Confessing Sin!

[Monk Brendan]

Greetings my brothers and sisters in Christ. I come to you in Love and in the power of the Holy Spirit. There is a issue in the church today that I need to address and i'm asking for your views (backed by scripture of course). After you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you like 2 Cor 5:17 states "Become new" do you still confess your sins to God seeking forgiveness? I know the truth, I just wanna see what others have to say on the topic....

If you think so...

 

[Monk Brendan]

Why didn't the Apostle Paul tell the believer to confess sins for forgiveness?

Because James did. James 5:16...Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

 

[Strong in Him]

I have never contemplated it either but I do contemplate and believe I am perfect IN HIM.

I believe that God looks at me and sees me as he knows I will be one day - perfect. But I am not there yet.
None of us are. Acts 2 says that the Lord added to their number those who were BEING saved, and 2 Corinthians 3:18 says that we are BEING transformed into Jesus' likeness.

 

[Walter and Deborah]

Greetings my brothers and sisters in Christ. I come to you in Love and in the power of the Holy Spirit. There is a issue in the church today that I need to address and i'm asking for your views (backed by scripture of course). After you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you like 2 Cor 5:17 states "Become new" do you still confess your sins to God seeking forgiveness? I know the truth, I just wanna see what others have to say on the topic....

Good evening or Morning Brothers and Sisters, I must say that: Confession is one thing, but forsaking is another: PROVERBS 28:13 KJV "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh [them] shall have mercy."

This is where confession is made unto salvation, Romans 10:10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

 

[redleghunter]

Why didn't the Apostle Paul tell the believer to confess sins for forgiveness?

Romans 10:9

 

[redleghunter]

YES!!!!!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I'M GETTING SO MANY HATE MESSAGES BUT GOD IS STILL GOOD

I have not seen a hate message. If so please point out to mods.

 

[redleghunter]

Would confessing our sins help us to keep from doing the same sin again?
Would confessing to a fellow Christian help them to help us with our sins?
We may not have to confess our sins to other Christians, but is there anything against doing it?

Confessing sins to each other is especially important if you want others to pray for us.

 

[redleghunter]

that's not true. when it saying "cannot" that's talking about a practice. A true believer cannot live in and practice sin. and the reason is we have the Holy spirit which empowers us to overcome sin. Do we fall short yes but it's not a practice. there is a huge difference between a believer who sins and someone who lives in and practices sin

I agree we do fall short. That's why prayer is so important in sanctification before a Holy God. That means admitting our shortfalls He already knows and praying for strength and guidance. In all humility.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

It seems that the Dying on the cross had limited power.......and we need to make sure we do this and that so that its effectiveness remains.

Most believe Adam did one act....and the whole world has to do nothing to be totally affected and doomed by it.

Wouldn't this make the act of Adam, more powerful than the act of Jesus?

The limit to God's power on earth has always been us.

the body we have is of adam, and the spirit within us who are born again is of Jesus ... what is more powerful is based on what we feed more.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Confessing sin is really important when communicating the gospel, the veil that covers the eyes of some people is sin. When people are unrepentant of their sins, it becomes a form of toxic waste that appears everywhere ... however, since people are not taking ownership of their sins, I can confess them in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, just to clean the area up.
.
But say you're a liver in the body of Christ, what's going on in other parts of the body may not make any sense to you.

 

[redleghunter]

Hi Bling, I don't think so, or St. James must have gotten something terribly wrong in his Epistle

James 5
16 Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.​

Yours and His,
David
p.s. - there is no Biblical evidence that confession needs to be done before a priest, pastor or elder however (though it could be, of course), or that such an act is in anyway a requirement to be forgiven. There is also no Biblical evidence that sinning (no matter how "bad" the sin may be) can/will cause a believer to lose their salvation, in fact, all contextual Biblical evidence is to the contrary .. cf John 6:37-40, 10:27-28; Hebrews 7:25.

We must walk humbly before a Holy God.


He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)

 

[gordonhooker]

Why didn't the Apostle Paul tell the believer to confess sins for forgiveness?

I am not sure what you mean... are you saying that unless the Apostle Paul said something then it can't be true? That is what it sounds like.

 

[Introverted1293]

According to Matt Chandler, part of being a Christian is walking in daily repentance. I don't know what exactly that means. But it sounds like, according to him, we are to confess every day our sins. But I don't know how you would do that if you are not sinning.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

According to Matt Chandler, part of being a Christian is walking in daily repentance. I don't know what exactly that means. But it sounds like, according to him, we are to confess every day our sins. But I don't know how you would do that if you are not sinning.

(Romans 7:17)

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Thanks for this response but I don't think you got what I was pointing out. I confess my sins or shortcomings or how you put it "disclose" to God everyday but as a believer, a born again christian! I don't confess in order to receive forgiveness because I already received forgiveness the moment I accepted Jesus as my Lord and savior... thanks for your input

You are correct. The moment we accepted Christ, we were forgiven and cleansed of every sin, past, present, and future. 1 John 1:9 therefore has two dimensions: The once and only application at our conversion which totally cleanses us for all time, and the on-going application that keeps our faith in Christ and therefore maintains our fellowship with Him when we are discouraged because of our shortcomings and failures and feel ashamed to approach Him, Applying 1 John 1:9 is the perfect antidote to it.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Snively.

Christ came to save sinners, and I am the chief of sinners. It is not the healthy who need a physician, but the sick.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[W2L]

Because James did. James 5:16...Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

Christ came to save sinners, and I am the chief of sinners. It is not the healthy who need a physician, but the sick.

-CryptoLutheran

Both scriptures refer to Spiritual sickness, and so does Isaiah 53. IMO

Isaiah 53:5New King James Version (NKJV)
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.

 

[1stcenturylady]

(Romans 7:17)

Huh? Your text is about those still under the law who had not yet accepted Christ. This OP is about the "Christian" walk, not the Jewish walk. The law couldn't make one righteous, only the Holy Spirit that is a gift from Jesus after we repent. It is the Holy Spirit then that makes one dead to sin and no longer in the flesh.

 

[Goatee]

I have not seen a hate message. If so please point out to mods.

He is not getting any hate messages. He is just annoyed that some people see things differently than him.

 

[Strong in Him]

One has to have peace of mind so I must respond as I believe and as scripture teaches me, the problem I see with this view and many I fellowship with at the church I go, they say the same thing you say, I say or have said to some of them, then tell me this, when you were lost is that not how you lived and thought then?

No.
Adam had had a perfect relationship with his Maker, but then he disobeyed him, and that relationship was broken. It was no longer perfect; sin - rebellion against God - had come into the world. And whatever Adam DID, that relationship would not be restored again. If he had physically died at that point, he would have died separated from God, and that would have been that for him, for all eternity.
Adam and Eve died spiritually that day - and mankind was separated from God from that point on. They were given animal sacrifices, as a way to atone for their sin, and I am sure that God forgave people who offered the correct sacrifices, trusted him and lived by faith in his law.
But animal sacrifices were not perfect; people couldn't keep the law and still sinned. So then Jesus came, as the spotless Lamb of God, to offer his life once and for all.

It is his sacrifice, and only his sacrifice, that atones for us and mends the relationship between us and God. When we accept him, we are saying that nothing WE do will make any difference in getting to heaven or making us right with God. GOD has saved us and, as Abraham said, "provided the Lamb for the sacrifice". Anyone who believes this, confesses their sins, receives Jesus and asks for eternal life is saved - from spiritual death; from the consequences of having a broken relationship with God and dying in our sin, and without him.

So we ARE saved, but we are also BEING saved, or made whole - which we call sanctification.
We are saved, in the sense that if the world were rushing toward a cliff, under which was hell - we have been pulled back from that and are now on a different path.
We are being saved, because although we are on a different path - the narrow way - although we have new natures, and want to serve and worship only God; we are not perfect. We do not have restored and perfect human natures, we just have a restored relationship with God and are in Jesus, who IS perfect. We are still learning in our Christian lives. The devil is still around to try to force us off the path, and sometimes he succeeds. When that happens, we know that we can confess, be forgiven and the relationship between us and God will be restored again. As John says in his letter, "if we do sin, we have One who speaks to the Father in our defence; Jesus Christ, the righteous One." 1 John 2:1. He also says that if we confess our sins, God will forgive us.

Non Christians don't believe this. If they believe in God at all, they may feel that it is their own good deeds that will make up, or "atone" for the bad things they do. They may well feel that they aren't perfect but that they "haven't murdered anyone", so they are not so bad really.
I certainly believed this. Even though I went to church from an early age, I believed for some time that it was MY actions that would get me to heaven; that I was doing God a favour by being in church and that I was able to save myself.
But whatever I believed, and the world believes, the fact is that without Jesus; without accepting his atoning death for sin, were, and are, not saved from spiritual death and do not have a restored relationship with God. Only in Jesus is that possible.

When one is saved and they become new creations in Christ if there is no difference in my walk and thoughts and actions, I would not see that I am a new creation.

There WILL be a difference in our words and actions.
We are under new management in Christ. HE is our Lord, not sin. It is HE who gives us love, security, peace and puts us right with God - NOT the number of possessions we have, etc.
We will find that we want to love God, serve him, put him first and do his will. We will look at the world as he sees it, and live by his teachings, and not the world's standards.
All I am saying is that being saved from spiritual death and separation from God - the drop off the cliff - is an instant thing. This puts us on the narrow road, which we will be on for as long as we live. And while we ARE still alive, there will be temptations and those who try to get us off the road.

I believe that one of the biggest lies the devil can tell us is, "you disobeyed God just then; God is not pleased with you. But don't feel you need to say 'sorry' to him; he forgave you 2000 years ago." If he can install that attitude in us, it won't be long before we are sinning more and more, and refusing to turn to the One who can forgive us, make us clean and restore our relationship with God again.

Granted perfect holiness will never be reach I believe in this life except in Christ Jesus,

Exactly. That's why we need to confess when we mess up or stray from the path.

but if there is no growth in a holy walk, I myself would be concerned and ask myself, why haven't I changed?

Yes, and so would I.
If I claimed to have a new heart, and new Lord, and still followed my old beliefs and actions, I, and others, would be justified in asking what difference Jesus made to my life.
But that is sanctification - BEING made holy and changed into Jesus' likeness - and is a lifelong process. Just because you mess up once as a Christian, it does not mean that you were never saved.