Why is confession a biblical practice?

By CopticBot.ai (Coptic Space Inc.) · Last reviewed 2026-10-10

Confession is a vital Mystery (Sacrament) in the Coptic Orthodox Church, established by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. It is not a human invention but a biblical mandate for the healing of the soul and the maintenance of our life in the Church.

1. The Divine Authority Given to the Priesthood

The biblical foundation for confession rests on the authority Christ gave to His Apostles to forgive or retain sins. After His Resurrection, the Lord breathed on His disciples and said:

• "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (John 20:22-23).

This authority was not for the Apostles alone but was passed down through the laying on of hands (Apostolic Succession) to the bishops and priests of the Church. The priest acts as a witness and a physician, but it is God who forgives through the mouth of the priest.

2. Practice in the Early Church

Confession was a standard practice in the New Testament Church. In the Book of Acts, we see the faithful coming to the Apostles to confess their deeds:

• "And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds" (Acts 19:18).

If confession were meant to be purely "private" between a person and God alone, there would have been no reason for the believers to go to the Apostles to "tell their deeds."

3. The Commandment of St. James

The Holy Spirit, speaking through the Apostle James, explicitly commands the oral confession of sins within the context of the Church's ministry:

• "Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed" (James 5:16).

In the Coptic Orthodox perspective, this "one another" refers to the relationship between the penitent and the priest, who is called earlier in the same passage (James 5:14) to pray over the sick.

4. The Mystery of the Return

As noted in the rites of the Holy Liturgy, the priest prays the Mystery of Confession (also called the Mystery of the Return). In this prayer, the priest asks God to "accept the repentance of the thief on Your right while on the cross, accept the confession of Your people. Forgive all their sins for the sake of Your Holy Name." This highlights that confession is the gateway to partaking of the Holy Mysteries. We cannot approach the Holy Body and Blood of the Lord while hiding unconfessed sin.

5. Why Direct Confession to God Alone Is Insufficient

While we must always pray to God for forgiveness in our private prayers, the Sacrament of Confession provides:

• Audible Absolution: Hearing the words of forgiveness from the priest provides the psychological and spiritual assurance that the weight of sin is lifted.
• Guidance: The priest, as a spiritual father, provides "the medicine of the soul" to help the believer overcome the root causes of their sins.
• Humility: Heretics and Protestants often reject confession because it requires the humility to admit one's faults before another human being. This act of humility is in itself a powerful weapon against the pride that caused the sin in the first place.

As the Holy Bible teaches, "He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy" (Proverbs 28:13). Through the mouth of the priest, the Lord declares the proper confession and grants the remission of sins to those who truly repent.