Someone asked me recently do I need to confess my sins to a Priest to be forgiven by God. This is a good question as some churches follow this tradition.
The Bible tells us that as Christians we have direct access to God for confession and forgiveness. I believe there are three key Bible passages that help us to see this.
The first passage is 1 John 1:8-10 – If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. [9] But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. [10] If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.
When we acknowledge our sins to God, He forgives us and removes all of our unrighteousness. There is no mention of a Priest or confessing to someone else.
The second passage to consider comes from 1 Timothy 2:5-6 NLT – For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity-the man Christ Jesus. [6] He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time.
These two verses tell us that Jesus Christ serves as the sole mediator between God and humanity. This means we have direct access to God’s forgiveness through Jesus without requiring an intermediary Priest.
The third passage to reflect on is Hebrews 4:14-16 – So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. [15] This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. [16] So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
This last passage reminds us that Jesus by His death on the cross for our sins has opened the way to God for us. He is our Great High Priest. It tells us to come boldly to God, and when we do, we will find grace and mercy. We come directly to God through Christ, not a Priest.
From the above passages we can see we can go directly to God for confession and we receive His forgiveness. But does that mean it is not helpful to share our struggles with others and ask them to pray for us?
James 5:16 tells us there are times when this may be helpful. It says, “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”
In my walk as a Christian I have gone to others to share my struggles including things of a sinful nature. Sometimes it was my Pastor, a mentor or a mature Christian friend. The purpose of this was to ask them to pray for me and provide a level of accountability. I gave them permission to ask me how I was going over the following weeks or months. I found it really helped to overcome my struggles.
So do we have to confess our sins to a Priest? The Bible says clearly we can go directly to God because of Jesus our sole mediator. But there may be times when confessing to a close friend or your Pastor will help them to provide accountability, prayer and wise counsel.