John 8:1-11 Confession

John 8:1-11
A Woman Caught in Adultery 
1 Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, 2 but early the next morning He was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and He sat down and taught them. 3 As He was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. 4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do You say?” 6 They were trying to trap Him into saying something they could use against Him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with His finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so He stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then He stooped down again and wrote in the dust. 9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” 11 “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” 

I was raised Catholic. As a Catholic we were taught before you can receive communion you had to go to confession. Saturday's my mom would take us to church and we would wait our turn to go into a little booth with a screen between us and the priest who was in the next booth. We would tell the priest our sins for the week and he would give us "penance" to do to be forgiven. 

The problem with this theology is nowhere in the Bible does it tell us we must go to the priest to confess our sins and do penance to be forgiven. How is this any different then what the Pharisees did? They placed unnecessary burdens on the people in the name of "The Law".  The fact is, the Bible teaches us the exact opposite. 

Christ came to earth to do away with the barrier between us and God. By Christ's death on the cross, the vail of the temple was torn in two to open the way for us to approach God directly. Jesus is the High Priest we go to for confession. The Bible clearly state's we are saved by God's grace and not works. We don't need to do penance. When we confess our sins to Jesus He forgives us. We just need a contrite heart. The only sin God cannot forgive is the one you will not confess. 

1 John 1:9 But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

Blessings, Cecilia