Expert: Sal - 2/18/2004

Question
Hi Sal,

I'm sorry I have so many questions. I'm having difficulty with two Bible verses. James 5:16 says 'Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.' I believe this refers to confession to a priest, but Protestants argue that this simply means that we should all confess our sins to one another and pray for one another. I think it means that we should confess our sins to a priest, and a priest should pray for us. How do we know that this is the correct interpretation? I also have a problem with Hebrews 13:10: 'We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.' Why does it say that those who serve have no right to eat? The following verse says that the bodies of animals are burnt outside the camp. Is this bad? And the following verse says that Jesus, so that he might sanctify his people, suffered outside the gate. What does this mean? My final question is this: Why did God not make the Bible easier to understand? Was this so that we would trust His church to interpret His word correctly?

Thank you very much,  

Answer
Hello Les:

Very good questions, Les!

The Protestant that says that James 5:16 means that we should only confess to one another ignores the immediate context of the verse as well as the prime text relating to sacramental confession, i.e. John 20:19-23; also ignored are secondary texts such as Matthew 16:18-19, 18:18, and Luke 10:16. The important of the Church in Confession can not be negated by “confess your sins to one another.” The Biblical passages cited above as well as other passages that show the great importance of the One True Church of Jesus Christ in every aspect of the Christian's life coupled with the vast evidence from the writings of the early Christians renders the Protestant interpretation of James 5:16 pathetic.

It is beyond dispute that the Church received a special out-pouring of the Holy Spirit (John 20:22; Acts 2:1-4). The Spirit enabled the Church to know all truth (John 14:26; 16:13), to teach this truth to the world (Matthew 28:20), and to Baptize for the forgiveness of sins (Matthew 28:18-19; Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38). The Church also unites all believers into one body (John 17:20-23; I Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 4:11; Colossians 1:8). Now if this is all true, and the Bible is clear that it is, how can a Christian be reconciled to God without His Church? Further, the True Church is so united that what one member does affects the entire body of Christ. “If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members share its joy” (I Corinthians 12:26). Therefore, to sin is to sin against God and His Church. When we sin, we stain that perfect Church for which Christ died (Ephesians 5:25-27). The conversion of St. Paul graphically illustrates that to hurt the Church is to hurt Christ. “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4), our Lord asked after Saul/Paul had been mercilessly persecuting the Church. Again, we must ask the Protestant how one can be reconciled to God without His Church?

Now with all that as background, let's look at the verse in question. As I have already pointed out if one ignores the immediate context as well as the larger context one can easily reach the false conclusion that all that we need to do is to confess to one another and our sins will be forgiven. Therefore, we must look at more than just v.16. We have already studied the larger context that revealed the paramount importance of the Church in the life of the Christian. We also know that Christ gave the ministry of reconciliation to the clergy of his Church. “If you forgive men's sins, they are forgiven them; if you hold them bound, they are held bound” (John 20:23). Jesus would not have given such awesome power to his Church if all one needed to do was to confess to one another.

In order to understand the immediate context we must start at v.13.

“IF ANYONE AMONG YOU IS SUFFERING HARDSHIP, HE MUST PRAY. IF A PERSON IS IN GOOD SPIRITS, HE SHOULD SING A HYMN OF PRAISE” (v.13).
The importance of pray is highlighted in this verse. Whether things are going good or bad we must pray. “Rejoice always, never cease praying, render constant thanks; such is God's will for you in Christ Jesus” (I Thessalonians 5:16-18).

“IS THERE ANYONE SICK AMONG YOU? HE SHOULD ASK FOR THE PRIESTS OF THE CHURCH” (v.14a).
This sets the context for the rest of the passage: “the priests of the Church”. Why call for the priests? It is because they possess the ministry of healing. “They (the Apostles) expelled many demons, anointed the sick with oil, and worked many cures” (Mark 6:13).

“THEY IN TURN ARE TO PRAY OVER HIM, ANOINTING HIM WITH OIL IN THE NAME OF THE LORD” (v.14b).
Again the importance of prayer is highlighted. This time we see that it is the prayer of the priest that should be sought in the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. This is because Jesus conferred power and authority on his priests. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John 20:21).

“THIS PRAYER UTTERED IN FAITH WILL SAVED THE ONE WHO IS ILL” (v.15a).
This does not mean that the sick person will be made healthy. It is a clear reference to the fact that the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick can save one's soul. The Greek word used for “save” or “reclaim” is used elsewhere by St. James to refer to salvation (see 1:21; 2:14; 4:12; 5:20).

“AND THE LORD WILL RESTORE HIM TO HEALTH”(v.15b).
This is a restoration to physical health. This, of course, does not always happen. The spiritual health of the Christian is much more important. Notice that it says that the Lord will restore him not the priest. The Lord works through the priest and should get the glory.

“IF HE HAS COMMITTED ANY SINS, FORGIVENESS WILL BE HIS” (v.15c).
Here the priesthood is again highlighted this time in the forgiveness of sins. Like in the earthly ministry of Jesus, physical cures and forgiveness of sins are closely related (Matthew 9:1-6; Mark 2:5-11; John 5:14). The Council of Trent taught that v.15 referred to the sacrament of Confession.

“HENCE, CONFESS YOUR SINS TO ONE ANOTHER, AND PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER, THAT YOU MAY FIND HEALING” (v.16a).
The context has been in relation to the priesthood (vv.14, 15). There is no good reason to suppose that we are to confess to one another without benefit of the priesthood. Certainly we can apologize to the one wronged by our sin, but that does not take the place of the sacrament of Confession. St. Augustine held the view that “confess you sins to one another” referred to the pious practice of, after Confession, confessing one's sins in an act of public contrition at which the faithful prayed for one another. This may well be the origin of the Penitential Rite at the beginning of Mass. Sts. Robert Bellarmine and Thomas Aquinas applied “confess your sins to one another” to the sacrament of Confession. St. Bede distinguished between venial and mortal sins. He took the phrase to mean to confess venial sins to one another and mortal sins to a priest in Confession.

“Anyone who sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, should petition God, and thus life will be given to the sinner. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as a deadly sin; I do not say that one should pray about that” (I John 5:16).

One final thought on “confess your sins to one another”. The Protestant does not realize that his position that one only has to confess to God is undercut by this verse which has one confessing to someone other than God.

“THE FERVENT PETITION OF A HOLY MAN IS POWERFUL INDEED” (v.16b).
This again highlights the importance of prayer. Also it shows that not all prayers are equal. A saint's prayer is very powerful. This is a good reason to take advantage of the intercession of the saints.

In Hebrews 13:10 we read that Christians have an altar. This most likely is a thinly veiled reference to the Eucharist. This is saying that one may not partake of Christian worship, especially the Eucharist, if one also has other religious allegiances ( I Corinthians 10:21). “This means that whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily sins against the body and blood of the Lord”(I Corinthians 11:27). Those who serve the tabernacle (the Old Covenant) cannot receive Communion. Those Jews are holding on to  obsolete  practices (Hebrews 8:13). The Old Covenant worship was a mere shadow of what was to come in the New Covenant (Colossians 2:16-17; Hebrews 10:1).

The bodies of the animals were burnt outside the camp because they were sin offerings. Therefore, to bring them in to the camp would have defiled the Jews (Leviticus 16:26-28). Jesus was the fulfillment of this type. He being our sin offering, was sacrificed outside the gates of Jerusalem. By leaving Jerusalem behind and offering himself outside the gate Jesus was declaring the Old Covenant worship obsolete. “In other words, he takes away the first covenant to establish the second” (Hebrews 10:9). Also if we wish to take advantage of Christ's sacrifice we too must leave “Jerusalem” behind, i.e. we must leave the old for the new.

As far as the Bible is concerned I believe that God may want us to have to work a little bit in order to understand it. In this way we will get to know Him better and understand His ways better. Also do not forget that God left us with a Church to guide us. I believe that the Church is very easy to understand.

God Bless You,
Sal