Were The Apostles "Father Confessors"?
The claim of the Roman Catholic Church is that the popes are successors of Peter (whom they claim was the first Pope) and the priests are successors of the other apostles and that all therefore have power (authority) to forgive sins.
Their basis (??) for Peter being the first Pope is often based on Matt. 16:18, 19 which says, "and I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, (Petros, in the Greek and masculine gender) and upon this rock (Petra, in the Greek and feminine gender) I will build my church; I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." John's record says, (instead of using the words "bind" and "loose") FORGIVE and RETAINED. (John 20:19-23) In this record all the disciples were present, which shows that they all had equal power or authority.
Now, no one denies the apostles could forgive sins, if someone sinned against them, for all of God's people are to forgive those who sin against them. Jesus said, "But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses (Matt. 6:15)), but that the apostles could, or did, forgive sins (absolve is the Catholic word) as claimed by Catholic priests, is nowhere taught in the Bible. However, just suppose the apostles could "absolve sins" as the priests claim. That would in no way prove the claims of Catholic priests to do so. The priests would have to prove their successorship, to the apostles, which could never be done by God's word. The only successor any of the apostles had was Matthias who took Judas' place. But, this successor had to be "one who had companied the apostles all the time the Lord Jesus went in and went out among us, beginning from the baptism of John, unto the day he was received up from us." Also he had to be a "witness of the resurrection." (Acts 1:21, 22) None of the present day priests fill these qualifications and their claim is therefore a falsehood.
Sins can be confessed to but TWO PARTIES: to GOD, and THE INDIVIDUAL that has been wronged. But to a HUMAN INTERMEDIARY as an official of a CLASS appointed to "hear" confession, NEVER!! If one individual sins against another he should confess his sins to the ONE WRONGED (Jas. 5:16) and the OFFENDED party should FORGIVE. (Matt. 6:14, 15) If one sins against GOD, he should confess to GOD (through Christ...1 Tim. 2:5; 1 Jn. 2:1—NOT TO A PRIEST—) and GOD will FORGIVE. (1 Jn. 1:9) The average Catholic is too prejudiced to read these passages, IF they own a Bible.
But, Catholics say, "How did the apostles FORGIVE, RETAIN, BIND AND LOOSE? They BOUND AND LOOSED by preaching God's word (which is still binding today), on Pentecost, of Acts 2:—about 3,000 heard, believed, repented and were baptized (it was a burial and not a method of sprinkling or pouring water upon the individual as is practiced by Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists. Presbyterians, etc.; a burial in water...Rom. 6:3, 4; Col. 2:12) These people were LOOSED or FORGIVEN (by the apostles since they were ambassadors—personally sent—of Christ; priests are not personally sent of Christ and are not therefore ambassadors of the Lord), of their sins. (Acts 2:36-47) Those who did not obey the apostles teaching—their sins were RETAINED, by the apostles and the Lord.
Peter was given the "keys of the kingdom" and he used them in Acts 2 to the Jews and in Acts 10 to the Gentiles. "Keys" was simply power or authority (not to "absolve sins" as the priests claim). If you are given the "keys to a neighbor's house," you have the power or authority to open the door and enter. Peter was given authority or power to open the door of the church or kingdom (by making known the conditions of acceptance and entrance); he did that in Acts 2 and 10 as stated above, and the door, of the church, has never been closed from that time until now. If the door is open (and it is) then the Keys (authority or power) are no longer needed unless it be to close the door, of the church, and what man has the authority to close the door? That is all the passage teaches, and means, and for Catholics to build a theory of Popedom on the passage is to grossly misuse, misinterpret, misapply and flagrantly pervert and wrest the word of God. Numerous letters and calls have reached me saying I do not deal with this, or that, passage and this is some of them. I cannot deal with every passage, in the Bible, in a few articles but if Catholics will manifest a little courage and PUBLICLY defend their devilish doctrines we will deal with ALL they can muster; we mean to be kind about this matter, but we still stand ready to meet our Catholic neighbors in a discussion of our differences.