What does Scripture say about confession to a Priest?

Classically, we use the following two verses to support the Doctrine of Priestly confession:

James 5:  The Prayer of Faith

13 Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. 14 Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.

John 20:  Receive the Holy Spirit

22 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 them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

However, I see the Sacrament of Confession (i.e. Reconciliation) explicitly described here:

Hebrews 13:17Obey your leaders

17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls and will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with sighing—for that would be harmful to you.

And, explicitly mentioned, here:

2 Corinthians 5 The Ministry of Reconciliation

18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,[d] not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

I said something rather good before coffee this morning, what was that?

Oh yeah.

I was sort of taken aback by a Protestant who objected to our faith in the Church.  That's not what I was surprised about.  I was surprised by the fact that he objected to his obvious faith in Calvin and Luther.

When he objected to our faith in the Church, I retorted that there was little difference between our faith in the Church and his faith in Martin, Luther and the document called the Westminister Confession of Faith (WCF).

Anyway, my answer went something like this:

De Maria said,

November 25, 2014 at 1:07 pm

Don said,
November 25, 2014 at 12:35 pm

De Maria 1306,
“Depend upon” vs. “reject” is a false dichotomy.

How about “accept” vs “reject”? I said:

Why don’t you answer that part of the question?

If you don’t and if you accept them and rely upon them, how am I bearing false witness?

Do you accept the teachings of Calvin or not? Do you accept the teachings of the WCF of not?

No, I am not going to answer your loaded questions.

Where is the question loaded? Do you not believe the WCF? If you do, is faith, believing? or not?

Do you believe Calvin and Luther or not? Is faith, believing?

Good luck trusting your denomination.

I don’t need luck. I know that God speaks through the Catholic Church. I know that the Church prays for me in Christ’s stead:

2 Corinthians 5:20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

Ephesians 3:10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

Who speaks to you “as though God did beseech you”? Who prays for you ” in Christ’s stead”? Calvin? Luther? Who?

Do you even believe these verses?