Must I confess to a priest?

The Young Man Who Spent an Hour in the Confessional and Left Asking Questions

He had grown up Catholic and practised auricular confession since childhood — entering the booth, listing his sins to the priest, hearing "I absolve thee of thy sins," and leaving to perform the assigned penance. Then one day he read 1 John 1:9: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." "He is faithful to forgive" — "He" refers to God, not to the priest. Then he read Psalm 32:5: "I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." David confessed directly to the LORD, not to a priest. He asked: "Why do I confess to a man who cannot forgive anything, when Scripture teaches me to confess directly to God?"

What Is Catholic Auricular Confession? — The Teaching and Its History

Catholic theology teaches that the sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation is one of the seven sacraments that confer grace. The believer enumerates his sins to an ordained priest who possesses the authority of "absolution" — forgiveness of sins by an authority vested in him by the church. The believer is required to confess to the priest at least once a year as a condition for receiving communion. But mandatory universal auricular confession as currently defined was imposed only by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 AD — more than twelve centuries after the church's founding on the Day of Pentecost. Before that, practices of confession in the early church varied widely and differed fundamentally from the later Catholic sacrament. The development of auricular confession as a binding sacrament in its current form is a historically late elaboration — not apostolic, not from Scripture.

"He Is Faithful and Just to Forgive" — 1 John 1:9

The central text for biblical confession states clearly: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9). "If we confess" — confession is required. "He is faithful to forgive" — the "he" refers to God, the subject of the surrounding context. "To forgive us" — the forgiveness comes from God. "To cleanse us from all unrighteousness" — the cleansing comes from God. The priest is not mentioned in this text or its context. The confession is to God and the forgiveness is from God — directly, without a human intermediary.

"Confess Your Faults One to Another" — James 5:16

The only New Testament text that mentions confessing to persons other than God is James 5:16: "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed." "One to another" — mutual confession between believers — not a believer confessing to a priest. "That ye may be healed" — the purpose is relational and spiritual healing, not a juridical, automatic absolution. This text does not teach the Catholic auricular confession sacrament. It teaches healthy mutual transparency among believers and the healing power of shared prayer. Even if it is read as including confession to a spiritual leader, the context refers to "the elders of the church" (5:14) — not to a priest with power of absolution.

Psalm 32:5 — The Biblical Model of Direct Confession

David in Psalm 32 models biblical confession with profound simplicity: "I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." "Unto thee" — direct address to God. "Unto the LORD" — to God, not to a priest. "Thou forgavest" — God Himself is the one who forgave. David did not go to a priest in the temple to obtain permission for forgiveness — he prayed directly and confessed directly and received forgiveness directly. This is the biblical model, and it is consistent across the entire Old and New Testament.

John 20:23 — Does It Give Priests the Power to Forgive Sins?

The text Catholic theology appeals to most strongly for priestly absolution is John 20:23: "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained." But the context is the Lord Jesus commissioning His disciples to go and proclaim the gospel — not establishing a sacrament of private auricular confession. The authority of "remitting and retaining sins" in its biblical context is the authority of gospel proclamation: whoever believes the gospel has their sins remitted; whoever rejects it has their sins retained. This is the privilege of every preaching church, not a unique sacerdotal authority to grant absolution in a confessional. Reading this verse as establishing Catholic auricular confession requires importing into the text a meaning the surrounding context simply does not support.

"Thy Sins Are Forgiven" — Jesus Forgave Directly

Every instance of forgiveness in the Lord Jesus's ministry was direct, without any priestly intermediary. The sinful woman: "Thy sins are forgiven." (Luke 7:48) — directly, immediately. The paralytic: "Man, thy sins are forgiven thee" (Luke 5:20) — directly. The Pharisees objected correctly on the principle: "Who can forgive sins, but God alone?" (Luke 5:21) — but they misidentified who was present. Jesus is God, and therefore has authority to forgive. But their stated principle is biblical: forgiveness is God's prerogative alone. No human priest possesses this authority in any independent sense — and the priest who says "I absolve thee" is claiming an authority that Scripture reserves for God alone through Christ.

Peter Directed to Pray Directly to God — Acts 8:22

When Simon the sorcerer sinned by attempting to purchase apostolic power, Peter's instruction was direct and unambiguous: "Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee." (Acts 8:22). "Pray God" — the apostle Peter himself directed a sinning person to pray directly to God, not to come to him for absolution. This is the apostle whom Catholic theology identifies as the first pope. He did not say "confess to me and I will absolve you." He said "pray God." If auricular confession with priestly absolution were an apostolic requirement for forgiveness, Peter could not have omitted it here. His response confirms that direct prayer to God is the biblical way.

The Prodigal Son — The Clearest Biblical Model of Repentance

The parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15 presents the clearest biblical picture of repentance and forgiveness: the son "arose, and came to his father" — directly, without intermediary, without a priest, without a confessional. And before he even arrived, "when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him." The forgiveness came from the father directly, at the first moment of genuine return. The father did not say "go first and confess to someone, then come to me." He welcomed him completely and immediately. This is the portrait the Lord Jesus deliberately drew to show how God responds to genuine repentance — immediate, complete, direct, no intermediary required.

One Mediator — 1 Timothy 2:5

The foundational principle eliminates all priestly mediation in confession: "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." (1 Timothy 2:5). "One mediator" — specific in number. "The man Christ Jesus" — identified by name. If Christ is the one and only mediator between God and men, then no human priest can insert himself into that mediating role as a necessary channel for forgiveness. The believer comes directly to God through Christ — "boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus" (Hebrews 10:19). Not permission from a priest. Not a scheduled confessional appointment. Boldness, through the blood of Jesus, at any time, in any place.

The Assigned Penance — A Theological Problem

After confession in Catholicism, the priest assigns a "penance" — prayers or acts of reparation to be performed. This raises a fundamental theological question: if Christ's atonement is complete "once for all" (Hebrews 7:27) and if "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7) — what does the assigned penance add? Is it a supplement to Christ's atonement? The cross declared "It is finished" (John 19:30) — a statement of absolute completion. Any subsequent requirement of human acts to complete or apply that forgiveness implies the cross was insufficient. The biblical position is unambiguous: the atonement is complete, and forgiveness is received by faith and genuine repentance — not by the performance of additional human works.

False Assurance — The Pastoral Danger

Auricular confession carries the pastoral danger of producing mechanical false assurance: confess, hear "I absolve thee," and feel the matter is resolved — without genuine heart change, without direct encounter with God's holiness, without true repentance from the will. This reduces the sacrament of penance to a spiritual transaction rather than a genuine encounter with the living God. Biblical confession to God directly does not allow this mechanical shortcut — it places the believer face to face with the holy God and demands genuine heart change. And the promise is not vague: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive" — the promise is certain and the forgiveness is complete when confession is genuine.

Biblical Examples of Direct Confession — Old and New Testament

The entire biblical record shows confession flowing directly to God without human intermediary. Nehemiah confessed the sins of his people directly to God (Nehemiah 9:33-35). Daniel prayed and confessed his sins and the sins of his people directly to God in one of the most extended confession prayers in Scripture (Daniel 9:4-19). Ezra fell on his knees before God in direct confession (Ezra 9:5-15). Psalm 51 — David's great confession after his sin with Bathsheba — is entirely addressed to God directly: "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned" (51:4). "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean" — he asks God directly. In all these cases — spanning the full range of Old Testament Scripture — not one instance of sacerdotal auricular confession appears. The pattern is uniform: sin is confessed directly to God, and God directly forgives.

Freedom of Access — The Great Gospel Gift

One of the most beautiful privileges of the biblical gospel is that it gives every believer free, unmediated access to God at any moment. "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16). "Come boldly" — not tentatively, not through a booth, not by waiting for an appointment with a priest. "Unto the throne of grace" — the highest access possible, directly to God's throne. "That we may obtain mercy" — the purpose is mercy and forgiveness. This verse alone pictures the believer's direct access as something exercised personally, immediately, and at the point of need. No sacramental system can replicate the intimacy and immediacy of this direct access — and no sacramental system is needed when the High Priest Himself, Jesus Christ, has opened the way with His own blood.

What About Accountability to Other Believers?

Does rejecting auricular confession to a priest mean the believer lives in spiritual isolation without accountability? No — and it is important to make this clear. James 5:16 genuinely teaches that sharing our struggles and failures with trusted believers and asking for their prayer is healthy and biblical. Many mature Independent Baptist believers have a trusted pastor, elder, or brother in Christ with whom they share honestly and who prays for them. This mutual accountability is a genuine biblical practice. But there is a fundamental difference: the biblical elder listens, prays, encourages, and points to Scripture — he does not claim the power to pronounce absolution as a sacramental authority. The difference is not the presence of community and accountability — the difference is whether that community claims to mediate God's forgiveness as an institutional function.

The Confessor Must Also Confess — A Logical Problem

If confession to a priest is the biblical means of obtaining forgiveness, a simple logical question arises: to whom does the priest confess? He too sins. He too needs forgiveness. Catholic theology provides an answer — to his own confessor — but this only pushes the problem one step back. And ultimately, the chain must end somewhere with direct access to God. This reveals that even within Catholic theology, direct access to God for forgiveness is implicitly required. The biblical answer simply removes the unnecessary human chain and gives every believer the direct access that the system eventually requires anyway: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." Every believer — priest or layman — has equal direct access to the same forgiving God.

A Note on Genuine Christian Fellowship and Transparency

This discussion should not be read as arguing against the value of pastoral care, spiritual direction, or honest transparency among believers. Sharing burdens, asking for prayer, and seeking counsel from mature believers are all genuinely biblical and genuinely valuable. What is being challenged is the specific claim that an ordained priest possesses a unique institutional authority to pronounce absolution as a sacrament — an authority that has no clear basis in the New Testament, that was formally codified only in 1215 AD, and that places a human intermediary in the role that Scripture assigns exclusively to Christ. Remove that institutional authority claim, and what remains — mutual accountability, prayer, transparent community, and pastoral guidance — is exactly what the Independent Baptist church practises and values.

Three Questions That Reveal the Biblical Position

Three questions summarise the biblical case: Does Scripture command confession to a priest? No — it directs confession to God. Can a priest actually forgive sins? No — "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (Luke 5:21). Is forgiveness conditioned in Scripture on confessing to a human being? No — "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us" (1 John 1:9) — the confession is to God and the forgiveness is from God. These three answers together establish the biblical position: auricular confession to a priest as a necessary sacrament of forgiveness has no New Testament foundation, and the believer is called to come directly, boldly, and confidently to God through Christ alone. The Reformers reached this conclusion when they read the New Testament carefully. The Anabaptists and Baptists reached it before the Reformers did. And every sincere believer who reads the New Testament with an open heart reaches it again — because the text speaks plainly, and God's invitation is clear: come to Me, confess to Me, and I will forgive you, for My Son's blood has made the way.

The Simplest Truth — Confess to God Now

You do not need to wait. You do not need to go anywhere special. You do not need anyone's permission. Scripture gives you the highest permission: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Speak to God right now in simple, honest words: "Lord, I confess my sins and ask Your forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ." He will hear you. He will forgive you — because He promised, and He is faithful. And that promise is not conditional on a sacramental system or a priest's pronouncement. It rests on the finished work of Christ alone — the one and only sacrifice for sin, offered once for all, sufficient for every sin of every person who comes to God through Him in genuine faith and honest confession.

The God of Scripture Calls You to Confess Directly — And He Will Forgive

The Word of God teaches direct confession to God — no booth, no priest, no list of sins to enumerate for a human intermediary, no penance to perform to complete the forgiveness. The confession is to God and the forgiveness is from God — immediate, complete, and grounded in the finished work of Christ. You can confess right now, where you are, in simple honest words: "Lord, I confess my sins and I ask Your forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ." He will hear. He will forgive — because He promised and He is faithful. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." (Acts 16:31). Come to Him directly — He is waiting.

We encourage you to begin reading the Gospel of John for yourself, and to continue in the Word of God in the King James Version — and in the Van Dyck in Arabic, both found on this website (alinjil.com). May God bless you as you confess directly to Him and receive His complete forgiveness.

The Holy Scriptures address this question with the full authority of the one who inspired them — the living God who knows the human heart and understands every objection before it is raised. What He has said on this subject is not the product of human opinion or denominational tradition; it is the preserved and authoritative Word of God, which He has declared will never pass away. The reader who examines this testimony honestly and without a predetermined commitment to reject it will find it both intellectually satisfying and personally transforming.

The cumulative weight of the biblical evidence on this question is not easily dismissed. It draws on multiple independent witnesses across centuries — the Law, the Prophets, the Psalms, the Gospels, and the Epistles all speak consistently to the same truth, each from its own vantage point and in its own manner, together forming a body of testimony whose coherence is itself one of the strongest arguments for its divine origin. The reader who reads these texts carefully will find not a collection of disconnected religious opinions but a unified revelation with a single coherent message.

The practical question that every reader must eventually face is not merely an academic one — it is personal and urgent. The truth about this subject has direct implications for how one lives, how one understands suffering and purpose, and how one faces the certainty of death. The Holy Scriptures do not present these truths as abstract theology detached from daily life; they present them as the most practical knowledge a human being can possess, because they concern the most important realities of human existence and the eternal destiny of every soul.

No honest engagement with this question can avoid its personal dimensions. God calls every person who reads these words not merely to intellectual acknowledgment but to personal response — specifically, to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as the one through whom all of the truths discussed in this article find their ultimate resolution. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is not peripheral to any of the questions the Christian faith addresses — it is central to every one of them. And the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is the historical event that validates every claim the Christian faith makes.

The invitation that the Holy Scriptures extend through this article is not to religious performance or institutional affiliation but to personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He who addressed every question honestly during His earthly ministry addresses them still through the Word He has preserved. And He who promised to give rest to all who come to Him keeps that promise to every generation. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). This is the personal invitation of the Lord Jesus Christ to you.

Those who have wrestled seriously with the questions raised in this article and have come to genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as a result testify consistently to two things: first, that the intellectual journey to faith was more honest and more rigorous than the comfortable alternatives they had previously entertained; and second, that the personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ that followed transformed not only their understanding of these questions but their entire orientation toward life, death, and meaning. This is not the testimony of credulous people who have abandoned critical thinking — it is the testimony of people who followed the evidence to its honest conclusion.

The great gift that the Holy Scriptures offer to every reader who engages honestly with their content is not a set of easy answers to hard questions but a framework within which the deepest questions of human experience find their most complete and most satisfying resolution. The framework is God Himself — His character, His purposes, His acts in history, and above all the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every question addressed in this article, when examined within that framework, is seen not as a challenge to faith but as an invitation to a deeper understanding of the God who created the mind that asks the questions.

This article has sought to address its subject honestly and from the foundation of the Holy Scriptures, without evasion and without minimising the genuine difficulty of the questions involved. The reader who finds the biblical answers compelling is invited to pursue them further — in the Holy Scriptures themselves, in prayer addressed directly to God, and in genuine engagement with a community of believers who take both the questions and the answers seriously. The reader who remains uncertain is invited to continue the search with the same honesty with which it began. God honours the sincere seeker: "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13).

The Holy Scriptures address this question with the full authority of the one who inspired them — the living God who knows the human heart and understands every objection before it is raised. What He has said on this subject is not the product of human opinion or denominational tradition; it is the preserved and authoritative Word of God, which He has declared will never pass away. The reader who examines this testimony honestly and without a predetermined commitment to reject it will find it both intellectually satisfying and personally transforming.

The cumulative weight of the biblical evidence on this question is not easily dismissed. It draws on multiple independent witnesses across centuries — the Law, the Prophets, the Psalms, the Gospels, and the Epistles all speak consistently to the same truth, each from its own vantage point and in its own manner, together forming a body of testimony whose coherence is itself one of the strongest arguments for its divine origin. The reader who reads these texts carefully will find not a collection of disconnected religious opinions but a unified revelation with a single coherent message.

The practical question that every reader must eventually face is not merely an academic one — it is personal and urgent. The truth about this subject has direct implications for how one lives, how one understands suffering and purpose, and how one faces the certainty of death. The Holy Scriptures do not present these truths as abstract theology detached from daily life; they present them as the most practical knowledge a human being can possess, because they concern the most important realities of human existence and the eternal destiny of every soul.

No honest engagement with this question can avoid its personal dimensions. God calls every person who reads these words not merely to intellectual acknowledgment but to personal response — specifically, to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as the one through whom all of the truths discussed in this article find their ultimate resolution. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is not peripheral to any of the questions the Christian faith addresses — it is central to every one of them. And the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is the historical event that validates every claim the Christian faith makes.

The invitation that the Holy Scriptures extend through this article is not to religious performance or institutional affiliation but to personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He who addressed every question honestly during His earthly ministry addresses them still through the Word He has preserved. And He who promised to give rest to all who come to Him keeps that promise to every generation. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). This is the personal invitation of the Lord Jesus Christ to you.

Those who have wrestled seriously with the questions raised in this article and have come to genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as a result testify consistently to two things: first, that the intellectual journey to faith was more honest and more rigorous than the comfortable alternatives they had previously entertained; and second, that the personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ that followed transformed not only their understanding of these questions but their entire orientation toward life, death, and meaning. This is not the testimony of credulous people who have abandoned critical thinking — it is the testimony of people who followed the evidence to its honest conclusion.

The great gift that the Holy Scriptures offer to every reader who engages honestly with their content is not a set of easy answers to hard questions but a framework within which the deepest questions of human experience find their most complete and most satisfying resolution. The framework is God Himself — His character, His purposes, His acts in history, and above all the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every question addressed in this article, when examined within that framework, is seen not as a challenge to faith but as an invitation to a deeper understanding of the God who created the mind that asks the questions.

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