By Zachary Tan
We may have misconceptions surrounding the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Some may think that it is just an “invention” of the Catholic Church. However, an inquiry into the Scriptural roots of the Sacrament would reveal its extensive foundations established within the course of salvation history in the Judeo-Christian tradition. The sacrament is in fact a divine invention according to the moral order and will of God, an act of His mercy, meant as a means for our salvation.
Reconciliation in Scripture
The scripture passage of Adam and Eve finds the roots of Reconciliation in its primitive form. After Adam and Eve disobey God and hide from Him, we are confronted with the puzzling account of God asking them, “Where are you? Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”, and “What is this that you have done?”. If God is all-knowing, wouldn’t He have also known what Adam and Eve had done? However, these questions are not borne out of ignorance, but are probing questions which leave an open invitation for them to confess their fault in sincere contrition.
The Scriptural roots of Reconciliation continue to deepen in the exodus of the Israelites, where we see the rituals of Mosaic law prescribed as provisions for the confession of sins. In Leviticus 5:5-6, when the Israelite rashly swore, Mosaic law states that “[When] a man is guilty in any of these, he shall confess the sin he has committed, and he shall bring his guilt offering to the Lord for the sin which he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin.” God, in his divine pedagogy, taught the Israelites to confess their sins, and partake in a liturgical act of sacrifice and penance, helped with the intercession of a priest. These were arduous forms of penance which greatly cost the penitent.
Christ & the Power to Forgive Sins
In the New Testament, Jesus brought about a divine fulfilment of the holy and good laws, which were established by God the Father. The old covenant was not abolished, but was brought to its fullness in the new covenant. In the old, satisfaction for sins could not come to completion, as St Paul writes in Hebrews 10:11, “offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins”. To forgive sins was only within the jurisdiction of God’s sovereignty, which through Jesus Christ is made manifest. We see this in the story of the paralytic man, who not only was healed of his paralysis, but had his sins forgiven by Jesus. As Scott Hahn writes, “Jesus here is claiming for Himself a power possessed not even by the high priest of the Temple. He is exercising a divine prerogative in declaring the total remission of someone’s sins.”
This authority of the forgiveness of sins is concretely present in the sacramental priesthood of the priests of the Catholic Church. Jesus shared his divine life and divine power with his apostles. The apostles, who are our present bishops, possess the fullness of the priesthood, in which the priests share in.
In John 20:22-23, Jesus tells the apostles, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” This was an exceeding addition to the old covenant office of the priests, as the office of the priests of Jesus Christ shared in the power of God himself, who had the right to forgive sins. St James writes, “Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:14-16).
St James, exhorts that the sins of the faithful are not confessed to Jesus alone in their own time, but to a presbyter, a priest to whom the authority to forgive sins is granted to by virtue of sharing in the divine office of the priesthood of Jesus Christ. This is the fulfilment of God’s pedagogy in teaching His people to confess their sins since the time of Adam, which in the fullness of time, has come to fulfilment in the sacrament of reconciliation in the Catholic Church.
Additional Resources:
- Scott Hahn – Lord have mercy: The Healing Power of Confession
- Project Taste & See – Why Do Catholics Confess to a Priest? https://oyp.org.sg/why-do-catholics-confess-to-a-priest/
- Project Taste & See – The Sacrament of Reconciliation
