CCC #4: Confession - Part 2 - OT and More
The Corrupt Christian Concept Series
(All scripture references are BSB unless otherwise noted.)
As a review, in my last article we looked at confession in scripture and specifically 1 John 1:9 which ties confession to God's forgiveness and cleansing of sin.
We discussed how the scriptural definition of confession is not a “sin listing” or apology, but it is verbal agreement with God (or others) about any topic, including sin.
I expressed my belief that the “sin listing” idea is an enemy idea, not God's idea, because it overly focuses on sin, not the work of Christ. Thus, we should repent of this idea and confess the truth about confession.
James 5
I started writing about James 5 and specifically James 5:16 which advocates confession of sin to one another.
However, this is a complicated passage and I feel like I should do a separate article focusing only on this passage.
So, there will be a 3rd confession article, for better or worse.
Review - Paul Never Once Mentions Confession of Sin
I mentioned this in my first confession article briefly, but I wanted to re-emphasize it, because it is actually quite important.
I realize that I am going against hundreds of years of church tradition in some of these articles - particularly about confession of sin. Tradition which crosses many denominations in various forms. Thus, I realize these ideas may be hard to swallow.
I'm not backing down from my position however. I simply believe some traditions, especially this one, are wrong - no matter how many go along with them. I do not take this stand lightly - I recognize the wisdom in councilors.
Thus, I need my arguments for my position to be well done. Standing against the flow only works if you stand with a strong foundation.
If none of my other arguments are impactful, I hope this one is: Paul never once combines confession with sin. In any circumstance - for believers or unbelievers. Ever. Not once!
Don't you find that peculiar?
80-98% of the Early Church was Estimated to be Illiterate
Consider the circumstances of the early church, especially the Gentile churches - a high percentage were illiterate - historians estimate between 80-98% were illiterate.
A few of the major Gentile cities did have synagogues, so some of the people could go there and hear the old testament read. However, the majority of the time it was Jews or Torah converts who went there, not the average gentile.
We see an example of this in Acts 17 when Paul went to Berea and spoke at the Jewish synagogue. It is implied that it is the Berean Jews who searched the scriptures to check on Paul.
It says some of them (the Jews in the synagogue) believed along with some prominent Greeks. Thus, it was mostly Jews in the synagogue who were literate and actively read scripture.
And Luke deliberately uses the word 'prominent' for the Greeks. These were in a higher level of society where literacy would have been more available.
And their activity in the synagogue indicated that they were most likely converts to Judaism or seeking to be.
Minimal Direct Access to Scripture for Most in the Early Church
Some cities, like Philippi, had no synagogue. Historical accounts suggest it was mostly women in Philippi, led by Lydia. Sadly, they would have even had a higher amount of illiteracy than men at this time in history.
Either way, there would have been minimal access to scripture for the church in Philippi - perhaps only the letter Paul sent to them: Philippians.
Paul would have taught there of course, and we cannot know what he verbally taught. However, his letter would have been treasured by them. The few who could read would have repeated it often for the rest.
Paul's Letters Emphasize His Most Important Teaching
Paul's letters would have been his chance to emphasize and reinforce his verbal teaching. Some of this was very personal for the specific church (another future CCC).
However, he chose to never mention confession of sin in Philippians (or any other epistle). Don't you find this curious?
Note: Paul does mention confessing Christ, but not sin. Again, Christ and the gospel should be our primary confession, not sin.
It is quite the privilege we have to be able to so easily access the entire canon of scripture, but we must take great care that we don't abuse that privilege by picking and choosing things to emphasize that scripture does not.
Nor should we establish a major all-encompassing doctrine that has such scant evidence from scripture. I don't care if a million people over 2000 years does it, is it truly what God is looking for?
If the church at Philippi could have a vibrant walk with Christ without a known emphasis on confession of sin, then so can we.
Confessing Christ is what matters. You do that well and you won't have to worry about sin. And this is why Paul didn't worry about confession of sin in his writings.
Is This an Old Covenant Idea?
There is still uncertainty in my mind about how this idea got to be so prevalent, so, I thought: maybe it was an old covenant or old testament idea.
This would still not be an excuse, since we are not under the old covenant, and never were as Gentiles; however, it might explain how it came to be.
After investigating, this is not totally the case. Even in the old testament, confession seems to be quite similar to the new testament concept, except that forgiveness is anecdotally tied to it.
Note: I say 'anecdotally' because this concept is mostly in human 'prayers'. David, etc., is crying out to God, claiming God will forgive once he confesses.
There is no direct reference in the old testament where God Himself speaks of confessing for forgiveness.
However, forgiveness is implied in the Torah, which was given by God. The scapegoat is referenced as someone listing their sin and the priest putting it on the scapegoat.
I will be looking at confession of sin in the Torah below along with many of the other OT passages.
My conclusion is that there is little cause to have an ongoing “confession of sin” ritual, even from the old testament.
Here is a brief summary of what I found.
Confession in the Old Testament
The Hebrew transliteration of the word translated confession is “yadah”. Here is what biblehub.com lists as the literal meaning from Strong's Concordance;
“A primitive root; used only as denominative from yad; literally, to use (i.e. Hold out) the hand; physically, to throw (a stone, an arrow) at or away;”
As you can see, this is still not specifically “sin listing”. The idea is that one is “verbally throwing out” a belief system. So, it is similar to the new testament idea of confession.
This word is used 114 times in the old testament. Yet again, similar to the new testament, only around 10 times does it have the object of sin, thus about 10 percent.
Thus, even if the 'traditional' idea of confession came from the OT, the near exclusive connection to sin still doesn't hold up. 90% of the time our confession should be focused on something else.
Most often this is translated “give thanks” or “give praise” (to God). Again, it has a similar meaning. It is verbally acknowledging (throwing out) your beliefs about God who is worthy of praise.
Confession in the Torah
Let's take a look at confession in the Torah or old covenant Law. Perhaps this is where our bad ideas about confession come from.
Leviticus 5:5-6 - “5-If someone incurs guilt in one of these ways, he must confess the sin he has committed,
6-and he must bring his guilt offering to the LORD for the sin he has committed: a female lamb or goat from the flock as a sin offering. And the priest will make atonement for him concerning his sin.”
The previous 'ways' listed here are mostly various ways that a person has become 'unclean'. It is often 'accidental' stuff. It even says, “once he realizes it”, then go to the priest.
There is also the person who knows information about someone in a public 'trial' and keeps quiet. The other is if you “swear thoughtlessly”.
Hence, you break one of these laws and you must come and “throw out” or acknowledge the truth of what happened to the priest and he makes the offering.
Again, under the old covenant sacrificial system with human priests, you had to verbally list your sin in order for the priest to deal with it.
Even the most ardent Evangelical Torah lover will admit we are not under this system any longer. Thus, this purpose for confession of sin no longer exists.
But, let's keep looking.
The Scapegoat
Leviticus 16:21 - “Then he is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities and rebellious acts of the Israelites in regard to all their sins. He is to put them on the goat’s head and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man appointed for the task.”
This was the ritual of the scapegoat - the high priest (specifically Aaron at the time) is to lay his hand on the goat's head and 'confess' all the sins of the entire nation.
By default, we see this can't be “sin listing”. How could Aaron know every sin every person did? Obviously, he didn't.
However, much like new covenant confession, he could “throw out” his verbal agreement with God that the nations sins needed atonement.
This was a general proclamation of the nation’s sins, not an indication of individual confession of sin.
God's Prediction of Israel's Failure to Keep the Mosaic Covenant
Leviticus 26:40-42 - “40-But if they will confess their iniquity and that of their fathers in the unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, by which they have also walked in hostility toward Me
— 41-and I acted with hostility toward them and brought them into the land of their enemies—and if their uncircumcised hearts will be humbled and they will make amends for their iniquity,
42-then I will remember My covenant with Jacob and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.”
This is God giving a prophecy of how Israel would abandon Him and the Mosaic covenant (Torah) - all of which came true.
It is interesting that the covenant God promises to remember is not the Mosaic covenant - it is the Abrahamic covenant - the original 'grace' covenant.
However, even in the future God is predicting, these people would still be under the Torah, thus they would need to go back to it and “make amends”.
However, again, it would be impossible for them to make a full listing of all the sins of the people. And in this case, go back in history and make a list for their ancestors too!
This is again a general admission that they have sinned, not a specific “sin listing”.
Notice that God says their hearts are 'uncircumcised'. There are several new testament references to this. A believer is indicated to have a “circumcised heart” indicating the new birth and their new creation status. (Acts 7:15; Rom. 2:25-29; Phil. 3:3; Col. 2:11)
This is further indication that God is predicting the new covenant here. The answer to their abrogation of the old covenant was ultimately the new covenant, not a return to the old.
Again, this is much like 1 John 1:9: God simply expects them to agree with Him that they are sinners. They have abrogated the Mosaic covenant that they agreed to. They need to recognize this fact.
Yet, the result of this is not putting them back under Torah, but going back to the original and only covenant: the Abrahamic covenant of God's grace.
Of course, we know that Christ made this possible with His finished work. Even back in Leviticus God is showing in advance His eternal way of salvation. He is demonstrating 1 John 1:9.
Don't Deny Sin as a General Issue
Again, if you are an unregenerate sinner, in Adam, and you think you are A-Ok with God and need no divine help, then you need to repent and confess your sin.
Israel thought they were doing just fine throwing out their covenant promises to God - and they suffered the consequences - just as God predicted. He even gave them advance warning!
Humanity hasn't really changed. Again, under any covenant, as an unregenerate human, if you think you have no issues, or that you can deal with them yourself by keeping rules or making amends, then you need to repent and confess this ungodly mindset.
But, by default, believers have already done this. Just as Christ does not die over and over, we don't need to confess over and over.
Confession in a Theocracy
Numbers 5:5-7 - “5-And the LORD said to Moses, 6-“Tell the Israelites that when a man or woman acts unfaithfully against the LORD by committing any sin against another, that person is guilty
7-and must confess the sin he has committed. He must make full restitution, add a fifth to its value, and give all this to the one he has wronged.”
This is the last time confession of sin is mentioned in the Torah (that I can find). Only 4 times. Even in the Torah, there is a distinct lack of emphasis on this concept.
In this case, this is about human to human relationship under the theocratic Israelite system.
This is quite simple, and mostly mirrors any governmental justice system. We will see something similar below in Proverbs. If you wronged someone, you were required to agree that you did it and make restitution.
Obviously this is common sense and required for a functional human society. God saw that the Torah needed this because as humans we love to try and get away with stuff.
One of the many reasons for the Torah was God helping the line of Christ to survive through paganism because of His promises to Abraham. This was but one of many laws that enabled their societal thriving.
This is the same even in our modern justice system. When you break the law, it will go much better for you if you admit it and make restitution. This is not a God focused idea or even specifically spiritual.
Again, as we will see later in Proverbs, this is simply a wise way to function in any society. This play no bearing in establishing a “sin listing ritual” for new covenant believers.
Torah Confession Conclusion
I can see how perhaps the more modern concept of sin listing for forgiveness could be a product of mixing the Torah in with the new covenant.
This mixing is so prevalent and so often the root of many corrupt Christian concepts, it is not a surprise. I will eventually address this also.
Yet, even in the Torah, unless you believe in the sacrificial systems (which even modern day Jews don't actively participate in, much less Christians), then listing off your sin is still a shaky idea.
I simply see no evidence, even from the Torah, that would directly support this idea. And, if we truly believe the book of Hebrews, the sacrificial system was weak and useless anyway.
That being the case, the ongoing confession of sin that precludes the sacrifice is also done away with, just like the sacrificial system itself.
However, just as in the new testament, if you, as an individual (or a nation for that matter), are in complete denial that you have a sin problem, you need a radical mindset change.
This is certainly scriptural for all of history including today. But again, by definition, this is not a believer. And this does not institute ongoing sin-listing as a ritual for believers.
But let's keep investigating the OT.
God's Hypothetical Confession in Job
Let's look at an example from Job. I need to quote quite a few verses for context and it is fascinating as God challenges the self-righteous Job.
Job 40:6-14:
6-Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: 7-“Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me.
8-Would you really annul My justice Would you condemn Me to justify yourself? 9-Do you have an arm like God’s? Can you thunder with a voice like His?
10-Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, and clothe yourself with honor and glory. 11-Unleash the fury of your wrath; look on every proud man and bring him low.
12-Look on every proud man and humble him; trample the wicked where they stand. 13-Bury them together in the dust; imprison them in the grave.
14-Then I will confess to you that your own right hand can save you.
Of course, verse 14 is the money verse for our discussion.
Note: I may do a CCC on Job himself. I believe he is elevated too highly in Christian circles and there is some more translation mischief going on.
But…one commendation is that he was honest and open with God. God wants us to be real with Him. Much like David, Job was very open and honest about where he was emotionally.
This relational mindset towards God crosses all covenants.
Even if we are angry with Him, or have other negative feelings towards Him, the first step is to be honest about the reality of our situation. We don't have to fear being real with ourselves and especially God.
He is the source of help in all things, but only if we are not afraid to humble ourselves and be honest. The gospel frees us from fear so that we can go to Him for help.
Basically, self-righteous Job has been listening to some foul friends, and is having a pity party that all of his 'righteous' acts didn't save him from the bad things that happened to him - he is complaining to God.
God's response is telling. He vividly point out that Job's mindset is directly undermining God's power and authority. He points out Job’s self-righteous attitude - that Job thinks his own works can save him.
So, it is a hypothetical challenge. If Job can prove that he is as powerful as God, then God “will confess to you that your own right hand can save you.”
God is saying, “Your attitude shows that you think you can save yourself by your works, yet only God can save. Here is a challenge: show how you are as powerful as Me. If you can, then I will verbally agree with your attitude that you can save yourself.”
Of course, Job lost that challenge, and God never needed to confess that hypothetical false idea. But this does help us see that confession in the old testament was much the same as in the new testament.
God was hypothetically willing to verbally agree with Job, even though He knew He would never have to. This was God's way of getting Job to see the truth and repent of his false mindset of self-effort and self-reliance.
OT Example of Confession of Sin
Proverbs 28:13 - “He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.”
This is probably the main verse in all of scripture that would potentially contradict my idea of scriptural confession of sin. I have a few thoughts:
Notice this is plural: sins. This is a consistent pattern or attitude of refusing to admit any flaws. This is an intense self-righteous attitude.
This reminds me of the Gnostics in 1 John. The reasoning may be different, but the conclusion is the same: Sin - what sin? I haven't sinned. Sin is no issue.
This statement by Solomon is found in a list of wise earthly statements - like how a good or evil ruler rules. Unlike most of the new testament applications, this is not instruction towards God or specifically spiritual.
We know that God's mercy is a gift. Of course, yes, you still need to admit you need His mercy to receive it. But where the mercy is coming from in this verse is not specified. I believe it is from humans - like authorities.
Proverbs is an amazing book filled with common sense earthly wisdom.
But similar to history books (Acts), or apocalyptic books (Revelation), we must take great care when extracting new covenant believer doctrine from Proverbs.
However, God's earthly common sense wisdom in Proverbs is universal (even for unbelievers). Let's say you stole something. The authorities are investigating. What is the wise earthly thing to do?
Return what you stole, verbally agree with the authorities that you stole it (confess), and stop stealing (forsake it). I guarantee in most cases you will receive mercy from those authorities if you do this. This is Solomon's point.
However, if you try to hide it and get away with it, once you get caught, no mercy will be coming. And if you keep stealing, even less will come your way.
Even our laws have a more strict punishment for “repeat offenders”.
This cannot be about God anyway. No one can ever conceal their sin from Him. And you are delusional to think you ever could.
So, let's be careful about taking this earthly wisdom from Proverbs and spiritualizing it to make it about a ritualistic listing of sin for God under the new covenant.
Yet, believer or not, as 1 Peter 4:15 indicates, don't be stupid on earth. Even believers can still go to jail!
Follow God's earthly wisdom in Proverbs (and 1 Peter) so you don't get on the wrong side of earthly authorities. This is just common sense.
Even in the OT - Turn to God First
Sorry, this is too much fun. Here is another interesting one:
2 Chronicles 6:26-27 - “When the skies are shut and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and they turn from their sins because You have afflicted them,”
27-then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, so that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk. May You send rain on the land that You gave Your people as an inheritance.”
Notice that even in the old testament, under the old covenant - where self-effort was built into the covenant- still the admonition was to turn to God, “confess His name” first, and only then can you turn from your sin.
The focus is and always has been the power of God by faith to help us with sin. Again, grace is God's original covenant.
Yet, we do see here that under the old covenant there seems to be a connection to turning from sin and God's forgiveness. Thank God we have a better covenant! (Hebrews 11:39-40)
Again, you can see how some mix the old covenant with the new - to great spiritual harm. We have God's forgiveness by faith even before we turn from sin - it enables the turning!
There is no power in any acts of “repentance and confession” unless they are performed with a scriptural mindset of further dependence on the power of God - or faith.
Yet, even though faith was still required for justification in the old testament, mixing old covenant requirements with the new covenant does not cause faith - only doubt.
A Couple Examples from Psalm(s)
Psalm 33:2 - “Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to Him with ten strings.”
The word translated 'praise' is the same root word as 'confess'. In this instance, David is advocating using music as a way to externally express your beliefs about the Lord God.
This is by far, near 90 percent, of how this word is used in the OT and even more so in Psalm(s). But let's look at the one time David connects confession with sin:
Psalm 32:5 - “Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not hide my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah”
There is a lot to unpack here. This chapter is one of David's responses to his taking another man's wife and having the man murdered. Acts which he did in such a way as to actively hide them as the king of the people.
He committed the murder to hide the adultery. This is an active act of hiding sin by more sin. He was the king, a public official, who tried to hide his sin from those around him.
This is a prayer coming from his deep emotional distress. He is indicating his actions and God's response.
It is interesting that God “forgave the guilt” of David's sin. This is a very specific response. Why not say God “forgave my sin”, what did guilt have to do with it?
This reminds me of one of the new covenant promises from Hebrews including 10:22. We are promised that the blood of Christ cleanses our guilty conscience. This covers the purpose of David's confession.
He is also under the old covenant, where admitting sin and ongoing forgiveness are legislated (as we covered above). Since we are under the new covenant, our sins are dealt with differently.
I will leave you with how Paul dealt with Psalm 32:1-2 in Romans 4:
Romans 4:6-8 - “6-And David speaks likewise of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
7-“Blessed are they whose lawless acts are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 8-Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”
Odd that Paul leaves some out, especially the end of verse 2 “in whose spirit there is no deceit.”
That is because, until we are justified by faith, born again, and receive a new spirit, then we can never truly say that our spirit has no deceit. In Adam, our spirit abides or lives in deceit and sin.
David sadly never experienced this new birth, but he looked forward to it, and often prophesied about it. But in his soulful prayers, he had to be honest with where he was and what covenant he was under.
For him, agreeing with God was agreeing with the covenant he was living under and looking forward to the new covenant in the future.
But now that we have that better covenant, let's be careful to not look at the old and try to imitate that.
Notice that Paul did not continue to quote the additional verses about confession of sin for forgiveness. I wonder why?
Because we no longer need to confess our sins for forgiveness (unless of course we refuse to admit we have a sin problem at all).
Confess Christ for salvation. If you verbally agree with God about Christ (prompted by a heart belief that also agrees), you will be saved.
Once you are saved, learning to agree with God about sin will just happen. Christ will continue growing you with a growth that comes from God.
OT Confession Conclusion
Much like in the NT, in the OT, confession is still verbal agreement with God, mostly about His attributes, often expressed in praise, worship, and gratitude.
In the new, the praise is focused on Christ and His finished work, and in the old it was more generically God - but in reality we know these are the same thing.
It has always been about Christ and the gospel for humanity. Some looked forward (OT - Gospels), and we look back. But, repentance and confession have the same purpose - to focus our minds on God's truth and promises.
By all means, agree with God! If you are like David, trying to hide your sin, refusing to see that what you are doing is wrong, then change your mind. And yes, admit this change of mind out loud in prayer to God (and possibly to others if you are a public figure or your sin is already public).
However, this is a very specific attitude scripture is dealing with here. I still see nothing that indicates some ritual where we list off our sins on a daily basis to God or anyone else.
Do Not Elevate or Focus on Sin - Even in a Negative Way
If you are in a situation where you do need to verbalize agreement with God about a specific sin, please ask for wisdom and take great care.
Especially when confessing to others, we must not elevate the sin, even in a negative way. Don't set your mind on the sin or tempt others to do that. Set your mind on Christ.
Paul warns of this in Galatians 6:1-2. Yes, sometimes we are called to deal with specific sin within the family of God when our brothers or sisters are in denial. But great care should be taken to not over emphasize the sin.
All parties must fully agree with God on the point Paul made using David's own words: under the new covenant our sins are done away with by the finished work of Christ. We are fully justified and sanctified by faith.
That is an impactful confession of sin! If someone is in denial, this should encourage them and lift them out. We should agree with God that sin doesn't fit our new selves in Christ.
But wait, isn't that what David did in Psalm 32? Absolutely. His confession about sin was that God was always merciful and forgiving.
He instinctively recognized this about God, despite the harshness of the Torah. He did not have the full picture, but he was contemplating and looking forward to what the new covenant would mean.
And that should be our confession about sin too. No matter what, the intent of confession is to help set your mind on things above: Christ and His finished work.
The Other Confession of Sin Passages in the New Testament
While the main verses about confession are 1 John 1:9 and James 5:16, we should not skip the others. The first is found in Matthew 3 and Mark 1. It again relates to John the Baptist.
Matthew 3:6; Mark 1:5b - “Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.”
Not a whole lot to go on. As I mentioned above, confession of sin was a requirement of the old covenant law, a covenant these folks are still under.
The Greek doesn't really help us with the tenses, so we must surmise from logic. These people are not coming to John over and over to be baptized, or at least that is not indicated by the text.
Thus, when they are verbally agreeing with God about their sins, is it an individual sin listing? I think not. Again, like the Gnostics refused to do, these people are admitting they have a sin problem.
John the Baptist is the forerunner for Christ - he is a prophet showing the transition from the old covenant to new covenant. He was demonstrating that the old covenant was not enough to take care of their sins.
Thus, these people coming to him were agreeing with God that they needed help - their current condition was not able to be fixed by their own power to keep the Torah. John was pointing them to Christ.
How do we know this? Acts 19:4 - “Paul explained: “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the One coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”
This cannot be used to establish a “confession of sin” ritual as it was a one time thing and was simply an agreement with God that they had a sin problem and needed help.
This would be contrasted by the Pharisees and other religious leaders who thought they were dealing with their sin problem just fine without Christ. They accused Him of being of the devil.
How Christ Used Confession
Christ used this word multiple times - how He uses it is telling. He even used it for Himself, and certainly He wasn't confessing sin. But let's take a look:
Matthew 10:32-33 - “32-Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father in heaven.
33-But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven.”
OK, those with a works based salvation mentality, or issues with scrupulosity, will read this and quake in fear that they might have kept quiet about Christ 5 years ago at that dinner with friends.
That is not Christ's meaning here. This is a lifestyle of denying Christ (like the Pharisees). This is not a moment of giving into fear for a believer.
The word 'deny' though is helpful.
“720 arnéomai – properly, deny (refuse); hence, contradict, refuse to affirm or to confess (identify with); disown (repudiate). See also 4716 /staurós ("cross").” Copyright 2021 Discovery Bible
Again this affirms that this is a complete repudiation of Christ. You are completely and utterly refusing Christ - 'disowning' Him. Again, it is a lifestyle of rejecting Christ, not a temporary moment of fear or stupidity.
But, Christ's point is that generally when we truly believe something we don't hesitate to verbalize it. And again, note that Christ also 'confesses'. He verbalizes His agreement that we are in the family of God.
Essentially, if your are willing to confess Christ, be born again, and become a new creation - then He will spend eternity confessing that you are a child of God. Wow.
Confession for Timothy
1 Timothy 6:12-13 - “12-Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession before many witnesses.
“13-I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who made the good confession in His testimony before Pontius Pilate:”
Paul is giving his final encouragement to Timothy and reminds him of his original confession of Christ he made that gave him Christ's life and called him to use that life.
Note: Again, Christ is shown confessing. Again, this is not toward sin. Christ by default agrees with the Father in everything - He would have no hesitation verbalizing it.
Every time Christ speaks it is a confession. Technically He would even agree with God about the subject of sin, obviously. Yet, He would be agreeing about Himself that He never sinned. This is contrasted with any human.
Both Timothy and Christ are indicated to have made the “good confession”. This is obviously not about sin. This is agreeing with God about the good news or gospel!
Again, that is the primary use of confession in scripture: toward Christ and the gospel. And that should be our primary use too.
More About Confession from John
John uses the word 'confess' 5 other times in 1 and 2 John (and 4 times in the gospel of John). Let's take a look at a couple of those:
1 John 4:15 - “If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.”
2 John 1:7 - “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, refusing to confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.”
Again, those of us with ‘scrupulizing’ fleshly mindsets should not get upset about once or twice when we did not speak up about Christ. Unless it was because we really don't believe in Him!
Again, John is contrasting believers vs. deceivers, as 2 John 1:7 confirms. As a true believer, 1 John 4:15 should be massively encouraging!
John is telling his audience: “Unlike those antichrist Gnostics sitting over in the corner, you have confessed Christ and have the God of the universe indwelling you! And you live in Him.”
If God is for you, who can be against you! (Romans 8:31)
This is more confirmation that John's intention for the word confession is to call out false teachers. Whether they won't confess sin or Christ, it is a specific belief that is preventing their turning to Christ for salvation.
And it is a warning to believers in the church (both then and today.) If anyone refuses to confess Christ came in the flesh, they are a deceiver and antichrist - reject their teaching.
God's Confession to Abraham
Acts 7:17 - “But as the time drew near for God to fulfill the promise he had declared to Abraham, the people increased greatly in number in Egypt.” (NET)
I'm including this one just because it is so interesting. So, the word translated 'promise' here is the same word as confession. (Argh, translators!)
But, this again helps us understand the scriptural meaning of confession. God was declaring His agreement with His own plan to increase Abraham's seed.
Better to translate “to fulfill the confession he had declared to Abraham” to avoid confusion, but I digress.
Yet again, another 'confession' that is a divine confession - nothing to do with sin - but a good illustration of the meaning of confession nonetheless.
Continual Confession
Hebrews 13:15 - “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name.”
This is the perfect verse to encapsulate my study. This verse makes my whole point. If we make confession “obsession with sin”, we can easily miss the lifestyle to which this verse is referring.
Note: as with everything that is part of the gospel, this only happens “through Jesus”. Only through the indwelling power of Christ can we accomplish this sacrifice of praise.
Confession should be a lifestyle for the believer. We should continually agree with God about everything - especially Christ and the gospel.
Confession should truly be a sacrifice of praise. This is the fruit of true confession: gratitude and praise.
You will know it by it's fruit. If your version of confession doesn't result in gratitude and praise, it is not true scriptural confession, whether the object is sin or not.
This is certainly not the fruit of the traditional idea of confession as sin listing. All that does is get you down in the dumps and focused on your sin.
True confession will fill you with gratitude, joy, and praise because it will confirm in your mind the promises of God - not that you are a dirty rotten worm - but that you are a child of light and a saint.
Acting out your Confession
This one is fascinating! Are you excited?
2 Corinthians 9:13 - “Because of the proof this ministry provides, the saints will glorify God for your obedient confession of the gospel of Christ, and for the generosity of your contribution to them and to all the others.”
This is the “anti-tithing - give from the heart” - chapter. The Corinthians did not do everything wrong (obviously - most of them did have the Holy Spirit!)
They were quite generous. That is the 'ministry' Paul is referring to. What does he say? This is a testimony of their “obedient confession of the gospel”.
Their generosity was a sincere acting out of their verbal agreement with the gospel. And it demonstrated to others the work of the gospel in them. The generosity was a confession in and of itself.
Note: As always, we must beware of a false 'generosity' through which we feel obligated to give in order to prove something. Or we are giving as an outward show or to become more 'righteous'.
I will cover tithing in a future CCC, but Paul's point is the giving was motivated by their new hearts. It was a working out of their 'confession'.
Again, we see a genuine fruit of true scriptural confession.
Note: the confession does not have to be in the present to bear fruit. Paul is indicating here that their generosity was fruit from their past confession of the gospel. They were new creations in Christ and this work was a result of that.
Thus, we see illustrated once again that true confession is mostly focused on Christ and the gospel. And that is what will bear fruit. Our lives can become living confessions of the gospel.
False Confession
Titus 1:10, 14a, 16 - “10-For many are rebellious and full of empty talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision…14a-pay no attention to Jewish myths…
16-They profess to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good deed.”
As he does so well, Paul is excoriating false teachers, especially the Judaizers or law pushers (Hints: Circumcision -Jewish myths).
The word translated 'profess' in verse 16 is the exact same word as 'confess' - profess is an alternate English word.
These false teachers were confessing God - they professed to agree with God - however their teaching and their lifestyle belied their confession.
Thus we see demonstrated once again, much like the Gnostics in 1 John, that confession can be evil.
Both of these groups claimed to be teaching truth, yet their confession was false. But this does help us better understand what confession is.
Confession is simply verbal (or even written) agreement with a belief system. It is an outward expression of your beliefs.
Agree With God About Everything
I hope there is no believer reading this who does not agree with this section title. We should strive to have a mindset that agrees with God.
We may not always have the correct knowledge to do this well, but it should be a driving force in our life.
So, based on this study, do you agree with God about confession? Hmm. Perhaps, we should repent of our idea of confession and then say out loud:
“God has not called me to obsess about my sin, but to obsess about my Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. From now on, when the enemy reminds me of my failures, I will praise Christ that He has gifted me freedom from sin and made me the righteousness of God.”
And that, my friends, is agreeing with God about your sins. That is a proper confession of sin. This is a healthy and vital confession that will help to align your thinking with God's truth.
I hope you were able to honestly and sincerely make that confession with me now.
This enemy idea of sin listing and obsessing over sin is not scriptural and is harmful. It is the opposite of scriptural confession - it is not agreeing with God at all about your sins.
If you think that you need to list your sins off to:
Maintain ‘closeness’ to God or fellowship
Become more 'righteous',
Obtain forgiveness, etc.
Then you are disagreeing with God's gospel truth as indicated in scripture and you need to repent and confess the truth that all of these are a gift.
Thus, the traditional idea of “confession of sin” is actually anti-true scriptural confession. It is not agreeing with God at all, internally or verbally.
Part 2 Conclusion
In part two we reviewed the fact that Paul never once connects confession with sin. This is quite the evidence that confession of sin is not necessarily something that a new covenant believer should have as a daily or frequent practice.
We investigated confession in the old testament and found that many things were similar between the old and new testament concepts of confession. The main thing is that in both, confession of sin is the minority use of the word confession.
We found that God confesses His own truth, and He cannot list any sin, as He is perfect. This shows that even in the OT, the meaning of confession does not automatically include sin.
Proverbs showed us that if we have done something to bring ourselves on the wrong side of the authorities or within any earthly relationship where consequences are involved, then there is great peril in trying to hide our sin. We should just be open and honest about it as needed, and mercy from the offended parties will come.
David did show how living under the old covenant, where forgiveness is tied to “turning from sin”, is so much worse than under the new covenant (Hebrews 11:39-40). However, he also showed that if we don’t agree with God about sin, it is essential to line up our thinking and our speaking with Him, same as under the new covenant.
We covered the fact that even if we are in verbal agreement with God about sin, the act of confession should never elevate sin or overly focus on the sin - it should cause us to focus on Christ and His finished work or the gospel.
We found that both Christ and John the Baptist called for a confession of Christ - later called the “good confession”. We see that John says those who make this “good confession” are children of God, as compared to those who don’t. This is a lifestyle of confessing or denying the gospel, not a single instance.
We saw that gratitude and praise to God are the natural fruit of healthy confession; and that as we walk by the Spirit, our walk itself can be a living confession of the power of the gospel in our lives.
Finally, we looked at how the enemies of God can make “false confessions” that may seem good, but ultimately are fake fruit. We must learn to distinguish false confessions. If the confession is encouraging destructive behavior that does not reflect Christ’s character within us, then it is clearly not of God.
Thank you for your patience. I realize that not all of you will agree with my conclusions, but I hope you respect my thoroughness. I simply ask that you prayerfully consider what I have written and don’t just dismiss it out of hand.
I believe the good fruit you will find from using confession in the scriptural way I have described, and abandoning useless rituals, will be life changing for some.
Well, I have saved the most difficult for last. Hopefully, we can take a look at James 5 very soon. Walk in God’s blessings all.