Why Confession?

I have been thinking about confession lately. That is a confession in and of itself. The biblical and early church practice has seemed to be lost. It has been lost in the classical evangelical churches I know and even in the charismatic churches I know. At least the teaching and reminder to practice seems to be missing. So, I have been asking why confess, besides it being a commandment of scripture, which is enough reason by itself but has not seemed to motivate people to practice. So, here is a brief attempt at the answer to that question.

What It Is

To confess, from the Bible’s perspective, basically means to agree with reality. It means to acknowledge or agree fully with something. Sometimes, we are told to confess Jesus as Lord. (Rom. 10:9) But other times we are told to confess our sins, faults, and brokenness, the negative things of life (1 Jn. 1:9; James 5:16). Why is this so important? Simply stated, it gets us in touch with the reality of who we are, and connects that reality with God, others, and the healing process.

We Connect the parts that need healing back to the source of healing: God

The main problem in man is not doing wrong things, if it were then doing right things would be the answer. However, man cannot even do the right thing by himself. The problem is man is separated from God. Reconciliation is the answer and confession reconciles the parts of us that still are untouched to God for the purpose of changing them. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive." (1 Jn. 1:9) Coming into agreement with God concerning sin is what brings forgiveness to the sin. This means more than removal of guilt- it means He begins to heal and change the thing confessed.

The problem is we confess surface stuff and not the real underlying problems like Jesus mentioned in Mark 7:20-23. We confess to God that we are frustrated with someone's actions and admit needing more patience, instead of confessing trying to control what this person does because I really don't trust God. I mean confessing the need to improve on patience is different than God I don't really trust you. But when we bring the truth to God, He can then begin the healing process.

We Connect the parts of us that need healing to others which removes guilt and shame.

The bible is clear of our need to confess to one-another. (James 5:16) There are many reasons for this and I cannot go into all of them here. One of the main reasons, is when we bring the reality of who we are to people filled with God's grace and truth we experience love and acceptance. This quiets shame and guilt which keeps darkness in the dark where it grows. The scripture says that we actually do not experience all of God's grace alone with God, but actually through other's filled with His spirit and truth (1 Peter 4:10)

This heals the split self we experience because of guilt and shame. Guilt causes us to hide the bad parts and therefore present a false self to others. So, we end up divided: the self we show others and the self we are in reality. This hurts us emotionally, functionally, and causes sickness in the soul. Confession to others who are experiencing God's grace, brings this split together and the real self is loved and accepted. This allows the person to look at the bad parts without shame and guilt and together with God and others overcome them.

God has given us each other for our healing, but we can cut ourselves off from this healing by not confessing to each other. We must open the door to be able to experience the connectedness that the Bible talks about in so many places. As Ephesians 4:16 tells us, we can be healed and built up by each other, as we do our work in our relationships. But this can only happen as we confess.

We get restored to truth

As we confess to God and others we come to the reality of who we are in relation to who God intent us to be. The truth of God is like a mirror (James 1:23,24) showing us the gap between the glory of God we were intended to be (Rom. 3:23) and who we are in reality. This "gap" brings us to an awareness of our need for grace. Self-sufficiency is seen as inadequate and we begin to change the way we were thinking and move into God's intent for us to be dependent on Him and His grace, power, love etc. This is true repentance. God not only begins to change our minds, but our desires, and the structure of our lives.

We build intimacy

Intimacy is one of the basis needs of mankind. We were intended to be naked and feel no shame. Confession to God and others who have grown in grace brings this into reality. We become deeply known and therefore the feelings of loneliness, isolation, or fear get reduced.

When you have a few people you are confessing your badness, your hurts and brokenness and the other things that reside in your "hidden self," then you will have intimacy. But this does not come cheaply. Read the list of things in Mark 7: 21– “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness,” and then see how you feel about sharing those aspects of yourself. That will tell you how comfortable you are in the true confession model of the Bible.

Who have you told about your “evil thoughts,” or your adulterous or envious fantasies lately? Who have you wished evil or destruction towards and who knows about those feelings. We all have them, but we don’t confess them. When you consider the true content of the things that ruin our souls, then you can see why confession is something that not everyone does. But if you could, and you can, then you will build a closeness with God and others that is beyond anything you ever knew.

Summary

There is no spiritual life without confession. The spiritual life begins with confession and is sustained by it. It is the process that opens the door of our hearts and souls to God, others and even ourselves. Begin to “agree with reality.” It can truly save your soul and life.

Hope this helps,

AT