. The sinner would then bring the
sacrifice, place his hand on it, so that the sin may be transferred
to the sacrifice, before it is offered to God.

(Num 5:6-7) "Speak to the children of Israel: 'When a man or
woman commits any sin that men commit in unfaithfulness
against the LORD, and that person is guilty, {7} 'then he shall
confess the sin which he has committed. He shall make
restitution for his trespass in full, plus one-fifth of it, and give
it to the one he has wronged

David Confesses To Nathan
(2 Sam 12:13) So David said to Nathan, "I have sinned
against the LORD." And Nathan said to David, "The LORD
also has put away your sin; you shall not die.
As we see king David confessed his sin, and Nathan absolves
him.
So confession to a priest was a perpetual practice and was
strictly adhered to for every sin requiring a sacrifice.

The Period Between The Old Testament And The New.
Saint John the Baptist (the son of Zacharias) received the
confessions of the people’s before baptising them.
(Mat 3:6) and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing
their sins.
Hence confession is not a restricted practice to a certain era, but
it is a natural extension of the Old Testament.

The Practice Of Confessing To The Priest Continued To
The New Testament.
We see that the Lord Jesus granting the authority to forgive,
firstly to Saint Peter then to all the disciples and apostles.
(Mat 16:19) "And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of
heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in
heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in
heaven."
(Mat 18:18) "Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on
earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth
will be loosed in heaven