In the early church, many congregants would confess their sins in front of the church

The levitical priesthood was nothing but ritual

And nowhere did Christ say stop following ritual

The Bible doesn't talk. And also, Christ gives authority to forgive sins

The ritual is the reveration God deservves

Christ alone forgives sins

God alone has the power to give sins but he gave it to the apostles

It's literally in the bible

Through the authority of Christ

Which is why priests act in persona Christi with the authority Christ gave them when he gave them explicitely authority to forgive sins

im over her like wth did i start xD

Yeah, through the authority of Christ, which is passed down from bishop to priest and has been since the beginning

I've got nothing to say about the in persona Christi doctrine which afaik isn't mine

John 20:22-23 AMP

**John 20:22-23 - Amplified Bible (AMP)**

```Dust


<22> And when He said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. <23> If you forgive the sins of anyone they are forgiven <because of their faith> ; if you retain the sins of anyone, they are retained <and remain unforgiven because of their unbelief>."```

+setversion rsv

John 20:22-23

**John 20:22-23 - Revised Standard Version (RSV)**

```Dust


<22> And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. <23> If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."```

Looks like a phrase was...randomly added in your version?

Expands on the Greek

If you add to or remove from Scripture...

Which is why I use Amplified

Woe unto the translators of that

There are sometimes words that have no direct translations to English

Thus the amplified goes into more detail

Christ is talking to the apostles

TIL theres different bibles depending on the point u wanna make. i did not know that

Hebrews 7:23–28 AMP

Tells them the sins they forgive are forgiven

Seems pretty straightforward to me

Hebrews 7:23–28

Cmon Biblebot, lmao

Now, even if you add "because of their faith", it would remain that they are given authority to forgive sins

James 2:14-26

**James 2:14-26 - Revised Standard Version (RSV)**

```Dust
Faith without Works Is Dead

<14> What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? <15> If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, <16> and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? <17> So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. <18> But some one will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. <19> You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. <20> Do you want to be shown, you shallow man, that faith apart from works is barren? <21> Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? <22> You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by works, <23> and the scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness"; and he was called the friend of God. <24> You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. <25> And in the same way was not also Rahab the harlot justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? <26> For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead. ```

Hebrews 7:23–28

This triggers the Luther

Why does this not want to work

I'll try

Hebrews 7:23–28