Can someone be forgiven without confessing to a priest? Can someone explain me John 20:23 ?

[Kostilaks]

Can someone be forgiven without confessing to a priest? Can someone explain me John 20:23 ?

 

[Albion]

Certainly! Any sincere act of repentance coupled with a confession made straight to God is believed to be effective.

The practice of some churches to have priests hear confessions and then pronounce absolution on behalf of God (per John 20:23), along with giving some token penance, is simply a more "tangible' way of doing it.

This is a way that may be more meaningful to the person who might wonder if God really, really received his confession if it was just done privately in prayer. Also, confessions to a priest provide an opportunity for some counseling, if that's needed and wanted.

 

[Heavenhome]

Of course you can be forgiven so long as you are coming before God.
It is ONLY God who can forgive you.

I take John 20:23 to mean if you ask God for forgiveness, you are forgiven whereas the sins you hold onto are not.
Therefore we must bring all to God accept that forgiveness and with His help try not to keep sinning that sin.
Of ourselves we cannot do this but if we ask for the strength and follow Jesus, God will surely help us.

 

[dzheremi]

It is pretty clear that the early Church itself taught that the remission of sins is the Church's prerogative, not belonging to any one individual. Hence at one of the Councils of Carthage under St. Cyprian (250s AD), which dealt with the baptism of heretics and their fitness for communion, we find arguments such as the following being made:

Sattius of Sicilibba said: If to heretics in baptism their sins are remitted, they come to the Church without reason. For since, in the day of judgment, they are sins which are punished, there is nothing which the heretics can fear from Christ’s judgment, if they have already obtained remission of their sins.

Victor of Gor said: Since sins are not remitted save in the baptism of the Church, he who admits a heretic to communion without baptism does two things against reason: he does not cleanse the heretics, and he befouls the Christians.

+++

If such was taught concerning baptism which likewise cleanses, why would it be any different with regard to confession and absolution later on in the Christian life?

I think this is one of those things about which you cannot categorically say that things can't work that way (indeed, God forgives whoever He forgives, in whatever circumstances according to His mercy and love of mankind), but it's probably good to see the wisdom as preserved in all historically-informed churches (liturgical Protestants, Catholics, Orthodox) which have kept alive confession and absolution, whether liturgically or privately or both.

 

[Paul4JC]

Just go to God through Christ. If you don't know Christ, read his story in the Gospel of John. John 1 NIV

 

[crossnote]

Can someone be forgiven without confessing to a priest? Can someone explain me John 20:23 ?

Three verses before vs 23 it tells who Jesus was speaking to...
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. (Joh 20:20)

 

[eleos1954]

Can someone be forgiven without confessing to a priest? Can someone explain me John 20:23 ?

Only God can forgive sins, and Christ, being God, has the power to do so, but He never communicated any such power to His disciples, nor did they ever assume any such power to themselves. The key to understanding the meaning of John 20:23 lies in the previous two verses: “Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” He sent them, as He is sending us, to bring the good news of the way to salvation and heaven to the whole world.

Jesus was leaving the earth physically but promised God would be with them in the person of the Holy Spirit living in them. As they proclaimed the gospel, they could honestly tell people who believed in that message that their sins were forgiven, and they could honestly tell people that did not believe in the message that their sins were not forgiven and that they stand condemned in God’s eyes.

Jesus said, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him” (John 3:36).

Believers today have the very same mission given to us! We are obligated to share the gospel message, the way to heaven, to others in the world, and we go about that mission with the Holy Spirit living inside us, guiding us as we share His truth. We are obligated to tell people the only way to be forgiven is through faith.

Jesus said in John 8:24, “If you do not believe that I am (God), you will indeed die in your sins.” This is the very core of the gospel message and the very heart of what we are to explain to the world. It was Jesus’ last command to His followers before He physically left the earth—carry forward the message of hope and save as many as will believe in Him.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Can someone be forgiven without confessing to a priest? Can someone explain me John 20:23 ?

Yes, forgiveness does not require private confession to one's priest/pastor. But private confession has always been available for the common good of the Faithful.

The point of John 20:23, as understood historically in Christianity, is that Christ gave His Church--in the persons of the Apostles--the authority to forgive sins in His name. Historically this is understood therefore that those who succeeded the Apostles, bishops and presbyters (i.e. pastors), retain this apostolic authority within their calling and ordination as servants of the Church ministering with Word and Sacrament.

There are some differences in understanding between different historic Christian traditions, e.g. between Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran points of view. For example in Catholicism and Orthodoxy Apostolic Succession is understood as necessary, whereas in Lutheranism Apostolic Succession is not rejected but is not seen as necessary; and that the pastoral office depends not upon a succession of ordination but upon the Church as a whole doing the calling and ordaining. The Keys of the kingdom are not (in the Lutheran POV) the exclusive possession of St. Peter (as in Catholicism) or of only the bishops in succession from the Apostles (Orthodoxy), but are the common possession of the entire Church; and it is for the sake of good order that the Church calls and ordains ministers to exercise the office of the Keys by being preachers of the Gospel and administering the Sacraments (which includes Confession and Absolution).

However, I am unaware of any tradition that teaches that one must make private confession to a pastor. Or that repentance and contrition, and confession of sins are somehow not absolved when either through the public confession as is normative in historic Christian liturgy or through a personal confession made through one's private prayers and devotions to God. Rather, private confession of sins to one's priest/pastor is available, and even heavily encouraged, but never some sort of exclusionary thing.

Confession and Absolution should never be seen as an obstacle that has to be overcome, but as gracious means through which we can hear the merciful and loving word of God that, yes, we are truly forgiven in Jesus Christ. So when we hear the word of that forgiveness, we can be confident that we are forgiven--not because any priest or pastor has power or right in themselves to forgive sin, but that they speak Christ's word, and Christ's forgiveness to us. It is Christ's word that is spoken, not the words of fallible, sinful men.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[com7fy8]

"Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." (Ephesians 4:31-32)

So, if you have trusted in Jesus, yes you are forgiven. And now Jesus expects us to forgive the way God has forgiven us.

So, your question may need to be "How do I also need to forgive > 'even as God'?"