Confession of Sin Part 1: The Way to Forgiveness

     One of the Spiritual Disciplines that I think has suffered great loss in the Church since the reformation is Confession of Sin. While some of this is due in part to the individualism that was born out of the reformation and gained strong ground in the formation of American ideals, it still remains a vital practice of the Christian Church.  I believe that confession of sin, among many spiritual disciplines, should be restored and brought back into use by the Church.

       Confession of sin is a practice that predates the Christian Church. In fact, the first instance of a “semi-confession” is in the narrative of Adam and Eve’s sin in the book of Genesis.  I call it is a semi-confession because although admitting to their actions, there is a lot of finger pointing and blaming in the text.  No one really admits that they were wrong.

Another biblical instance of confession is when King David confesses that he has sinned when confronted by the Prophet Nathan.  Here we see that David is concerned with God taking the Holy Spirit from him as he had done to King Saul.  So in the confession found in Psalm 51, David poetically says, “Do not take your Spirit from me.”

In the Early Church, confession was practiced regularly and publicly. James 5:16, tells Christian communities to confess their sins to one another. Also, the earliest documentation of formal church worship outside the bible known as the Liturgy of St. James (appx. AD 60) contains multiple places for confession.

Perhaps, one of the most striking texts regarding sins is found in 1 John 1. Here we find the following text, “⁸ If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he   

is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Therefore, confessions begins the with recognition that we sin. The problem at its core is that we are sinners.  This terminology often strikes a cord with believers with an initial response of, “We are not sinners, we are saints!”  It is true, we are saints. The power of sin has been crucified with Christ at our baptism and we are united in his resurrection. However, John seems to recognize that those he calls children (fellow believers) are still capable of sinning.  So, we are in fact, sinners who are washed clean in Christ’s blood; meaning that we have the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ for us. As 1 John says in chapter 2, “¹...But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. ² He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

What this means is that when the Father looks at us, he looks through the lens of Jesus Christ our advocate and not at our sin.  In turn, Hebrews says in chapter 4,

“Since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weakness, but 

we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are- yet he did not sin. Let us then approach   

God’s throne of grace with confidence, so  that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of    

need.”

We can approach the throne of grace with confidence and be forgiven. There we receive mercy and grace.  Grace is delivered to us in our confession. Consequently, our confession begins with the problem of sin, but ends with mercy, grace, and forgiveness.  We confess to God, we own our sin, we call it what God calls it.  We ask for God to forgive us for breaking relationship.

It is here that we see that confession is a way to forgiveness. Next we will see how confession is a way to freedom.