Sola Scriptura to the Rescue

If you sin should you confess your wickedness to a pastor? Protestants say no.

Roman Catholics say yes but turn “pastor” into “priest.” And Kathy Schiff explains that the Roman Catholic practice of confession of sins rests on the Protestant understanding of the Bible only:

Catholics don’t just confess their sins to a priest. The priest is an “alter-Christus”; that is, he stands in for Christ. When a Catholic confesses his sins in the presence of a priest, it’s Christ he’s talking to through the priest, and Christ who is offering forgiveness.
Why would I believe such a thing?

The Bible tells me so!

In Matthew 16:18-19, Jesus gives the power to forgive sins to Peter and to his successors. “And so I say to you,” says Christ,

“…you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Of course, even if Jesus said something only once, we are obligated to believe it. In this case, though, he chose to really emphasize the importance of the teaching. Again in Matthew 18:18, the Savior says:

“Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”

Still not convinced? Read His words in John 20:21-22 with an open mind, and see if you can come up with another explanation. Jesus said:

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

I’m still not convinced. Quoting the Bible a few times doesn’t constitute an exegetical argument. Why for instance does forgiving sins mean going to a confessional box with a priest on the other side? Why can’t forgiving sins simply be preaching the word of God?

Q. 83. What are the keys of the kingdom of heaven?

A.The preaching of the holy gospel, and christian discipline, or excommunication out of the christian church; by these two, the kingdom of heaven is opened to believers, and shut against unbelievers.

Q. 84. How is the kingdom of heaven opened and shut by the preaching of the holy gospel?

A. Thus: when according to the command of Christ, it is declared and publicly testified to all and every believer, that, whenever they receive the promise of the gospel by a true faith, all their sins are really forgiven them of God, for the sake of Christ’s merits; and on the contrary, when it is declared and testified to all unbelievers, and such as do not sincerely repent, that they stand exposed to the wrath of God, and eternal condemnation, so long as they are unconverted: (a) according to which testimony of the gospel, God will judge them, both in this, and in the life to come.

I understand that quoting a catechism is not an exegetical argument. But I’d have thought a Roman Catholic would know that the Bible needs to be interpreted. That’s the regular complaint against Protestantism — because the Bible needs to be interpreted Protestants are divided.

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