Confession
Are all of our sins—past, present,
and future—forgiven once and for all when we become Christians? Not according
to the Bible or the early Church Fathers. Scripture nowhere states that our
future sins are forgiven; instead, it teaches us to pray, "And forgive us
our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" (Matt. 6:12).
The means by which God forgives sins
after baptism is confession: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and
just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness"
(1 John 1:9). Minor or venial sins can be confessed directly to God, but for
grave or mortal sins, which crush the spiritual life out of the soul, God has
instituted a different means for obtaining forgiveness—the sacrament known
popularly as confession, penance, or reconciliation.
This sacrament is rooted in the
mission God gave to Christ in his capacity as the Son of man on earth to go and
forgive sins (cf. Matt. 9:6). Thus, the crowds who witnessed this new power
"glorified God, who had given such authority to men" (Matt. 9:8; note
the plural "men"). After his resurrection, Jesus passed on his
mission to forgive sins to his ministers, telling them, "As the Father has
sent me, even so I send you. . . . 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).
Since it is not possible to confess
all of our many daily faults, we know that sacramental reconciliation is
required only for grave or mortal sins—but it is required, or Christ would not
have commanded it.
Over time, the forms in which the
sacrament has been administered have changed. In the early Church, publicly
known sins (such as apostasy) were often confessed openly in church, though
private confession to a priest was always an option for privately committed
sins. Still, confession was not just something done in silence to God alone,
but something done "in church," as theDidache (A.D. 70)
indicates.
Penances also tended to be performed
before rather than after absolution, and they were much more strict than those
of today (ten years’ penance for abortion, for example, was common in the early
Church).
But the basics of the sacrament have
always been there, as the following quotations reveal. Of special significance
is their recognition that confession and absolution must be received by a
sinner before receiving Holy Communion, for "[w]hoever . . . eats the
bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of
profaning the body and blood of the Lord" (1 Cor. 11:27).
The Didache
"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]).
The Letter 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
"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
"[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]).
Tertullian
"[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]).
Hippolytus
"[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]).
Origen
"[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
"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]).
"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).
"[S]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]).
"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 [i.e., absolution] 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).
Aphraahat the Persian
Sage
"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
"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]).
John Chrysostom
"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]).
Ambrose of Milan
"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]).
Jerome
"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
"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]).
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
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
permission to publish this work is hereby granted.
+Robert H. Brom, Bishop of San Diego, August 10, 2004
