# Why Confess Sin?



## Grafted In (Oct 18, 2010)

A friend of mine leads a Bible study for a group of men who struggle with addictions. At the last study he was asked by one of the men why he should confess his sin to God, and to his brothers, since he has been declared righteous by virtue of the fact that he has put his faith and trust in Christ. 

I have offered him my own advice on how I would council this brother who is merely trying to reconcile in his own mind that he is positionally in Christ while at the same time continually struggling with sin. What would be your counsel to this question. 

Thanks.


----------



## tmckinney (Oct 18, 2010)

"Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another" (James 5:16).


----------



## Contra_Mundum (Oct 18, 2010)

Confessing our on-going sins is no less a part of our daily walk, than any of the rest of our relationship.

If I sin against my wife today, should I think ,"You know, our relationship is absolutely sure, we are not going to divorce over this, I don't need to confess my wrong to her," I would say that my attitude toward our relationship is out of line.

Repentance is the life of the Christian. Because we sin constantly--thought, word, and deed--not least for the cause we are not able to love our God with every fiber of our being. Heart, soul, mind, and strength. Doesn't mean we confess every single second, even though we could. But no conversation with God is really complete without an implicit confession of sin.

And that is reflected in the Lord's Prayer, the model prayer. "Forgive us our debts/tresspasses..." It is the prayer he gave to... yes, to _disciples_, to us, to use, to template. So, even if I can't finally get my head around the *why* I should be confessing the sins that are already taken away from condemning me, I should *just do* what Jesus told me to do.


----------



## Skyler (Oct 18, 2010)

A really good reason to confess our sins is because God said to (thank you Tracey).

The question then should be "Why does God tell us to confess our sins", in which case the answer is that it's part of the ongoing process of sanctification. Salvation doesn't end with justification.


----------



## jwithnell (Oct 18, 2010)

There is also great accountability in this, both before God and before other close believers who can encourage us in our walk before God.


----------



## Jack K (Oct 18, 2010)

Although Christians are told to confess their sins to each other, not all believers need to confess in all settings. Pastoral wisdom is called for here. The group leader should try to determine _why_ this brother is reluctant to confess his sins.

It may be that he is ashamed. In that case, he should be encouraged by the gospel that in Christ he is unashamed. He should gently be encouraged to confess, learning to do so without feeling condemnation and with great joy.


It may be that he's trying to avoid accountability. Then, too, he should be encouraged to confess. He should be challenged to believe the gospel that in Christ he is a new man, able and eager to change, willing to give up self-rule of his life.


But it might be that he's one of those people who "beats himself up" over his sin. He's quick to get down on himself and to invite others to join his pity party. In that case, he might be recognizing that confession tends to lead him into deeper sin, and he needs to be encouraged by the gospel not to go there.


Or he may come from a religious background that makes confession a way to earn forgiveness. His instinct may be to confess as a "release"—a save-yourself technique that makes him feel better—or as a magical deed that wins God's approval. If he's trying to avoid a superstitious temptation to trust confession itself rather than Christ alone, the gospel may convince him to do less confessing rather than more.

So... the gospel applies to different believers' hearts in different ways, because we each have different hang-ups. All believers are called to some measure of confession. But we need to consider the individual's heart issues when dealing with group confession time, as we would with many other godly-looking activities. The group leader should try to determine what issues this man is dealing with.

This may be tough, because a guy might claim, for example, to be avoiding superstition while actually avoiding accountability. I'd guess this is especially true of addicts. The group leader probably needs to have a long discussion of the issue, honestly bringing up the many different hang-ups that may be at work and how the gospel has an answer to each. Long term, as the man becomes more grounded in the gospel, all reasons to avoid confessing sin start to wither.


----------



## uberkermit (Oct 18, 2010)

The following passage is one of my favourites in the Scriptures, and I think it is instructive.



> If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
> 
> 1 John 1:8-10


----------



## Mushroom (Oct 18, 2010)

There's a movement afoot these days that promotes this mindset towards confession. The book "The Rest of the Gospel - When the Partial Gospel Has Worn You Out" is an example of it, but there are other forms and labels. The best label is antinomianism. We're declared righteous, so why even acknowledge our present sin? Just thank God for His forgiveness and move on. Strange fire.


----------

