Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

In my view, since all sins (even those involving other people) are ultimately against God (Psalm 51:4), they should be confessed to Him by the sinner, and forgiveness should be sought for Jesus' sake. There is not a need to involve another individual (such as a minister or a priest) in this confession, since Christ is the sole mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5). As a sign of repentance (and also as indicated by the verse cited in the question) there should be a determination and conscious effort on the part of the sinner (with the help of the Holy Spirit) to avoid repeating the sin.

In the case of sins against other people, in addition to confessing them to God, they should also be confessed to the person(s) involved (Matthew 5:23-26), along with an effort to undo any consequences of the sin, both as a demonstration of repentance, and in order to restore fellowship (if possible) with the person(s).

As a part of confession, there should also be a willingness on the part of the sinner to accept whatever adverse temporal consequences may result from the sin (whether those consequences are from God or from other people), without having it result in a loss of faith in God, or of fellowship with Him (2 Samuel 12:1-23).

February 24 2020 • 3 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Mark Vestal Proud of nothing of myself. Freed by Christ who did it all!

Confession of sins was required of Israel while under God's covenant with them. Everyone living today, under God's age of grace (Eph 3:2), are not required to confess our sins to God because our sins were defeated at the cross of Jesus Christ. Paul never mentions confessing our sins, or even how to get our sins forgiven in ANY of his thirteen epistles to us. The reason for this is because God is not imputing our sins to us today. ALL of our sins (past, present, and future) have been forgiven through Christ's shed blood. THAT is our TRUE good news (1 Cor 15:1-4)!

2 Cor 5:17-21
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

Which "non-imputed" sin would we be required to confess? Rather, we are to have faith that God forgave us through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. We trust that what He alone completed at the cross on our behalf was the sufficient payment to God for all of our sins.

Rom 3:25
"Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;"

Eph 1:7
"In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;"

Col 1:14
"In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:"

The sin barrier between God and man has been removed. God's grace is never a license to sin, but it is where we find the strength to better serve Him after belief. We find peace in knowing that we will never be punished by God for our failures as believers. That was Christ's gift to the world, especially them that will believe this (1 Tim 4:10).

Eph 2:13-16
"But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:"

January 16 2024 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report