The Forgiveness of Sins
All pardon for sins ultimately comes from Christ’s
finished work on Calvary, but how is this pardon received by individuals?
Did Christ leave us any means within the Church to take away sin? The Bible
says he gave us two means.
Baptism was given to take away the sin inherited
from Adam (original sin) and any sins we personally committed before baptism—sins
we personally commit are called actual sins, because they come from our
own acts. Thus on the day of Pentecost, Peter told the crowds, "Repent,
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness
of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts
2:38), and when Paul was baptized he was told, "And now why do you wait?
Rise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name" (Acts
22:16). And so Peter later wrote, "Baptism . . . now saves you, not as
a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience,
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 3:21).
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.)
The Commission
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).
This power was understood as coming from God: "All
this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave
us the ministry of reconciliation" (2 Cor. 5:18). Indeed, confirms Paul,
"So we are ambassadors for Christ" (2 Cor. 5:20).
Some say that any power given to the apostles died
with them. Not so. Some powers must have, such as the ability to write
Scripture. But the powers necessary to maintain the Church as a living,
spiritual society had to be passed down from generation to generation.
If they ceased, the Church would cease, except as a quaint abstraction.
Christ ordered the apostles to, "Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations." It would take much time. And he promised them assistance: "Lo,
I am with you always, to the close of the age" (Matt. 28:19–20).
If the disciples believed that Christ instituted
the power to sacramentally forgive sins in his stead, we would expect the
apostles’ successors—the bishops—and Christians of later years to act as
though such power was legitimately and habitually exercised. If, on the
other hand, the sacramental forgiveness of sins was what Fundamentalists
term it, an "invention," and if it was something foisted upon the young
Church by ecclesiastical or political leaders, we’d expect to find records
of protest. In fact, in early Christian writings we find no sign of protests
concerning sacramental forgiveness of sins. Quite the contrary. We find
confessing to a priest was accepted as part of the original deposit of
faith handed down from the apostles.
Lots of Gumption
Loraine Boettner, in his book Roman Catholicism,
claims "auricular confession to a priest instead of to God" was instituted
in 1215 at the Fourth Lateran Council. This is an extreme example, even
for a committed anti-Catholic. Few people have the gumption to place the
"invention" of confession so late, since there is so much early Christian
writing—a good portion of it one thousand or more years before that council—that
refers to the practice of confession as something already long-established.
Actually, the Fourth Lateran Council did discuss
confession. To combat the lax morals of the time, the council regulated
the already-existing duty to confess one’s sins by saying that Catholics
should confess any mortal sins at least once a year. To issue an official
decree about how frequently a sacrament must be celebrated is hardly the
same as "inventing" that sacrament.
The earliest Christian writings, such as the first-century
Didache, are indefinite on the procedure for confession to be used
in the forgiveness of sins, but a verbal confession is listed as part of
the Church’s requirement by the time of Irenaeus (A.D. 180). He wrote that
the disciples of the Gnostic heretic 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 themselves from the hope of the life of God,
they either apostatize entirely or hesitate between the two courses" (Against
Heresies 1:22).
The sacrament of penance is clearly in use, for
Irenaeus speaks of making an outward confession (versus remaining silent)
upon which the hope of eternal life hangs, but it is not yet clear from
Irenaeus just how, or to whom, confession is to be made. Is it privately,
to the priest, or before the whole congregation, with the priest presiding?
The one thing we can say for sure is that the sacrament is understood by
Irenaeus as having originated in the infant Church.
Later writers, such as Origen (241), Cyprian (251),
and Aphraates (337), are clear in saying confession is to be made to a
priest. (In their writings the whole process of penance is termed exomologesis,
which means confession—the confession was seen as the main part of the
sacrament.) Cyprian writes that the forgiveness of sins can take place
only "through the priests." Ambrose says "this right is given to priests
only." Pope Leo I says absolution can be obtained only through the prayers
of the priests. These utterances are not taken as novel, but as reminders
of accepted belief. We have no record of anyone objecting, of anyone claiming
these men were pushing an "invention." (See the Catholic Answers tract
Confession for full quotes from the early Church Fathers on the
sacrament of penance.)
Confession Implied
Note that the power Christ gave the apostles was
twofold: to forgive sins or to hold them bound, which means to retain them
unforgiven. Several things follow from this. First, the apostles could
not know what sins to forgive and what not to forgive unless they were
first told the sins by the sinner. This implies confession. Second, their
authority was not merely to proclaim that God had already forgiven sins
or that he would forgive sins if there were proper repentance.
Such interpretations don’t account for the distinction
between forgiving and retaining—nor do they account for the importance
given to the utterance in John 20:21–23. If God has already forgiven all
of a man’s sins, or will forgive them all (past and future) upon a single
act of repentance, then it makes little sense to tell the apostles they
have been given the power to "retain" sins, since forgiveness would be
all-or-nothing and nothing could be "retained."
Furthermore, if at conversion we were forgiven
all sins, past, present, and future, it would make no sense for Christ
to require us to pray, "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven
our debtors," which he explained is required because "if you forgive men
their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you
do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses" (Matt. 6:12–15).
If forgiveness really can be partial—not a once-for-all
thing—how is one to tell which sins have been forgiven, which not, in the
absence of a priestly decision? You can’t very well rely on your own gut
feelings. No, the biblical passages make sense only if the apostles and
their successors were given a real authority.
Still, some people are not convinced. One is Paul
Juris, a former priest, now a Fundamentalist, who has written a pamphlet
on this subject. The pamphlet is widely distributed by organizations opposed
to Catholicism. The cover describes the work as "a study of John 20:23,
a much misunderstood and misused portion of Scripture pertaining to the
forgiveness of sins." Juris mentions "two main schools of thought," the
Catholic and the Fundamentalist positions.
He correctly notes that "among Christians, it is
generally agreed that regular confession of one’s sins is obviously necessary
to remain in good relationship with God. So the issue is not whether we
should or should not confess our sins. Rather, the real issue is, How does
God say that our sins are forgiven or retained?"
Verse Slinging
This sounds fine, on the surface, but this apparently
reasonable approach masks what really happens next. Juris engages in verse
slinging, listing as many verses as he can find that refer to God forgiving
sins, in hopes that the sheer mass of verses will settle the question.
But none of the verses he lists specifically interprets John 20:23, and
none contradicts the Catholic interpretation.
For instance, he cites verses like these: "Let
it be known to you therefore, brethren, that through this man forgiveness
of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him every one that believes is freed
from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses"
(Acts 13:38–39); "And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach
the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will
be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned’" (Mark 16:15–16).
Juris says that verses like these demonstrate that
"all that was left for the disciples to do was to ‘go’ and ‘proclaim’ this
wonderful good news (the gospel) to all men. As they proclaimed this good
news of the gospel, those who believed the gospel, their sins would be
forgiven. Those who rejected (did not believe) the gospel, their sins would
be retained." Juris does nothing more than show that the Bible says God
will forgive sins and that it is through Jesus that our sins are forgiven—things
no one doubts. He does not remotely prove that John 20:23 is equivalent
to a command to "go" and to "preach," merely that going and preaching are
part of God’s plan for saving people. He also sidesteps the evident problems
in the Fundamentalist interpretation.
The passage says nothing about preaching the good
news. Instead, Jesus is telling the apostles that they have been empowered
to do something. He does not say, "When God forgives men’s sins, they are
forgiven." He uses the second person plural: "you." And he talks about
the apostles forgiving, not preaching. When he refers to retaining sins,
he uses the same form: "When you hold them bound, they are held bound."
The best Juris can do is assert that John 20:23
means the apostles were given authority only to proclaim the forgiveness
of sins—but asserting this is not proving it.
His is a technique that often works because many
readers believe that the Fundamentalist interpretation has been proven
true. After all, if you propose to interpret one verse and accomplish that
by listing irrelevant verses that refer to something other than the specific
point in controversy, lazy readers will conclude that you have marshalled
an impressive array of evidence. All they have to do is count the citations.
Here’s one for the Catholics, they say, looking at John 20:21–23, but ten
or twenty for the Fundamentalists. The Fundamentalists must be right!
The Advantages
Is the Catholic who confesses his sins to a priest
any better off than the non-Catholic who confesses directly to God? Yes.
First, he seeks forgiveness the way Christ intended. Second, by confessing
to a priest, the Catholic learns a lesson in humility, which is avoided
when one confesses only through private prayer. Third, the Catholic receives
sacramental graces the non-Catholic doesn’t get; through the sacrament
of penance sins are forgiven and graces are obtained. Fourth, the Catholic
is assured that his sins are forgiven; he does not have to rely on a subjective
"feeling." Lastly, the Catholic can also obtain sound advice on avoiding
sin in the future.
During his lifetime Christ sent out his followers
to do his work. Just before he left this world, he gave the apostles special
authority, commissioning them to make God’s forgiveness present to all
people, and the whole Christian world accepted this, until just a few centuries
ago. If there is an "invention" here, it is not the sacrament of penance,
but the notion that the sacramental forgiveness of sins is not to be found
in the Bible or in early Christian history.
NIHIL OBSTAT:
I have concluded that the materials
presented in this work are free of doctrinal or moral errors.
Bernadeane Carr, STL, Censor Librorum, August 10, 2004
IMPRIMATUR:
In accord with 1983 CIC 827
permission to publish this work is hereby granted.
+Robert H. Brom, Bishop of San Diego, August 10, 2004
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