Confession

What is confession?
To “confess” might sound like a chance to say what you believe. Or perhaps it is an admission before a police officer. It could be either. But in the Bible, to confess means that you acknowledge your sin and the responsibility of sin. To confess implies that we regret our sin and yet we are hoping to avoid at least some of the natural consequences of our sin—especially death through judgement.

Command to confess
The Bible makes it clear that confession of our sins is essential for our spiritual health. If we do not confess, there are dire consequences. But if we do confess, there is forgiveness:

When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"; and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found. Psalm 32:3, 5-6

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. I John 1:9-10

Confess your sins to one another James 5:16

Why confess?
Admitting our sin is difficult to do—perhaps one of the most difficult things to do for some people. So why bother? Well, as we saw above, if we do not confess our sin, then we can actually have physical results—sickness may develop from our guilt or from spiritual attack. But the most important consequence is that if we do not confess our sin then we do not have forgiveness. We must acknowledge our sin in order to be cleansed from the consequence of it. Perhaps sickness is a consequence of sin, or some worldly judgement—but the most serious result of sin is the death that comes to all who rebel against God (Romans 6:23). But if we confess our sin as a step to repentance, then God will not hold our sin against us.

How to Confess
Confession isn’t complicated. It is basically saying “I’m sorry.” But if we do not have all of the attitudes of confession, then we may not have forgiveness.

Admission
We must verbally acknowledge that we have done evil. We do not put a conditional on it, lessening the rebellion against God. We freely and openly admit our sin.

Regret
We cannot be like a child who only says “I’m sorry” to a sibling because our parents make us. We must regret our sin and accept that all the evil consequences of the sin is our fault—even if someone or something “made” us act in a sinful way. We do not blame the cause but simply regret our actions.

Request of forgiveness
The main purpose of our confession is to obtain forgiveness. We want to avoid the consequences of sin, and to be accepted into God’s presence again. Thus, let us ask for the forgiveness we desire.

Plan of repentance
There could be some other act we need to do to accompany our confession. Perhaps we need to reconcile with someone else. Perhaps we need to repay someone. Perhaps we need to plan how we will not do this sin again. Whatever the case, we need to make sure that we have this as a part of our confession—not necessarily in our prayer, but in our plans.

How often?
Simple. As often as we sin. Perhaps this is every hour. Perhaps once a day. Perhaps less often. But we need to do it every time we sin. We could wait until our next prayer time, or we could confess immediately after the Holy Spirit convicts us. But we must not wait, whatever the case, because our relationship with God is damaged until we confess.

To God or to Brothers?
Both, depending on the situation. Certainly, in every case, we should confess to God. Some, in response to some churches’ extreme views about confession, teach that confession should only be to God, and not to fellow followers of Jesus. However, that is neglecting the verses in the New Testament that teach confession and forgiveness among brothers (James 5:16; John 20:23). Especially if we are sick from our sin and need healing, we should go to mature brothers in Christ and confess our sin. Sometimes we need to ask a brother what to do in light of our sin. And sometimes the Lord just encourages us to confess our sin to another. If we do, then we are able to be held accountable. However, if we are led to confess to a brother or sister, then let it not be to an immature believer, especially one who has a tendency to condemn or to gossip. This would cause the confession to be destructive instead of healing.

Accepting forgiveness
As we confess, we must remember that from that moment we are forgiven. We need no longer be ravaged by guilt, no longer be attacked by the condemnation of Satan or others. We are forgiven, we are clean—this is the promise of God. Nothing can take that away from us. The forgiveness of God not only provides the opportunity to forgive ourselves—it demands it.

Examples of confession
We can confess using our own words, or, if we wish, we can use the words of others:
Be gracious to me, O God, according to your loving kindness; According to the greatness of your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, I have sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified when you speak and blameless when you judge. Psalm 51:1-3

Have mercy on us, O Lord; have mercy on us. Let your mercy be upon us, O Lord as we have trusted in you. In your mercy, O Lord, I have trusted; let me not be put to shame forever. (Te Deum)

Dear Lord, forgive me. Cleanse me of my sin. I open myself up to you. Reveal to me my evil ways. Show me, Lord, how to change them. Through your Spirit, enliven your righteousness within me. Teach me living justice; Teach me holy walking; Train me in the ways of your kingdom.

Practicing confession
The most difficult part of confession is not so much asking God for forgiveness, or even admitting our responsibility. Usually it is discovering what we have done that is sin before God. Either we think nothing we do is sin or everything we do is sin. There seems to be few who take the middle road. If we think we have not sinned, we should listen to the Spirit in silence and see if he points our any sin we should confess. If we think we have committed many sins, we should look at Scripture to see if we have sinned in truth (a good place to start is the list of sins in I Corinthians 6:9-10, or you can look at the tract “What are Sins Before God?”). After we know the sin that could reject us from God’s presence, let us confess so we can be forgiven!