Christianity Explained
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Confession
Besides it being a sacrament of reconciling our connection to God, there is a power in confessing your faults in the form of therapy to another person. All of the early Churches (Assyrian, Orthodox, and Catholic) believed in confession to Priests.
5 When anyone becomes aware that they are guilty in any of these matters, they must confess in what way they have sinned. 10 The priest shall make atonement for them for the sin they have committed, and they will be forgiven.
(Similar confession and atonement done by the priests is in Numbers 5:6-7, Leviticus 6:2-7)
John 20:22-24
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.
(This authority is passed from bishop to bishop as shown in God's Church.)
2 Corinthians 5:18-20
18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors.
Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them in the name of the Lord. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
Didache 70 AD (written by anonymously by early Christians, probably church leaders or teachers)
Confess your sins in church, and do not go to your prayer with an evil conscience. (Didache 4:14)
On the Lord’s Day… confess your transgressions, so that your sacrifice may be pure.(Didache 14:1)
Tertullian (c. 200 AD)
Confession is a discipline for man’s prostration and humiliation, it enjoins a manner of life calculated to move mercy. It is a public confession.
Bishop Cyprian of Carthage (c. 250 AD)
Let each confess his sin, while his confession is still admissible, while satisfaction and remission made through the priests are still pleasing before the Lord.
Theologian Origen (c. 250 AD)
If we have sinned, we should not be ashamed to confess our sins to a priest of the Lord.” (Homilies on Leviticus)
Quotes about confessing in general, whether to God or Priests, or the Public:
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper,
but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.”
And you forgave the guilt of my sin.
Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
Mortal/venial sins and invincible ignorance, which can lessen culpability of sin and being outside of God's church:
Luke 12:47-48
47 And that servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. 48 But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.
1 John 5:15-17
There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.
1 Timothy 1:13
13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief.
Acts 3:17
17 And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.
Acts 17:30
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
