Confession

The Apostle John wrote, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9)."  This does not address to whom we are to confess our sins; this could be satisfied by confessing our sins to God alone.  Certainly, we are to confess our sins to God, but is this sufficient?  James wrote, "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed (James 5:16a)."  Thus, the Protestant practice of confessing sins to God alone is not Biblically sufficient.  In the early Church, Christians openly confessed their sins to the entire congregation; however, as you can imagine, this created a great deal of problems.  Therefore, the tradition became to confess before an ordained priest who was sworn to keep the confession private.