The early church exercised penance as a means of reconciliation and restoration back into communion those whom had been put out of communion in accordance with Paul's instructions in 1 Corinthians and instructions to "restore the violator" in 2 Corinthians.
But the early church in no way held the concept of "penance" as was later developed in Roman Catholicism by error building upon error expotentially over time.
The Council of Trent teaches that Christ instituted the priesthood for two primary functions: to forgive sins and to administer the sacrament of the eucharist. It declares that through confession of sin to a priest, by his absolution and performance of the prescribed penance, an individual can receive forgiveness of sins. The Roman Church teaches that sin requires that satifaction be made to God and this is achieved through penance and good works, through the enduring of sufferings in purgatory and through indulgences which are authorized by the pope. Along with its teaching on the eucharist, the Roman Catholic teaching on confession and penance hits at the heart of the Reformation debate. It was the indulgence controversy which first fueled it. It began with a criticism of that particular practice and then to a criticism of the theology which was foundational to it and from there to a critique of the whole system of works and merit which had developed throughout the centuries. The controversy, as with the eucharist, centers around the whole issue of the meaning and nature of the atonement of Jesus Christ.
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that justification, rather than being a judicial declaration of God based on the imputed righteousness of Christ and received by faith, is, in fact, a process which is dependent upon infused grace which can be lost by committing serious sin. Should that happen, forgiveness must be sought and the state of justification regained. Forgiveness for sin is mediated through the Church and the sacrament of Confession and Penance. According to the Church of Rome penitential works are meritorious before God who accepts such works as a payment for the temporal punishment due to sin. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that men can make atonement for their own sins by making satisfaction for them through these works of penance and thereby merit Gods mercy and forgiveness and justification. The following are the teachings of the Council of Trent:
Canon IX. If anyone saith, that the sacramental absolution of the priest is not a judicial act, but a bare ministry of pronouncing and declaring sins to be forgiven to him who confesses; provided only he believe himself to be absolved, or (even though) the priest absolve not in earnest, but in joke; or saith, that the confession of the penitent is not required, in order that the priest may be able to absolve him: let him be anathema.
Canon XII. If any one saith, that God always remits the whole punishment together with the guilt, and that the satisfaction of penitents is no other than the faith whereby they apprehend that Christ has satisfied for them: let him be anathema.
Canon XIII. If any one saith, that the satisfaction for sins, as to their temporal punishment, is nowise made to God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, by the punishments inflicted by him, and patiently borne, or by those enjoined by the priest, nor even by those voluntarily undertaken, as by fastings, prayers, almsdeeds, or by other works also of piety; and that, therefore, the best penance is merely a new life: let him be anathema.
Canon XIV. If any man saith, that the satisfactions, by which penitents redeem their sins through Jesus Christ, are not a worship of God, but traditions of men, which obscure the doctrine of grace, and the true worship of God, and the benefit itself of the death of Christ: let him be anathema.
Note that Trent states that satisfaction is made to God through the works of penance and that through these works men redeem their sins. John Hardon affirms these teachings in these words:
Penance means repentance or satisfaction for sin. If we expect Gods forgiveness we must repent. Penance is necessary because we must expiate and make reparation for the punishment which is due our sins...Christ instituted this sacrament to give us a ready and assured means of obtaining remission for the sins committed after baptism...A person must be in a state of grace to merit divine mercy for his venial sins...Satisfaction must be made for sins already forgiven because normally someand even considerabletemporal punishment is still due, although the guilt has been removed...We make satisfaction for our sins by every good act we perform in a state of grace but especially by prayer, penance and the practice of charity...All prayer merits satisfaction for sin...The patience acceptance of trials or humiliations sent by God is expiatory. Our works of satisfaction are meritorious if they are done while in a state of grace...Sacramental satisfaction is the penitential work imposed by a confessor in the confessional in order to make up for the injury done to God and atone for the temporal punishment due to sin already forgiven. The penitent is obliged to perform the penance imposed by the priest, and deliberate failure to perform a penance imposed for mortal sin is gravely sinful...Sins can also be exipiated through indulgences [SIZE=-1](John Hardon, The Question and Answer Catholic Catechism (Garden: Image, 1981, #1320, 1322, 1386, 1392, 1394).[/SIZE]
In addition, Ludwig Ott explains "penance" suscintly;
"By sacramental satisfaction is understood works of penance which are imposed on the penitent in atonement for the temporal punishment for sins" [SIZE=-1](Ludwig Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma (Rockford: Tan, 1974), p. 434).[/SIZE]
By the use of the words atonement, expiation, reparation, satisfaction, redeeming sin and merit the Roman Catholic teaching on penance hits right at the heart of the whole issue of the atonement of Jesus Christ. And what the Church of Rome is obviously saying by its teaching is that men must supplement the work of atonement done by the Lord Jesus on the Cross by their own works of atonement to satisfy the justice of God and to merit justification and the reward of heaven. But such teaching completely undermines the sufficiency of the atonement of Jesus Christ by adding human works as a supplement to his work. This is a serious departure from the gospel and the teaching of Scripture on the forgiveness of sins. The early Church knew nothing of the doctrine of auricular confession, penance, purgatory or indulgences.
In the early Church repentance and faith were the two basic conditions of baptism. Initially, repentance carried the idea of a forsaking of sin and the world and self and the giving of oneself wholly to Christ to follow him. The idea of repentance as penance, that is, as consisting of human works by which one satisfied Gods justice for personal sin was unknown.
The writings of the early Church Fathers are full of exhortations to holy living and appeals to the readers to prove the validity of their faith by good works. These writings clearly teach that true saving faith is evidenced in good works and a holy life. But they do not teach that good works are in any way meritorious in salvation. On the contrary, they point to Christ himself as the source of salvation and emphasize repentance, faith, and baptism as the means of appropriating that salvation and of holy living as the natural result and evidence of true conversion. Clement of Rome, for example, clearly states that forgiveness and salvation are gifts of God given completely independent of human works. Clement makes these comments about justification by faith:
"All of them therefore were all renowned and magnified, not through themselves or their own works or the righteous actions which they had wrought, but through his will; and therefore we who by his will have been called in Christ Jesus, are not made righteous by ourselves, or by our wisdom or understanding or piety or the deeds which we have wrought in holiness of heart, but through faith, by which Almighty God has justified all men from the beginning of the world; to him be glory for ever and ever. Amen" (J.B. Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers, The Epistle of S. Clement to the Corinthians, 49, 32
Clement renunciates any thought of men being able to justify themselves before God and merit his grace on the basis of their own works. Justification, according to Clement, comes by faith in the person of Christ. He presents Christ as the one who has made a substitutionary atonement and his blood is the sole basis upon which men are justified and receive forgiveness, which is appropriated by repentance and faith. A large portion of his letter is very similar to the epistle of James in that he appeals to his readers to walk in holiness before God and in love for their fellow Christians.
Clements teaching is a fair summary of the writings of the Apostolic Fathers as a whole. There is no mention in the writings of Ignatius, The Didache, Clement or Polycarp, or the writings of Justin Martyr or Irenaeus of confession of sins to a priest or anyone other than God himself, of penance, purgatory or indulgences. The whole system of sacramental forgiveness devised by the Roman Church can find no affirmation in these early writings.
to all that you have said here!
