Confession of Sin
If you’ve spent much time in church during your lifetime, chances are you have been told that you need to confess your sins to be forgiven and/or to reestablish fellowship with God.
This was the message my wife heard growing up in her youth group. It frightened her. She was constantly trying to keep a log of her sins so that she could be cleansed and make sure that she and God were in good standing with each other.
The bondage was so great that there were times she would have what she considered a “sinful thought” in her mind and have to leave her friends to find a private place to confess.
She loved God. She hated the thought of Him being disappointed in her. She never wanted to be out of fellowship with Him, and she lived her life in constant worry, fear of broken fellowship, and anxiety over forgiveness.
Is this really the way Jesus wants us to live our lives?
Jesus said he came to give us abundant life (John 10:10). Paul said that it was for freedom that Christ has set us free (Galatians 5:1).
Keeping a log of your sins, constantly confessing, and being fearful of fellowship with God doesn’t sound like abundant life to me. It doesn’t sound like freedom. That’s the opposite of freedom.
So, is it true that we need to confess our sins to be forgiven and to retain our fellowship with God?
NO.
YOU WERE FORGIVEN 2000 YEARS AGO
When Jesus went to the cross He bore our sins in His body (1 Peter 2:24). He didn’t have any sin to pay for in His own life, so He took your sins, my sins, and the sins of the entire world, and He placed them on Himself to redeem us from them.
If Jesus bore your sins in His body on the cross, He took all of your sins to the cross 2,000 years ago.
So, when you sin in your life today (2,000 years later), haven’t those sins already been paid for? Haven’t you already been forgiven for them? The author of Hebrews sure seems to think so, and he or she was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write this in Hebrews 10:12
12 but He (Jesus), having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time…
If Jesus’ sacrifice was for all of the sins for all time (past, present, and future), how can confession of sins today bring you forgiveness that you don’t already possess?
BLOOD PROVIDES FORGIVENESS, NOT CONFESSION
The law requires the shedding of blood for forgiveness. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22).
This is why we see all of the sacrifices being made in the temple throughout the Old Testament. But these sacrifices were never able to take away sins (Hebrews 10:4). They could cover sins, but they could not take them away.
There had to be a better, more perfect sacrifice to take sins away. That was Jesus.
26 …But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many.
Jesus shed His blood one time, and that sacrifice took them away. It is not confession that provides forgiveness of sin, it’s Jesus’ blood.
Now, to be clear, there is a confession that we make to have his forgiveness applied to us at the moment of receiving His salvation, but it is a one-time confession.
In 1 John 1:9, after addressing the Gnostic heresy that says people have no sin in their lives (1 John 1:8), John shares the gospel with these unbelievers and declares…
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
As we become aware of the sin in our lives and that it separates us from God and our need for a Savior, then if we confess that before Jesus and put our faith and trust in Him for salvation, He will forgive us and purify us from all unrighteousness.
And that happens right then at that moment. There is no need to continue to confess sin each time it happens in our lives to be forgiven. In Ephesians 1:13, Paul says
13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Paul says when you believed, at the moment of conversion the Holy Spirit came to dwell in you and made you in Christ. That is a forever union.
Paul didn’t say that when you believed, the Spirit was deposited into your life until you sin again and confess. It was a one-time confession at the moment of belief that puts the Spirit in you and in union with Christ because as Paul said even a few verses earlier in Ephesians 1:7…
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins
Jesus’ blood establishes your once for all forgiveness that you receive at the moment of your salvation confession.
YOU ARE NOT OUT OF FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD
There are a lot of people who will not preach that you have to confess your sins to be forgiven but to reestablish fellowship with God. Usually, this is taken from 1 John 1:9 because of some of the fellowship language earlier in the chapter leading up to that verse. But we’ve already established that John is writing this to unbelievers who had fallen for Gnostic heresy.
Besides, in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, when the son comes home after sinning against his Father, the Father (who represents God in the parable) runs to the son, kisses him, and embraces him (Luke 15:20).
He has fellowship with his son. The son hadn’t said a word yet. No confession. No evidence that he had truly turned from his sin yet. Nothing. The Father’s fellowship hadn’t been broken with his son. It was still evident through the Father’s reaction before the son said a word.
Now, we do see the son try and confess (Luke 15:21), but the Father had already fellowshipped with him even before he confesses. And even after he confesses his sin to the Father, the way Jesus tells the story it’s as if the Father just brushes that off. He doesn’t make him beg for forgiveness, reveal the emotion that he is truly sorry, or make him grovel in any way. He just throws a party.
Because of Jesus’ one-time sacrifice for all sin, you are never out of fellowship with God.
CAN I STILL CONFESS SIN EVEN IF I DON’T HAVE TO?
Yes! Just don’t confess to try and get forgiveness or reestablish fellowship with God.
Confess simply means to agree. When you sin, agree with God that it was sin. Agree with Him that you tried to find life outside of Him through whatever sinful behavior you exhibited. You can even express that you are sorry and apologize for it.
But at that moment, don’t ask for forgiveness. You already have it.
Instead, thank Him for the forgiveness that you do have. Thank Him that you remain in fellowship with Him. Thank Him that you still have all the fullness of Life and blessings in Him.
And then, just continue walking with Him, trusting Him as your Life and to express that Life through you by His grace.