[smvoice]

Not according to verse 18,19. "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation."

There is no "ministry of confession" there. It is God who is reconciling man to Himself, not man reconciling himself to God by confession.

[annalex]

It is God who is reconciling man to Himself, not man reconciling himself to God by confession.

Indeed, and that is happening in the presence and the prayer of the priest who has the "ministry of reconciliation". This passage (as well as the following chapter) describes the Catholic sacrament of reconciliation, of which I partake with regularity, not anything your Protestant mind imagines.