I
n the biblical tradition of the Old
Testament, the forgiveness of sins is
the sole prerogative of God (cf. Ex.
34:6-7; Ps 25:18; 32:1-5; Ps 51) and
this he bestowed on Jesus Christ for the
redemption of mankind. Christ exercised
this power continually during his life on
earth. Albeit every action of Christ and all
his working of miracles were very great,
divine and wonderful but of all these
things, the most astounding is his power
of forgiveness. Through the forgiveness of
sins Christ restored mankind to God.
Jesus Christ passed this power to his
Apostles, first to Peter and then to all the
Apostles. He said “I will give you the keys
of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you
bind upon earth shall be bound in heaven
and whatever you loose on earth shall be
loosed also in heaven”(Matt 16:19). The
power conferred by Jesus on his Apos-
tles is unlimited, synonymous to what is
known as God’s law. It is judicial and it will
be ratified in Heaven because it embraces
both binding and loosing.
However, Jesus Christ tied the forgive-
ness of sins to Faith and Baptism. He said
“Go into all the world and preach the gos-
pel to the whole creation. He who believes
and is baptized will be saved(cf. Mk 16: 15-
16). Baptism is the first and chief sacra-
ment of forgiveness of sins because it was
given to take away the sin inherited from
Adam (original sin) and the actual sins
we personally committed before baptism.
Also, it unites us with Christ, who died for
our sins and rose for our justification, so
that “we too might walk in the newness of
life” (cf. Rom 6:4). In the same vein, when
we made our first profession of faith while
receiving the holy Baptism that cleansed
us, the forgiveness we received then was so
full and complete that there remained in
us absolutely nothing left to efface, neither
original sin nor offenses committed by our
own will, nor was there left any penalty
to suffer in order to expiate them. Yet the
grace of Baptism delivers no one from all
the weakness of nature.
Through the inexhaustible mercy of
God, a different sacrament was created
for sins committed after baptism and this
is known as penance or confession or
reconciliation, each word emphasizing one
of its aspects. During his public ministry,
Christ forgave sins, as in the case of the
woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11),
the healing of the paralytic man (Mk 2:5-
11) and the woman who anointed his feet
(Luke 7:48) and several others.
However, it is pertinent at this point to
take a cursory look at how Jesus exercised
his authority and power to forgive sins in
his encounter with the paralyzed man,
which appear in three of the four gospels.
“He said to the paralytic, “My son, your
sins are forgiven.” Now some of the Scribes
were sitting there questioning in their
heart, “Why does this man speak thus? It
is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but
God alone?” And immediately Jesus, per-
ceiving in His Spirit that they questioned
within themselves, said to them, “why do
you question this in your heart? Which is
easier, to say to the paralytic, your sins are
forgiven, or to say, Rise, take up your pallet
and walk? But that you may know that the
Son of man has authority on earth to for-
give sins”. He said to the paralytic- “I say to
you, rise take up your pallet and go home”
(Mk 2:5-11). He exercised this power in
his human capacity as the Messiah or Son
of man, telling us that “the Son of man
has authority on earth to forgive sins”
(Matt. 9:6), which is why the Gospel writer
himself explains that God “had given such
authority to men” (Matt. 9:8).
The statement “Your sins are forgiven”
according to Scott Hahn in his book “Lord
Have Mercy” states that Jesus is claiming
for Himself a power possessed not even
by the high priest of the temple. He is
exercising a divine prerogative in declaring
the total remission of someone’s sins. For
Jesus, healing the soul was a greater and
more divine action than healing the body.
Pope John Paul II, in his Apostolic letter
“Misericordia Dei” comments that Christ
entrust to the Apostles the mission of
proclaiming the Gospel of conversion (cf.
Mk 16:15; Mt 28: 18-20). On the evening
of the day of his resurrection, the apostolic
mission is about to begin, Jesus grants the
Apostle through the power of the Holy
Spirit, the authority to reconcile repentant
sinners with the Church. “Receive the
Holy Spirit, if you forgive the sins of any,
they are forgiven; and if you retain the sins
of any, they are retained” (Jn. 20:22-23). In
other words, he was telling them that their
mission was similar to that which he had
received from his Father. Therefore, when
he told them to forgive sins, they received
the power He possessed. The words them-
selves are incapable of any other interpre-
tation. To say that this incident merely
gives the Apostles the power to preach the
Gospel of repentance, to declare that God
has forgiven sins or to say He has given
the Apostles power to take away only the
penalty due to the sins is to do violence to
both the texts and the content of which St.
John was writing.
The power to forgive does not cease with
the death of the Apostles. It was being
given to them in their official capacity as
Bishops of the Church to be handed onto
their successors in office. The Apostles
did not forgive sins in their names but in
the name of Jesus Christ. More so, he was
establishing them as Priests and Bishops to
administer a sacrament, but also as judges
to pronounce judgment upon the action
of believers. Thus, He gave them power
exceeding what had formerly belonged to
the priests of Israel. Jesus was also adding
another dimension to the power he trans-
ferred to his Apostles. He says “Truly, I say
to you, whatever you bind on earth shall
be bound in heaven and whatever you
loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”
(Matt. 18:18). This means that the Apostles
power is beyond the earth but to heaven.
This power of forgiving sins is handed
down to Bishops and Priests and is the
greatest and the most exalted among all
the powers that can be exercised by man
on earth, I would even say, among all
the powers that could be communicated
to any creature. It should suffice to say
that this power is absolutely divine, and
belongs to God alone, just as the power of
creating, and that God has never commu-
nicated it ever to anyone, not even to the
angelic spirits or to the holiest people on
earth, outside the priesthood.St. Augustine
corroborates this when he said that “were
there no forgiveness of sins in the Church,
there would be no hope of life to come or
eternal liberation”. Let us thank God who
has given his Church such a gift.
Finally, the onus lies on us Catholics to
take advantage of this great gift by always
approaching a priest for confession know-
ing fully well that he is acting in the person
of Christ and it is Christ that is forgiving
you of your sins not the priest.