Confessing to a Priest (Response to a question from the last blog.)

Priests, in Jesus day, were decedents of Aaron, just as they had been since the time of Aaron who, with Miriam and Moses, led God's people out of Egypt.

Priests were to bring the sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people to the altar. From this practice evolved the modern form of confessing sins to the priest.

After the death of the Messiah, Jesus, the Most High Priest, became the atoning sacrifice for the sins of all people for all time. We are now able to confess our sins directly to our Savior without mediation between a priest and God. As Paul stated in his first letter to Timothy: "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." (2:5 NIV)

The priests of today are a mixture between rabbi and priest (teacher and atoner), but this is not a biblical model due to the fact that we are to confess our sins to Jesus who is our holy representative to the throne of God's grace and forgiveness.

Still, it is biblical to confess our sins to one another (James 5:16), as we are all members of the priesthood (1 Peter 2:9).

Yet, beyond our responsibility to confess daily, there is a very crucial element that must not be overlooked in our desire for God's forgiveness.

In the Talmud, Rabbi Gamaliel Berabbi taught: He who shows mercy to others, mercy is shown to him by Heaven. But he who does not show mercy to others, mercy is not shown to him by Heaven. (Shabbat 151b)

The fact that we are required to offer forgiveness before asking for it is also represented throughout the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.

Forever learning,
Johnny