Third, the sacrament of penance lacks a foundation in John the Baptist’s sermon and in the practice of Christ Himself.
Third, the sacrament of penance lacks a foundation in John the Baptist’s sermon and in the practice of Christ Himself.
§ 26. (III) The sacrament of penance does not have a foundation in the sermons of John, the precursor of Christ, though he confesses that he was sent to preach repentance (Matt. 3:2; Mark 1:4; Luke 1:17). Christ also taught contrition and gave private Absolution to the paralytic (Matt. 9[:1–8]) and the sinful woman (Luke 7[:36–50]); and yet He did not administer a sacrament. Therefore penance is not to be recognized as a sacrament.
Bellarmine replies that he “willingly concedes that the sacrament of penance has no foundation in the preaching of John the Baptist and of Christ before the resurrection, though He finally did institute it after His resurrection (John 20).”
We respond. A little later we shall take a look at this entire subject [§§ 30–32]. For the moment, we ask him to demonstrate what was missing from the repentance which Christ and the Baptist preached, such that it cannot be acknowledged as a sacrament, and what was added to it after Christ’s resurrection, such that it should from now on be regarded as a sacrament.
Bellarmine replies: “The repentance which Christ and the Baptist preached was not a sacrament because it lacked the most important part of the sacrament, namely, the word of absolution connected to the confession of sins. In Matt. 3[:5–6], we read that some hearers of the Baptist generally confessed their own sins, but we do not read that the Baptist spoke a word of absolution. We do read that Christ forgave the sins of both the paralytic and of the sinful woman, but we certainly do not read that they confessed their sins.” He also adds: “Christ forgave their sins not with a sacramental word but with His own unique power.”
We respond. From the context it is clearly deduced that the Baptist announced the forgiveness of sins to the repentant in Christ’s name and that the paralytic and the sinful woman confessed their sins. As he declares God’s wrath against the hypocritical Pharisees and Sadducees (Matt. 3:7), so also he announced the grace of God to the truly repentant. He baptized and preached the Baptism of repentance for the remission of sin (Mark 1:4). Should we think that this was a silent ceremony? With his finger he pointed to “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29, 36). Surely, then, he preached that the forgiveness of sins comes to those who believe through and for the sake of Him.
Bellarmine says that is uncertain or false to think that John’s hearers first made an enumeration of individual sins, for who would believe that the Baptist sat down in the wilderness and listened in secret to the confession of everyone he was about to baptize? That enumeration of individual sins would have been extremely detailed because almost everyone was coming to that confession for the first time and because the text asserts clearly: “Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan went out to John, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins” (Matt. 3:5–6).
Bellarmine asserts that the paralytic asked for nothing except physical healing; and yet by his very act, he asked for both the quieting of his conscience and for health of body, for he allowed himself to be carried to Christ and to be let down from the roof above. Christ says to him: “Take heart” [Matt. 9:2]. Surely, then, he was contrite and anguished in heart, for Christ is the Physician not of those who are well but of those who are sick, that is, of those who acknowledge their ailment (Matt. 9:12). Christ is also said to have considered their faith, which must be understood to refer not only to the porters but also to the paralytic himself, since Christ announces the forgiveness of sins to him [v. 2]. But the forgiveness of sins comes to no one except to him who is a true believer in Christ and is truly repentant. Christ binds up, but only those who have a contrite heart; He preaches the opening of the prison, but only to the chained, that is, to those who acknowledge their spiritual captivity (Isa. 61:1). Christ calls this paralytic His son; but now, we are not the children of God except by faith (John 1:12). In addition, he is said to have magnified the Lord (Luke 5:25), which was the fruit of faith in this paralytic. It is clear that the sinful woman (Luke 7) confessed her sins, if not orally, certainly with tears and outward gestures. Augustine declares (on John, tract. 24) that “miracles have their own tongues”; so also we can say that tears certainly speak before God, who considers inner contrition more than the outward verbal confession.
The contradiction of Bellarmine (De poenit., bk. 1, ch. 15, prop. 2) should also be noted, in that he tries to prove that the imposition of a hand does not belong to the essence of this sacrament. Among the rest of the arguments, he also brings up this: that the Lord remitted the sins of the paralytic (Matthew 9) and of the Magdalene (Luke 7) without this rite. Thus he is presupposing that such forgiveness was sacramental; otherwise the middle term clearly would be different from the conclusion, yet in this place he is arguing for the contrary.15