1. Archbishop, why do you, personally, write so much about sin these days?

2. A friend of mine has been attending an Evangelical church, and now she tells me that she has been ‘born again’. Is she right?

3. I read recently about a ‘Gospel of Judas’ that has just been discovered.  It shows that Judas was innocent.  Is this true?

4. We pray to God that He "lead us not into temptation." If God loves us, why would he lead us into temptation?

WHY DO YOU, PERSONALLY, WRITE SO MUCH ABOUT SIN THESE DAYS?

Our society is rapidly changing. It is increasingly insecure, unstable and stressful. Destructive forces have been let loose and we see broken families, dysfunctional relationships, and violence in the streets, drug addiction and pornography and other social disorders. In our culture wealth, success, and power take the priority. We act as God in matters of life and death. So we embrace abortion and euthanasia.

The restraints of Christian morality have almost vanished. Absolute standards of right and wrong have been rejected. Confusion and moral chaos reigns - and increases. The Christian voice, when it is heard, is often weak and uncertain about what is morally right and wrong. Sin has become a ‘dirty’ word in many so-called Christian circles. Without an awareness of the enormity of sin, the cross of Christ becomes an irrelevance, and the Sacrifice of the Mass becomes a mere ‘communion service’.

It is not surprising that many of our laity are infected by the standards around them. They need to hear a clear voice. They need to hear of sin; to recognise sin within themselves. Consciences need to be informed. Then if their conscience accuses them of mortal (grave) sin, to have recourse to the Sacrament of Penance.

WHY THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE?

Almighty God alone and none other has the authority to forgive sin. After His resurrection, Jesus Christ who is truly God, gave His authority to His Apostles to forgive or to retain sins. “Whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them. Whosesoever sins ye retain are retained” (St John 20:22,23) The same authority to remit (forgive) or to retain sins has been transmitted down the ages through the apostolic succession and explicitly imparted to every priest at his ordination.

After the penitent has confessed his sins to Almighty God, in the presence of the priest representing Christ Himself, the priest by Christ’s authority alone, imparted to him at his ordination, utters the words of absolution. The penitent thus receives full assurance that his sins are wiped away by the Blood of Jesus, forgiven.

WHAT SINS NEED TO BE CONFESSED?

Let us be clear: before we can even begin to discuss the practicalities of the Sacrament of Penance we must fully appreciate the difference between mortal (grave) sin and venial (lesser) sin. Failure to do so will result in a total misconception of the Church’s teaching on the Sacrament of Penance (as we have seen in the recent past).

Venial sins are not the same as mortal sins, although if they remain unchecked they can and often do lead to mortal sin. Venial sins are lesser sins: those day to day sins and failures which we frail humans commit without much thought. Uncharitableness (venial) can lead to hatred (could be mortal) Venial sins are not grave offences against the Ten Commandments that are committed knowingly, deliberately and with full awareness.

Mortal sins are grave offences against the Ten Commandments, and which are committed knowingly, deliberately, with complete intent, and a full awareness that mortal sin shuts the Holy Spirit out of the life of the believer. One cannot therefore commit a mortal sin accidentally. Individual conscience alone is the judge as to whether mortal sin has in fact been committed.

The only sins that need to be confessed in the Sacrament of Penance are what are called mortal (grave) sins. Venial sins may be.

WHY IS THERE A NEED FOR CONFESSION OF ALL MORTAL SINS?

Where the Sacrament of Penance is not available, the sinner may receive God’s forgiveness by an act of contrition - for God is not tied to His own Sacraments (see 1 below). But where the Sacrament is readily available, the Church urges believers to make confession of all specific mortal sins before a priest. Why? Sometimes a need may exist for restitution or reparation for the wrongs done, before absolution can be given; it could be that the priest may need to retain such sins until restitution or reparation is seen to be done.

WHAT IF A MORTAL SIN IS FORGOTTEN?

It is unlikely that such sin can be forgotten. But if a mortal sin is genuinely forgotten, it is covered by the priest’s absolution which includes the words “ .....forgive thee all thy sins...”

ARE THERE OTHER REASONS FOR THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE?

Yes. When a believer commits a grave sin the Body of Christ, which is the Church, is inevitably injured. The witness of the Church is affected by the sins of believers. This was fully appreciated in the earliest days of the Church. Therefore, there existed a need for the repentant sinner to say ‘sorry’ to the church community. Confession of sin was made publicly before the whole church community. In time, the practice of such public confession was abused and replaced by private confession, the priest witnessing to the confession on behalf of the church community. Thus sorrow for sin continued to be made to the church community but in a different manner.

(1) It also ought to be noted that those who believe their mortal sin to have been forgiven by an act of contrition in the absence of the Sacrament of Penance, still need to say ‘sorry’ for their mortal sin to the church community through the Sacrament of Penance when it becomes available.

WHAT ABOUT THOSE SINS THAT ARE NOT MORTAL OR GRAVE?

Such lesser sins, called venial sins, which we have already briefly described, may be confessed in the Sacrament of Penance, but forgiveness of such sins may be given by Almighty God without the Sacrament of Penance simply by an act of contrition, or by participating in a congregational general confession. The prayer following a congregational general confession, often called an absolution, is essentially a prayer for the forgiveness of those who are truly contrite. It cannot however be equated to the Absolution in the Sacrament of Penance. In a congregational general confession particular mortal sins cannot be made known to the priest and he must know of such sins, else how can he exercise his authority to forgive or to retain sin? We have seen in a previous answer, it is sometimes necessary for a priest to withhold absolution until restitution or reparation is done.

The Sacrament of Penance provides an excellent opportunity to open one’s heart to a fellow believer, in this case a priest, and share with him particular worries or concerns. His experience is such that valuable spiritual counselling can be given in the Christian life. It also affords space to inform a Christian’s conscience, where the need exists.

SHOULD A PERSON WHO ACCUSES HIMSELF OF MORTAL SIN RECEIVE ABSOLUTION IN THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE, THAT IS, GO TO CONFESSION, BEFORE RECEIVING HOLY COMMUNION.

I will refer to the Orthodox Study Bible, and to teaching in an article therein on the Sacrament of Penance: “The Church has encouraged her faithful: If you know you have committed a specific sin, do not hide it, but confess it before coming to the Holy Eucharist. St Paul wrote ‘Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup’ (I Cor.11:28) and, ‘If we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged’ ”. (1 Cor. 11.31) This is the orthodox Catholic teaching we would uphold in this Church.

I’VE HEARD SOME SAY THAT THEY DON’T FEEL FORGIVEN AFTER RECEIVING THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE.

It is Catholic teaching that the Sacrament of Penance, like all the Sacraments, is always efficacious because in it Christ is at work through the power of the Holy Spirit. From this it follows that the Sacrament of Penance is not wrought by either the priest or the penitent, but solely by the power of God the Holy Spirit. It is however worth stressing, and in answer to your question, that the fruits of the Sacrament of Penance, as in the celebration of all the Sacraments, depend upon the disposition of the one who receives it.

Note: The foregoing teaching without addition or subtraction represents the Metropolitan Archbishop's teaching on the Sacrament of Penance over many years.  Editor: Anne Pointon.

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A friend of mine has been attending an Evangelical church, and now she tells me that she has been ‘born again’. Is she right?

Not really. Both Catholics and Protestants agree that to be saved, you have to be born again because  Jesus said so: "Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).  The question is, how does it happen?

Regeneration (being "born again") is the transformation from death to life that occurs  when God washes us clean of our sins and gives us a new nature, breaking the power of sin over us so that we will no longer be its  slaves, but its enemies, who must fight it as part of the Christian  life.

Evangelicals claim that one is born again at the first moment of faith in Christ, so becoming "born again" usually means undergoing some kind of ‘conversion experience’ in adulthood, when you ask Jesus to ‘enter into your heart’. For them regeneration is something that happens as a result of your own will and action, and presumably happens differently with each individual.

When a Catholic says that he has been "born again," he refers to the transformation that God’s grace accomplished in him during baptism. In Acts 2:38, people are told by Peter: "Be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive  the gift of the Holy Spirit".  He was not talking about something that the people could do for themselves; it was a matter of submitting themselves to those with authority to baptise.  

In 151 AD, Justin Martyr, an early Father of the Church, wrote, "As many as are persuaded and believe that what we [Christians] teach and say is true are brought by us where there is water and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God the Father and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water”.  And Irenaeus, writing in about 190AD, explained baptism by recalling the story in the Book of Kings of Naaman being cured of leprosy by bathing seven times in the River Jordan: “For as we are lepers in sin, we are made clean, by means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord, from our old transgressions, being spiritually regenerated as newborn babes”.

This is real regeneration. It only happens at baptism, and it has always been the Church’s understanding of what it means to be born again. Through a sacrament instituted by Christ himself  we are cleansed from sin through the outward sign of washing with water, and through the invocation of the Holy Trinity.

Most Evangelicals have an impoverished view of baptism, regarding it as little more than an initiation rite, hence their conviction that regeneration depends on a ‘decision for Christ’ made later in life. 

They should recall what happened at Jesus’ own baptism: Jesus went down into the water, and as he was baptised, the heavens opened, the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove, and the voice of God the Father spoke from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son". 

In a symbolic way this is what happens at any baptism. We are baptised with water, symbolising our dying with Christ and our rising with Christ into new life, we receive the gift of sanctifying grace and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and we are adopted as children of God.

Your friend may feel that she is making a fresh start, and that is good, but being born again is something far more profound.

It hasn’t just been discovered – it’s been around for nearly two thousand years, and it’s complete nonsense.

The four Gospels included in the New Testament — Matthew, Mark, Luke and John — were written before 100AD.  They are firmly rooted in the apostolic Tradition, having been accepted by the whole Church as being orthodox in their teaching, particularly about the identity and person of Jesus.

The ‘gospel’ you mention, together with several more bogus writings, were never accepted by the Church because they were the work of heretical sects known generally as ‘gnostics’. Gnosticism refers to a type of religious belief that was adopted by  a dozen or more rival sects located in the  areas of Syria, Egypt, Greece and Italy about the year 100AD. The Gnostics saw the world as a conflict between two powers -  a God who was the source of all good and everything spiritual, versus a Devil who was the source of all evil and everything material. For them, God and the Devil were equal in power.

Gnostics believed that a human being’s person - body and soul - was corrupt, being part of the material and physical world.  The person’s spirit — a “divine spark” — was imprisoned within the body, and the only way to release it was to acquire a special knowledge, or ‘gnosis’, which the gnostics, of course, possessed.

They taught that God communicated with the corrupt material world through ‘aeons’ or messengers.  Jesus was an ‘aeon’, a created being who had come into this world by entering the body of a human Jesus.  It was Jesus who had revealed the ‘gnosis’.  At the crucifixion the aeon Jesus left the body of the human Jesus to return to the heavens.  In the gnostic ‘Gospel of Judas’  Jesus supposedly says to Judas Iscariot, “You will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me.” In other words, Judas will facilitate the killing of the human Jesus, thereby liberating the aeon Jesus.

Clearly the gnostics denied the essentials of the orthodox Christian faith – the Incarnation, the sacrifice on the cross for our sins, and the resurrection; they therefore denied the mystery of redemption and salvation as Christians believe. Because of these warped beliefs, the gnostics denied the sacraments, because God would never use material things like bread and wine, water or oil, through which to convey grace. They did not make the sign of the cross, because the divine aeon Jesus did not die on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. They avoided eating meat because it is physical flesh. They abstained from marriage and marital love, so as not to create a child and imprison him in a wretched body. In fact they treated the body with total contempt, and saw nothing wrong with sexual excess.

These gnostic groups composed their writings, and labelled them with titles, such as “The Gospel of Thomas” or “The Gospel of Philip” or “The Acts of Peter.”  They attached the names of the saints to these bogus writings to give them some credibility. Of course none of the works can be traced to the apostolic age when the writings of the New Testament appeared. Nor can they be linked to the witness of an apostle or disciple.  That is why the Church had little hesitation in rejecting them. They are the heretical work of eccentrics, and the Church has always been aware of them, but from time to time they are brought out as though they had just been discovered, and then they once again become a nine days wonder. Incidentally the notorious ‘Da Vinci Code’ is based on gnostic writings.

God does not lead anyone into temptation. St. James reminds us, "No one who is tempted is free to say, 'I am being tempted by God.' James 1.13) When we pray that he ‘lead us not into temptation," we are asking God to protect us from entering into or yielding to temptation. Therefore, we understand the petition in the sense of God giving us the grace to recognise and resist temptation. We must realise that our human efforts are not sufficient to face all the temptations surrounding our daily lives. We need divine assistance to lead a holy life.