Be Careful Of Elevating The Commandments Of Men
Jesus warned about teaching as doctrines the precepts of men . Public confession of sin is an , but it is never bound by God.
Besides this, there are a couple of reasons why we should not make this into some sort of rigid requirement:
We cannot bind what God has not bound . Though there may be certain commandments and teachings of men that have the appearance of wisdom, they are ultimately of no value .
Therefore Confess Your Sins To One Another And Pray For One Another That You May Be Healed The Prayer Of A Righteous Person Has Great Power As It Is Working James : 16 Esv
The miracle of salvation is that God involves us in His eternal plan. The only way we become righteous people is through Christ Jesus. We lay down the pursuits of the world and instead follow Him home to eternity. The life-long path of discipleship isnt easy, as many biblical people recorded in their pursuit of holiness on this earth. Every day we face our humanity, which exists under the curse of sin. We cannot fully shake it this side of heaven, and so Jesus made a way for us, through Him, to confess our sins and stand in the presence of our Holy God. Confessing our sins leads to healing and restoration, both attributes are worth seeking.
Do You Need To Confess Your Sins Before God Forgives You
In 1 John 1:9, we are invited to confess our sins so that God will forgive us. The verse says this:
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
But does this mean that if we do not confess our sins to God, He will not forgive us? No, the truth is that God has already forgiven you for all your sins, past, present, and future.
So what did the Apostle John mean when he wrote 1 John 1:9? To understand this verse, we need to understand three things. We need to understand the meaning of the word confess, the meaning of the word forgive and the overall message and theme of 1 John.
Let us look at these three key ideas.
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The Promise Of Forgiveness
If we meet the condition ofconfessing our sins to God, agreeing with Him that we have sinned, then God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from allunrighteousness .
Noticethat John does not simply tell us that God will forgive our sins. He informs usthat God is faithful and just to do so. But what exactly does that mean?Lets dig a little deeper.
God is Faithful
The Greek word translated faithful is pistos, which is an adjective meaning faithful, reliable, trustworthy, dependable. God is worthy of being trusted. He has promised to forgive our sins if we confess them, and we can depend on God to keep His promise because He is faithful.
God is Just
TheGreek word translated just is dikaios,which is an adjective meaning righteous, upright, just, acting correctly.
Godis holy and righteous. He is a just judge who must punish sin. Yet He remains uprightand just while forgiving us of our sins, because Jesus Christ died on the crossas the payment for our sins. Jesus shed His blood topay the penalty for our sins and to wash our sins away.
God Forgives Sins
To forgive means to let go or send away. Financially it means to cancel a debt that is owed. In a judicial sense it means to dismiss the charges against you. When God forgives our sin, it is as if we never did it.
God Cleanses Us from All Unrighteousness
Assurance of Pardon
Confession Is Good For The Soul
By confessing our sins were able to experience: freedom from the weight of sin, usefulness to the kingdom of God, humility in the light of Jesus sacrifice for our sins, release from regret, and the grace with forgiveness from our Father in heaven. Make a habit for life to spend quality time reflecting and confessing your sins so that you can reveal the light of Christ in a dark, depressed world.
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Do I Need To Confess To A Person
Justification comes from God alone. Confessing my sins to a human has no power to save my soul or get me to heaven. Only God can forgive our sins with the power of His grace and His sacrifice upon the cross.
However, the Bible is clear that we are to confess our sins to one another. But why?
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed;.
Forgiveness comes from confessing to God. But a healing comes when we confess to one another. Have you ever noticed that even after confession to God, sometimes you still feel alone and broken?
This is because the devil tries to put a lie in our minds that says, God can forgive you, but no human can. If they knew what you have done, they would never look at you the same again. If anyone finds out, they will realize you arent who they thought.
God knows that when we hide our sins from another person, we begin to feel isolated and alone. We start to walk on eggshells, paranoid about the what ifs.
We begin to wear an emotional mask and become fake to the world around us. We say words like, bless you brother, and praise God, but secretly inside, we wonder if we would still be accepted if they knew our sin.
This is why God calls us to confess to one another. Not for salvation, but for healing. When we are vulnerable and bring our sin to the light of another human being, the darkness power breaks, and the mask comes off. We become ourselves again.
What Is A Confession Of Sin
We confess our sin by recognizing that we have disobeyed Gods law.;;In contrast to hiding or lying, a confession of sin is acknowledging the wrong we have committed before the parties injured. No matter who we have wronged, we must recognize that we have first offended God. King David, after sleeping with Bathsheba and killing her husband to cover it up, cries out to God, Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. Clearly Davids immorality had multiple victims, but he rightly realizes his first sin is against God. We are no different, therefore, he is the first to receive our confession.
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Take A Look At This Article Also About Sin:
- carmen
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you mention confession and restitution for repentance and those are good but what about resolving not to do that sin again and trying to stop it through the help of the Holy Spirit? sometimes it would not be wise to make restitution because we could make things worse for ourselves or the other person but we can show we have changed by not doing it again. is that enough to be forgiven or do we always have to be baptised or make restitution every time we sin? sorry if this question is a bit daft but im still learning
Examining Your Conscience Before Confession
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Therefore Confess Your Sins To Each Other And Pray For Each Other So That You May Be Healed James : 16
This is the text that most of the groups mentioned above use to justify their reason for publicly confessing their sins or to confess them in a group setting. Is that what James had in mind here, when he wrote these words?
Can you think of any occasions where a Christian would confess their sin to another Christian? I can think of at least three occasions in the Scriptures where this would apply.
Are We Required To Confess Sin To Church Authorities
And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgression, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. Lev 16:21 ESV
Jesus came to fulfill Gods law. There are many Old Testament legalities, such as animal sacrifice, no longer required because of Jesus once for all perfect sacrifice on the cross. Its often wise to seek counsel from church leaders regarding struggles with strongholds of sin. However, it is not required we confess every sin to a church authority in order to be forgiven. The wonder of the Christmas story is the miraculous feat Jesus accomplished when he broke through the atmosphere to walk the earth and die for our sins. Because of Gods great love for us to send His one and only Son, we have the gift of opportunity, to confess and repent of our sins and receive forgiveness and restoration through Christ.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 ESV
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S For Real Repentance From Psalm 51
My brother and I had a nightly childhood ritual of asking one anothers forgiveness for a list of vague sins. Having been warned not to let the sun go down on our anger, we made sure to cover all possibilities of sins we may have committed during the day. Aaron, Im sorry for yelling at you, hitting you, being selfish with the Nintendo, and tattling on you today. Will you forgive me? His answer, along with his own confession, came back to my room in return. Thus we slept in the peace of the slightly remorseful.
When I read Psalm 51 , I realize how lacking my childhood confessions were. Even many of my confessions in adulthood leave much to be desired.
Often we treat repentance as a statementan Im sorry, please forgive me that checks a box and alleviates our guilt. But if we look closely at Psalm 51, we see that repentance is a turning away from sin and a turning toward Goda process that doesnt merely alleviate guilt but cultivates deep joy.
So how do we grow in a joy-giving habit of repentance? Here are eight steps.
Admitting Sin Is Better Than Ignoring It
In Proverbs 28:13, we learn the benefits of acknowledging and confessing our sins. We are told that there is mercy beyond our sinful acts once we confess them to our Lord.
For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you don’t forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
We understand that forgiveness is a two way street in Matthew 6:14-15. Just as we expect God to forgive our sins, we must forgive the sins of those who have trespassed against us.
We must appreciate the human nature of other sinners and welcome them back into the embrace of the church.
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How Are We Supposed To Confess Our Sins To Each Other
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Galatians 6:1 ESV
When my older daughter corrects her younger sister, I remind her she already has a mother. We must be careful to guide each other to Gods feet when we see sin in someone else. Christ warned us to take the log out of our own eye before we look at someone elses life critically. And as Paul reminded us, we all fall short of the glory of God .
When we live our lives in pursuit of Christ, God places us purposefully in the lives of those around us. To confess your sins to each other is not necessarily done in public, but here it does seem to be a part of the restoration process involving the elders, John F. Hart wrote for The Moody Bible Commentary, Healed is sometimes used for physical healing but is also used metaphorically for spiritual restoration, the metaphorical sense being preferred in light of Jamess apparent emphasis on spiritual strengthening.
Advising another Christ-follower of sin in their lives can be extremely helpful, saving them from the consequences of it. However, Scripture warns us to do so in love, without tearing each other down or lofting ourselves above one another. We already have a Father in heaven who holds all authority over our lives. He knows every human heart and the struggles of sin that lurk there to wreak havoc.
Why We Need To Confess Our Sins And How To Do It
When we received Jesus as our Savior, we were forgiven of our sins and saved from eternal judgment. The Bible assures us of this fact.
But we shouldnt think that since our salvation is eternally secure, we dont need to be concerned when we sin. To entertain such a thought would be ruinous to our Christian life. On the contrary, during our life on earth, God desires that we would not sin.
Consider what the Lord Jesus said to the woman caught in the act of adultery in John 8. Jesus is the only One without sin. Only He is qualified to condemn sin, yet He didnt condemn this woman. Instead, He said to her in verse 11, Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on sin no more.
When the Lord Jesus saves us, He wants us to sin no more.; But as much as we dont want to sin, we still do, even after weve been saved. Why?
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Sin Doesnt Change Your Position As A Child Of God
In order to answer this question for those who already receive forgiveness of their sins, lets first list some Bible texts that provide some necessary background information. When you become a believer, a tremendous change in your relationship with God happens.
- God adopts you as his child: See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God, 1 John 3:1.
- You used to be darkness, but now you are light: For at one time you were darkness. But now you are light in the Lord, Ephesians 5:18.
- You used to be spiritually dead, but God made you alive. God even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, Ephesians 2:4,5.
- You have become a member of the church, which is the body of Christ: Now you are the body of Christ, 1 Corinthians 12:27.
- You have received forgiveness for all your sins: Everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name, Acts 10:43.
- You are Gods possession with a special position: But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood. A holy nation, a people for His own possession, 1 Peter 2:9.
- You have an eternally secure position as a sheep in Jesus care: I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. And no one will snatch them out of My hand, John 10:28.