Do you have that person in your life – family member, friend, co-worker, ministry partner – who is habitually late? (Honestly, I’m pretty sure we all do!) Anyway, when it comes to this person, you can count on it. They will show up late, and the first words out of their mouth will be, “Sorry I’m late.” Not once, in all the “Sorry I’m lates” have you ever seen them show any remorse or effort to make a change. At this point, you don’t truly hold any expectation that things will ever change. You’ve reached the point of hearing their words as something meant to satisfy social expectation, rather than a confession of true regret.
For the next couple of weeks, we’re going to explore the spiritual discipline of confession (real confession).
In an early blog post on the spiritual disciplines, we noted a couple of things that might be helpful to repeat here. First, spiritual disciplines are not chosen willy-nilly. They are practices taught and/or modeled in the Bible. Secondly, spiritual disciplines are activities that we consciously undertake. Activities that enable us to do what we cannot do by our own direct effort and that place us in the right position for being changed.
With these thoughts and reminders planted in our minds, let’s explore confession as a discipline.
Confession Defined
DEFINITION 1
The Bible uses “confess” in two ways. One way in which the word is used means to declare faith in, or adherence to, God (Hebrews 3:1).
DEFINITION 2
The second, and more common meaning of the word “confess” as used in the Bible is to acknowledge guilt before God (Leviticus 5:5). This definition means to admit to having sinned, whether at the beginning of the Christian life or as an ongoing practice through one’s life thereafter.
Confession refers to the acknowledgement to God of one’s sin, whether the sins be a physical act or inclination of the heart, and whether they be sins of commission or omission.
In Scripture
Our test for determining if something is a spiritual discipline is to search the Bible to see if it is taught or modeled within its pages. And indeed, we do find confession both taught and modeled throughout the Bible. The following are just a handful of examples.
- Nehemiah 1 and Daniel 9 – Confession is shown as the right response to our sins.
- Numbers 5:6-7 – Confession of guilt is mentioned in the context of restitution for wrongs done.
- Psalm 51 – We see David’s confession of sin after his transgression with Bathsheba.
- Matthew 6:12 – Jesus teaches His disciples to pray for forgiveness of their sins.
- James 5:16 – Believers are encouraged to confess their sins to one another.
Applied to Our Christian Life
Our Christian life begins when we confess, or acknowledge, Jesus Christ as Lord (Rom. 10:9). This initial submission to Christ requires our confession of sin against Him (Matt. 3:6; Mark 1:5; cf. Acts 3:19; 5:31). The Holy Spirit is, of course, at work in us from the moment of our initial conversion (1Cor. 12:3). He makes us new (2Cor.5:17), transforms us from the inside out (Rom. 6:1-2), and sets us on a new course. Even so, God calls all believers to be transformed (Rom. 12:1-2). Although the Holy Spirit has brought about a great change in us, we have not yet reached perfection (Phil. 3:12-14). Therefore, we must make honest confession to God for any failures along the way.
First John 1:9 is especially helpful when it comes to these “along the way” confessions.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9
When we back up and get the context by reading the verses prior, we learn that:
- God is light, and in Him there is no darkness (v. 5).
- We cannot say that we have fellowship with God while we walk in darkness (v. 6).
- Only as we “walk in the light” can we demonstrate that “the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (v.7).
- We cannot deny that we do sin (v. 8).
- God has made full provision for us in Christ (v. 9).
The Christian life is one that is marked by the pursuit of righteousness. Yet, we fail, and for our failings there is forgiveness – a forgiveness grounded in the redemptive work of Christ.
Homologeo
The Greek word John uses in 1 John 1:9 is homologeo, which means, “to concede that something is true.”
As we live out our Christian life, rather than passively admitting our guilt with no intention of change (much like our perpetually late friend), we must learn to take our sin as seriously as God does.
To fully live the experience of 1 John 1:9, we must acknowledge as true what God says about sin. In other words, we must learn to agree with God about sin. Sin is an offense against the Lord. Clearly, this truth requires more than a simple admission of guilt, more than mere words.
Conclusion
As we search the Bible for what it says about confession, we learn that sin is a serious matter. We also learn that we must be honest before God in acknowledging our sin and looking to Him for forgiveness through Christ.
Before we close, I feel we would do well to mention an important caution when it comes to our confession. There are those of us who find great difficulty in letting go. We are promised forgiveness of our confessed sin. Yet, we keep dragging up the same old sins that have already been confessed and forgiven. When we do this, we bring into question God’s faithfulness and justice. We don’t do this knowingly or with premeditation. Still the question arises, nonetheless. Additionally, our failure to let go continues to bring attention to the sin which has already been forgiven.
Sin cannot be ignored. Confession is a must and must be done frankly, trusting and thanking God for the forgiveness He has promised.
True “confession!” I did not grow up with a mindset that included confession as a spiritual discipline. (Oh, I understood that ongoing confession was needed, but in my life it just dangled there. Some unanchored thing I needed to do.) It wasn’t until a few years ago when my church began including a time of corporate confession in our Sunday morning services, than I began to see it as such. All this to say, much of what I have learned about the discipline of confession has come from reflecting on this decision made by our church elders and by studying Capitol Hill Baptist Church’s core seminar on the topic. These might be good places for you to dig a bit deeper on the subject as well.
