Whether the words of St. James “confess your sins to one another” are to be understood only in reference to priests or to anyone else

Hello,

I would like to know, please, what exactly does it mean: “Confess your sins to one another that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16).

Does it mean to confess them to the priests in the confessional or literally to anyone else?

Thank you.

Priest’s answer

Dear friend,

1. There is no uniformity in the interpretation of this statement of St. James.

Some, such as Origen (In Lev. Hom. 2), St. John Chrysostom (De sacerdotio, l. 2, n. 6), Peter the Lombard, Alexander of Hales, St. Albert the Great, St. Bonaventure, St. Thomas, St. Robert Bellarmine, Cornelius a lapide… believe that the apostle St. James is speaking about sacramental confession.

It should be noted that here St. James is speaking about the sick. For his good, the presbyters are called: “Is anyone among you sick?  He should summon the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint (him) with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” (James 5:14-16).

There seems to be a connection between priests and confession.

2. Others, however, think that it is a confession made in a spirit of humility to the brothers in order to stimulate each other in repentance of their sins and to obtain help from their prayers.

3. The Dominican biblical scholar Marco Sales writes: “Although the first judgment seems more likely and preferable, it must be confessed that it is not certain and that the second judgment also has valid reasons in its favor”.

The Jerusalem Bible notes: “The confession of sins, here united with prayer, is recommended to the sick person (v. 15), but it is required of every Christian, especially in the context of the liturgy. Here there is no specification regarding sacramental confession”. T-N

4. It should be noted that the Church’s doctrine on the sacrament of penance is not based on this statement by St. James.

The Council of Trent says that this sacrament was “instituted principally when, rising from the dead, Jesus breathed on his disciples, saying: Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained”. (Jn 20:22-23)” (DS 1670). T-N

5. St. Thomas also does not base the institution of the sacrament of penance on the passage of St. James.

He says in fact: “James speaks on the presupposition of the Divine institutions: and since confession had already been prescribed by God to be made to a priest, in that He empowered them, in the person of the apostles, to forgive sins, as related in John 20:23, we must take the words of James as conveying an admonishment to confess to priests.” (Supplement to the Summa Theologiae, 8, 1, ad 1).

6. And he adds: “ The grace which is given in the sacraments, descends from the Head to the members. Wherefore he alone who exercises a ministry over Christ’s true body is a minister of the sacraments, wherein grace is given; and this belongs to a priest alone, who can consecrate the Eucharist. Therefore, since grace is given in the sacrament of Penance, none but a priest is the minister of the sacrament: and consequently sacramental confession which should be made to a minister of the Church, should be made to none but a priest.” (Ib., 8, 1).

7. And he also says: “By venial sin man is separated neither from God nor from the sacraments of the Church: wherefore he does not need to receive any further grace for the forgiveness of such a sin, nor does he need to be reconciled to the Church. Consequently a man does not need to confess his venial sins to a priest. And since confession made to a layman is a sacramental, although it is not a perfect sacrament, and since it proceeds from charity, it has a natural aptitude to remit sins, just as the beating of one’s breast, or the sprinkling of holy water ” (Ib., 8, 3).

However, the confession of venial sins made to the priest in confession is not only a sacramental, but a Sacrament.

And therefore it is more effective because an increase of grace is always given.

With the hope of always being able to frequent this sacrament regularly and fruitfully, I bless you and remember you in prayer.

Father Angelo

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