What does the Bible say about confession of sin to a priest

The concept of confession of sin to a priest is nowhere taught in
Scripture. First, the New Testament does not teach that there are to
be priests in the New Covenant. Instead, the New Testament teaches
that all believers are priests. First Peter 2:5-9 describes believers
as a "holy priesthood" and a "royal priesthood." Revelation 1:6 and
5:10 both describe believers as "a kingdom of priests." In the Old
Covenant, the faithful had to approach God through the priests. The
priests were mediators between the people and God. The priests offered
sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. That is no longer
necessary. Because of Jesus' sacrifice, we can now approach God's
throne with boldness (Hebrews 4:16). The temple veil tearing in two at
Jesus' death was symbolic of the dividing wall between God and
humanity being destroyed. We can approach God directly, ourselves,
without the use of a human mediator. Why? Because Jesus Christ is our
great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-15; 10:21) and the only mediator
between us and God (1 Timothy 2:5). The New Testament teaches that
there are to be elders (1 Timothy 3), deacons (1 Timothy 3), bishops
(Titus 1:6-9), and pastors (Ephesians 4:11) – but not priests.

When it comes to confession of sin, believers are told in 1 John 1:9
to confess their sins to God. God is faithful and just to forgive our
sins as we confess them to Him. James 5:16 speaks of confessing our
trespasses "to one another," but this is not the same as confessing
sins to a priest as the Roman Catholic Church teaches. Priests /
church leaders are nowhere mentioned in the context of James 5:16.
Further, James 5:16 does not link forgiveness of sins with the
confession of sins "to one another."

The Roman Catholic Church bases their practice of confession to a
priest primarily on Catholic tradition. Catholics do point to John
20:23, "If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do
not forgive them, they are not forgiven." From this verse, Catholics
claim that God gave the apostles the authority to forgive sins and
that authority was passed on to the successors of the apostles, i.e.,
the bishops and priests of the Roman Catholic Church. There are
several problems with this interpretation. (1) John 20:23 nowhere
mentions confession of sin. (2) John 20:23 nowhere promises or even
hints that apostolic authority of any kind would be passed on to the
successors of the apostles. (3) The apostles never once in the New
Testament acted as if they had the authority to forgive a person's
sin. Similarly, Catholics point to Matthew 16:19 and 18:18 (binding
and loosing) as evidence for the Catholic Church's authority to
forgive sins. The same three above points apply equally to these
Scriptures.

The ability to forgive sins is God's and His alone (Isaiah 43:25). The
better understanding of John 20:23 is that the apostles were given the
responsibility of declaring with utmost certainty the terms on which
God would forgive sins. As the church was being founded, the apostles
declared that those who believed the gospel were forgiven (Acts 16:31)
and those who did not obey the gospel faced judgment (2 Thessalonians
1:8; 1 Peter 4:17). As the apostles proclaimed salvation in Christ
(Acts 10:43) and exercised church discipline (1 Corinthians 5:4–5),
they were wielding the authority Christ had given them.

Again, the concept of confession of sin to a priest is nowhere taught
in Scripture. We are to confess our sins to God (1 John 1:9). As New
Covenant believers, we do not need mediators between us and God. We
can go to God directly because of Jesus' sacrifice for us. First
Timothy 2:5 says, "For there is one God and one mediator between God
and men, the man Christ Jesus."