The Scriptures and Early Church on Confession

There is a frequent assertion that the sacrament of confession developed quite late in the pre-Nicene church.  Generally, casual observers of church history believe it to have begun around the time of the Novatian schism (mid-3rd c.), as a means of restoring apostate Christians who wished to return to the Church.

I do not believe this is so.  The systematic use of confession as a means of rehabilitating Christians may have become universal practice at that time, but the practice itself appears much, much earlier (as early as St. John the Forerunner) and with remarkable consistency in the available sources.

What follows is a brief list of those sources / references: