Biblical Confession

A fellow blogger asked me what my thoughts were on confession of sin and I wanted to reply based on what the bible says about confession and more importantly forgiveness.

The first thing we should look at is sin. A basic definition of sin is anything we do outside the will of God. I shouldn’t need the bible to back me up on this but I’ll use it here just in case. Paul tells in Romans 3:23 that everyone has sinned and come short of what God desires for them. I actually had a conversation with a man a few months ago who actually said that he never sins. If that describes you then this post won’t really help you, but I encourage you to see my previous post on Truth.

The result of the sin in our lives leads us to separation from God. Again going back to what Paul writes in the book of Romans we learn that our sin results in death. This is speaking of spiritual death or eternal separation from God but God does offer the free gift of eternal life in that same verse.

So where does confession come into play here? We need forgiveness from our sins to gain the eternal life that God is offering. In order to begin a relationship with Christ we have to confess. The bible tells us that we believe in Christ and are justified with our hearts but we confess and are saved with our mouths.

Who do we confess to? Some people believe that we must confess our sins to others in order to receive forgiveness. That is not true! The bible does tell us that we should confess our sin to each other and be healed, but that is different than forgiveness. When our sin affects other people then we should go to them and confess and make it right. We should seek their forgiveness as well but God’s forgiveness comes only from God.

The Bible doesn’t teach receiving God’s forgiveness through man it teaches receiving His forgiveness through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. If you and I confess our sin to Him then He will be faithful to us and forgive us of that sin and restore us to righteousness.
How does confession work? You simply admit to God that you have sinned, done something outside of His will, and that you are truly sorry. To be truly sorry means to have a desire to no longer commit this act because you recognize that it is in violation of God’s desire for your life. That is called repentance; it literally means to turn around.

The key to all of this is your relationship to Christ. True confession only works if you have invited Him into your life as Savior. Recognizing Him as Lord of your life is what gives you the desire to repent from your sin.

I hope this helps answer your questions about confession. If I didn’t answer something or there is another question please feel free to e-mail me. My address is in my profile.