J. Oswald Sanders
Confession
I will confess my transgressions to the LORD (Psalm 32:5)
In considering our second lesson in the school of prayer, we reviewed thanksgiving and recalled the all too frequent times when we had failed to give God thanks. We have often deserved the rebuke that our Lord directed to the nine ungrateful lepers whom He had healed, but who failed to return to thank Him: “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine — where are they?” (Luke 17:17).
Ingratitude is not an amiable infirmity but a sin, Shakespeare called it, “Ingratitude, thou marble-hearted friend.” “Unthankfulness is theft,” said Luther. And we must all plead guilty to the charge in greater or less degree. And this sin and failure leads us to the theme of our third lesson.
We saw in the last chapter that the Psalms abound in thanksgiving, but they can be described with equal truth as the world’s greatest confessional literature. “Is it surprising,” asks A. Jean Courtney, “that the place where God is most praised should be where we read most about penitence? I suggest is just what we might expect. The more we think of God’s gifts, the smaller our own gifts to Him appear. No one suffers from self-righteousness who spends much time in prayer,”1
The Greek word for confession means “to say the same thing, to admit or declare oneself guilty of what one is accused of.” When I confess my sin to God, I am agreeing with Him in His judgment of its guilt and seriousness. I am viewing my sin from His perspective. We talk the same language about it, and I take sides with Him against it. Note the operative verbs in David’s confession recorded in Psalm 32:1-5: “I acknowledge — I did not hide — I will confess.”
No confession that is not sincere and explicit will either reach God’s ear or quiet an accusing conscience. This is made clear in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Our confession, to be acceptable, must be not of sin in general, but of sins — individual acts of sin.
There is a place for a general confession, for there are many sins of which we are unconscious or which we have overlooked; but this does not dispense with the necessity for a frank and full confession of specific sins. The confession should be made the moment we are conscious of having sinned, and not delayed until a more convenient time. We have the assurance that the moment we sincerely confess, that moment God freely forgives us and fellowship is restored.
The extent of confession poses a problem to some sensitive and overscrupulous hearts. Is it sufficient to make confession to God alone, or should we confess to others to make public confession? The answer is that there are three areas of confession that correspond to three kinds of sin.
1) Secret confession. When the sin is against God alone, then the confession need be to God alone. To confess to someone else would serve no purpose other than to give that person a knowledge of the sin, and there is no benefit in that.
2) Private confession. Some sins are against man as well as against God. The general principle is that the confession should be coextensive with the sin. Whenever possible, we should make confession to the offended party as well as to God.
The prodigal’s sin was against his father as well as against his God. When he made confession, he rightly confessed: “I have sinned against heaven and in your sight” (Luke 15:21). Confession to God would have been inadequate and would not have brought peace of conscience; nor would it have restored him to the old filial relationship with his father. Once full confession was made, restoration was complete.
Our Lord gave clear instruction on this point. “If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering” (Matt 5:23-24). The order is: First go, then be reconciled, then come to present your gift.
3) Public confession. When the sin is public — against some group or church — the confession should be as public as was the sin. In this way the sin can be forgiven, confidence can be restored, and fellowship can be renewed. The very act of public confession would have a salutary effect that would be likely to deter a repetition of the sin.
There does not appear to be any scriptural warrant for the suggestion advanced in some circles that even secret sins should be publicly confessed. Where this has been done, much harm has sometimes resulted. As someone put it, although God knows all our thoughts and deeds, our fellowmen do not share His omniscience — nor need they. It is our social sins that we need to confess publicly, not our secret thoughts and secret acts of sin.
In times of revival, the confession of sins in public has sometimes occurred. But this has been the spontaneous, almost irresistible outpouring of a heart deeply convicted by the Holy Spirit. In these cases, the pressure of Spirit on the heart is so strong that relief comes only with confession. But spontaneous confession under these circumstances and in the glow and warmth of a movement of the Spirit is a different thing from a confession that is not required by Scripture and not pressured by the Holy Spirit. These spontaneous confessions are extraordinary occasions and nor the norm.
Contrition, or penitence, will accompany true confession. Contrition is such a deep grief of heart for sin that it becomes resolution to have done with that sin. Professed penitence without the purpose to forsake the sin confessed is insincere, and a mockery. Similarly, confession and professed contrition without a resulting change in life-style are without meaning and are unacceptable to God.
The depth of contrition and penitence of the prodigal son was seen in the confession and request he purposed to make of his father: “I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men” (Luke 15:19).
PRAYER
Most gracious, Almighty God, full of lovingkindness and longsuffering: we confess to Thee with our whole heart our neglect and forgetfulness of Thy commandments, our wrong doing, and speaking and thinking, the hurts we have done to others, and the good we have left undone.
O Lord, blot out the transgressions that are against us, for Thy goodness and Thy glory, and for the sake of Thy Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. ANONYMOUS
QUESTIONS
- Is there a place for sharing the knowledge of some personal sin with a trusted friend and counselor?
- What is the difference between the cleansing mentioned in 1 John 1:7 and that in 1:9?
Notes
1A. J. Courtney, “Prayer and the Prism,” Joyful News, February 21, 1935, p 1
warriorprincess4yeshua.blog 