1. Mark 2:7 says it is blasphemy to claim the power to forgive sins. Only God can forgive sins.
No Catholic will dispute this. The Catholic priest does not claim to forgive sins by his
own power. God can chose to administer His forgiveness any way He pleases. God can also
delegate His power if He wishes, just as the supreme authority in the state can delegate a
judge to administer justice. Do Protestants deny God has that power? It is God who forgives
the penitents sins, not the priest. God is working through the priest. A priest has
the power to forgive sins ONLY "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit".
St. Ambrose (340-397) declares that priests pardon all sins, not in their own
name, but as "ministers and instruments of God."
The Novatians were early Protestants who also believed that God alone can forgive sins. St.
Pacian of Barcelona (390) answered them by saying "This is true, but that which He does through
His priests is also done by His own power. For He said to His Apostles, 'Whatsoever you shall
bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven.' Why should He speak thus, if it was not lawful
for men to bind and loose?"
2. God did not delegate His power to forgive sins.
Yes He did. Jesus was God, and in John 20:21-23 He says "Peace be to you. As the Father has sent
Me I also send you. When He had said this He breathed on them; and He said to them: Receive the
Holy Spirit; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall
retain, they are retained." Christ's mission was to destroy sin, and He gave that same mission
to His Apostles. Jesus knew that His Apostles merely human power as men was quite insufficient
for this mission, so He gave them a special communication of the Holy Spirit for this special
work. Those who say that Christ did not confer a true power to forgive sin are robbing the whole
ceremony and the words of Christ of any real meaning.
Many Protestant ministers finally admit that Christ conferred the power to forgive sins to His
Apostles in John 20:21-23. Read these words: "As the Father has sent Me I also send you". This is
plain English. Christ came into the world to reconcile sinners to God. This statement plainly
says that Christ was sending his disciples out to become the ministers of reconciliation.
3. I don't see the connection between John 20:21-23 and Catholic Priests.
The connection between those present in John 20:21-23 and priests of today is this: Christ
founded a Church (Matthew 16:18. Also, notice its singular, not plural), with Peter as the
head and His Apostles being the first priests (and bishops). After Christ's ascension those
who belonged to that Church continued to teach what Christ taught and to hold a prayer service
based around what Christ did at His Last Supper (Matthew 26:26). In the year 110 AD that Church was
given a name by St. Ignatius of Antioch, and that name was "Catholic". The Catholic Church is
the only Christian Church that can trace its history back to the Apostles. The priests today
are the direct successors of the Apostles, the same Apostles that Christ gave the power to
forgive sins to.
4. The Apostles may have had this power, but it was not transmitted to their successors.
The power to forgive sins was conferred by Christ to the Apostles not in their private
capacity as individuals, but in their official and public capacity as Ministers of
Reconcilliation, which was to continue until the end of time: "Go ye therefore, and teach all
nations...And behold I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world."
(Matthew 28:19-20) As the Apostles would not live until the end of the world, it was necessary
that the authority they possessed was to be transmitted to those taking their places.
Judas died by suicide, and as both the Catholic and Protestant New Testament says in Acts 1:26,
Matthias was elected to the chair left vacant by Judas. Matthias certainly went out and did what
the other eleven were doing or there would be no need to elect him to replace Judas, so where
did Matthias receive the authority? Not from Christ because Christ had already ascended to
Heaven. If Matthias acted with the power and authority of an Apostle then he received that
delegated power not from Christ but from his fellow Apostles.
In 1 Corinthians 5:3 St. Paul judges the Corinthian for sinning with his own stepmother. Where
did St. Paul get this power and authority? On Easter Sunday night he was a persecutor of
Christians so it was not from Christ. He received the power and authority to judge and forgive
in the Name of Christ from the Apostles, who ordained him to the priesthood.
The conditions of salvation must be the same for us as for the first Christians. If those subject
to the Apostles had to obtain forgiveness from their fellow men, why should we be exempt now?
We share the same privileges as the early Christians and must have the same obligations.
All Christians went to Confession until the Reformation. That priests possessed such power was
Christian doctrine at that time and is still the doctrine of the Catholic Church today.
In 2 Corinthians 5:18 St. Paul speaks of the Ministry of Reconciliation: "It is all God's work.
It was God Who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the work of handing on
this reconciliation." Where is that Ministry of Reconciliation in Protestantism?
Protestantism gave up the practice in the sixteenth century because it was uncomfortable and
mortifying. This is a dangerous principle, what is to stop them from abolishing every
uncomfortable commandment of God?
5. Jesus spoke the words in John 20:21-23 not only to the Apostles but to disciples as well, as
is proven in Luke 24:33.
Luke 24:33 proves nothing about the power to forgive sins, it speaks only about the two
disciples who saw Jesus on the road to Emmaus. John 20:19 says "...the doors were closed in
the room where the disciples were. Does this prove anything? No, it doesn't. The word
"Apostle" is not used anywhere in the Gospel of John, so the statement that Jesus gave
the power to forgive sins to all disciples based on this is meaningless.
6. Christ never excluded others before, why would he exclude all except the Apostles in this
case?
There is evidence that Christ did indeed exclude others at times. Examples:
The Transfiguration. He only took with Him Peter, James, and John (Luke 9:28). He told them
not to talk about what they had seen to anybody, not even the other Apostles.
Pentecost. The Tongues of Fire came to rest only on the Apostles (Acts 2:3) and not on
every believer in the city.
The cure of Jairus' daughter. Jesus only allowed Peter, James, John, and the child's father
and mother, to go in with Him (Luke 8:51).
Matthew 26:37 (praying in Gethsemane) "He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee with him".
Also, if Christ intended for everyone to share equally in His Church, why did he bother to
specially select 12 followers?
7. 1 John 1:9 says that we must confess our sins to God.
1 John 1:9 says "but if we acknowledge our sins, then God who is faithful and just will
forgive our sins and purify us from everything that is wrong." This is very true, however, this
does not say we must confess our sins only to God. When Catholics go to confession
they are indeed confessing to God. When someone goes to confession they are seeing a priest but
in reality they are talking to God. The priest is acting in persona Christi, that
is, in the person of Christ.
8. Calvin maintained that Confession was invented by Pope Innocent III.
The common charge made against the Church is that Confession was invented by man, but those
bringing that charge cannot agree as to the person, time, or place that man invented it. Pope
Innocent III became Pope in 1198. If Confession were invented by Innocent III then scholars are
certainly blind to the fact that we have abundant evidence to the contrary dating back to long
before 1198:
St. Leo the Great, who lived from 440 to 461, wrote so specifically about
Confession that many Protestants believe that it was he who invented it. If St. Leo, or any
other man, had invented Confession there would have been a general protest on the part of the
members of the Church against such an odious obligation, yet there is no trace of a protest
in all Christian history against such an invention or institution.
St. Augustine (354-430) tells the early Christians "not to listen to those who deny that the
Church has the power to forgive all sins".
Origen (185-254) speaks plainly about Confession: "When you have eaten some indigestable
food, and your stomach is filled wit an excessive quantity of humor, you will suffer until you
have gotten rid of it. So in like manner sinners, who hide and retain their sins within their
breasts, become sick therefrom almost to death. Consider carefully whom you choose to harken
to your sins." Harkening means listening, therefore, this is a testimony to spoken Confession.
The historian Gibbon, author of "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", in spite of being an
infidel and constant attacker of Christianity, was obliged to write down the following for the
benefit of those who still spread the lie that Confession was invented by man: "It cannot be
denied that Confession was one of the principal doctrines of Christianity for the first four
centuries".
In 1911 Roman archeologists unearthed a marble slab with the following inscription written in
Greek upon it: "Here Blessed Peter absolved us, the elect, from sins confessed." According to
Professor Ballerini (a non-Catholic), well versed in archeology, "It is what Christian
tradition knew as 'the Confessionary of St. Peter'." The finding of the remarkable testimony
upon this slab in conclusive evidence against those who deny that spoken Confesson is of
Apostolic times.
(See also Number 1 for more pre 1198 evidence.)
9. It is enough to confess ones sins privately to God.
The Jews were doing exactly that, yet Christ came to correct and reform Judaism. God can forgive
sins that are directly confessed to Him, but is it not wiser to seek forgiveness through the
means which Christ established and not through the means which we establish with our whims
and fears? We have no right to dictate to God the manner in which we would like to have our
sin forgiven. If Christ didn't intend for people to confess to, and receive absolution from,
other men (priests), why did He give them that power?
10. Matthew 18:19-20 says "...ANYTHING that they ask...". If you ask God to forgive your sins
He will.
Every day two or more people gather in Christ's Name and ask for an end to violence, abortion,
hunger, war, the winning lottery numbers, etc., yet their prayers aren't answered. Did Jesus
lie to us? Or is He just unable to answer those prayers? Of course not. Then why aren't
those prayers answered? Look at James 4:3 "...when you do pray and don't get it, it is
because you have not prayed properly, you have prayed for something to indulge your own
desires." If you ask God directly to forgive your sins, how do you know you asked properly?
How do you KNOW He has forgiven you? The following is from a booklet called "Confession
Quizzes to a Street Preacher":
"...telling your sins to God privately in practice means that the whole action of Christ on
Easter night was a grand waste of time and a hollow mockery if people can ordinarily confess
to God in secret and receive pardon directly from Him. It is easier to go to God, but Christ
certainly didn't want it that way. Christ could have chosen other ways to reconcile sinners
whom He came to save, but He chose the method instituted Easter Sunday and it is not for man
to frustrate that method. Christ knew that more than subjective disposition and whims of
private emotions were needed for mankind. He desired to give men ASSURANCE that their sins
were remitted or retained in a sacrament that assures the sinner. We want assurance, not
mere feeling, that our sins are forgiven."
11. People can simulate sorrow, or deceive the priest by telling him only what they wish him
to hear.
This is true, but no one can deceive God, and it is God that forgives sins. A penitents
sins are only forgiven if he/she is truly sorry for them, they are determined to try to avoid
them in the future, and promise to make reparation for any injury to others caused by their
sins.
SOURCES
Jerusalem Bible
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Catholic Customs and Traditions
Catholic Dictionary
Confession Quizzes to a Street Preacher
