om_10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Rom_14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
Rom_15:9 And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name.
Php_2:11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jas_5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
1Jn_1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1Jn_4:15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
2Jn_1:7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
Rev_3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
Haven't encountered anything that says we are to go to a priest to have confession. That was with the Levitical priesthood and blood offerings. Jesus is our High Priest--non other is needed. When the woman was aught in adultery, what did Jesus say--"Go and sin no more"---no penance demanded of her. The paralytic dropped down from the floor by his friends, what did Jesus do---He said He forgave him his sins--then He healed Him, no penance, he was rewarded with healing instead, was not asked to do penance. We are to return what we have stolen, if we can, we are to ask forgiveness from each other, whenever possible. Restitution and penance are not the same thing. Penance and consequences are not the same thing. Penance for sins is a works oriented theology---God's grace does not demand such a thing for there is nothing that can blot out sin--the "the soul that sinneth, it shall die"-(Ezk 18:20)-that is the penalty. Jesus pays it. Adam and Eve sinned. Penalty was death. There were consequences, blood sacrifices came into being, but there was no penance--what could they have possibly done? They had to serve the sentence, but God's grace provided a way back to God.