A Revelation About Confession

I was reading Lord, Have Mercy, by Scott Hahn, today, and I was struck by a particular phrase. It talks about how the Jews say that "Only God can forgive sins" when Jesus forgave the adulteress and that is why they were so mad at Him and calling him a blasphemer. Then, when Jesus gives the Holy Spirit to His disciples and says that whatever they bind is bound and whatever they loose is loosed, I took that to refer to whatever any Christian binds or looses is done.

But then I thought about Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. On that day the Jews are required to make amends with everyone whom they have wronged in the past year and ask forgiveness. Presumably that means forgiveness may be given by those whom they wronged. This means that not just God can forgive sins. That means that in that context there is something more going on. Jesus is not just offering her human forgiveness, but rather it must be divine absolution on the behalf of God (as He is God). This not only forgives her for betraying her husband, but clears her of her wrongdoing in a divine and holy sense. And that kind of forgiveness can only come from God. I used to be of the mind that you only had to go to God to ask forgiveness, and this is true. But God also asks us to confess our sins to one another, and that's where Jesus' gift of allowing us to forgive as He forgave the adulteress (what you bind and what you loose shall be bound and shall be loosed) comes into play. That is what is happening in confession with a priest. And that is why confession to a priest is so important.

Jesus was not merely saying that we could forgive each other when we sin against each other, as I once understood that passage. He was saying that we can forgive each other of our sins against God. I still do not see how it works that this gift and permission remains only with the priests, but I am still near the beginning of the book. Intuitively I understand; I just can't state out clear theological reasoning for why it remains only with ordained priests.