Question
Should specific sins be confessed publicly?
Answer
In order to answer this question in a clear and orderly way, I will answer, from the Bible, several related questions which may help explain your question even more clearly. Confessing our sins is an important part of being a Christian. To begin, let’s turn to some related questions on this subject.
1. What does it mean to confess our sins? To confess something means to speak the same thing as another. When it comes to our sins, it means that we say the same thing about our sins that God says. We say that they are wrong, are against Him and we are responsible for them based on our choices.
In order for our confession to mean something, it must be accompanied by various attitudes such as humility, repentance, honesty and trust that God will forgive us.
2CH 7:13 “If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people,
2CH 7:14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
PRO 28:13 He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.
1JO 1:5 ¶ And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
1JO 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;
1JO 1:7 but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
1JO 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1JO 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
2. Why do we need to confess our sins? Primaril6y, we need to confess our sins to God so that fellowship (shared relationship) might be restored with Him. It is sin, the violation of God’s Law, that breaks this fellowship with Him. When we turn back to Him and away from sin, this relationship is restored again thanks to His mercy.
PSA 51:1 (For the choir director. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him,) (after he had gone in to Bathsheba.) Be gracious to me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Thy compassion blot out my transgressions.
PSA 51:2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.
PSA 51:3 For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me.
PSA 51:4 Against Thee, Thee only, I have sinned, And done what is evil in Thy sight, So that Thou art justified when Thou dost speak, And blameless when Thou dost judge.
ISA 59:1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short That it cannot save; Neither is His ear so dull That it cannot hear.
ISA 59:2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear.
1JO 1:7 but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
1JO 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1JO 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Not only do we confess our sins to restore our broken relationship with God, but also we confess to others we have sinned against in order to restore our relationship with them. Sin, when committed against others, breaks our relationship with them also.
LUK 15:17 “But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger!
LUK 15:18 ‘I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight;
LUK 15:19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men. “‘
LUK 15:20 “And he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him, and kissed him.
LUK 15:21 “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
LUK 15:22 “But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet;
LUK 15:23 and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and be merry;
LUK 15:24 for this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ And they began to be merry.
3. To whom should we confess our sins? Since all sin that we commit is against God, we must always confess our sins before Him, looking to Him for His mercy. Then, if the sin we commit involves others, we must confess this not only to God but also to them so that our relationship with God and them might be restored. In other words, it is the scope of our sins that determine how wide our confession should be, private, semiprivate or public.
MAT 18:15 ¶ “And if your brother sins, go and reprove him in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.
MAT 18:16 “But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed.
MAT 18:17 “And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax-gatherer.
ACT 19:18 Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices.
ACT 19:19 And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of all; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.
ACT 19:20 So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.
When we confess our sins to God in the proper way, we can be assured that He forgives us and also when we confess to other Christians, it is our obligation to forgive and pray for those who make such confessions.
EPH 4:31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
EPH 4:32 And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
JAM 5:16 Therefore, 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.
JAM 5:17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.
JAM 5:18 And he prayed again, and the sky poured rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
4. Finally, are there some specific sins that need to be publicly confessed? Yes, depending on how widely know that sin is. For example as we look at Acts 19:18-20 above. Then, if the sins are so numerous and have been committed for a long period of time, we have examples where a general confession for sin is accepted by God and should be accepted by others. Notice what the tax collector says in the following parable.
LUK 18:9 ¶ And He also told this parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt:
LUK 18:10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, and the other a tax-gatherer.
LUK 18:11 “The Pharisee stood and was praying thus to himself, ‘God, I thank Thee that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-gatherer.
LUK 18:12 ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’
LUK 18:13 “But the tax-gatherer, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’
LUK 18:14 “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted.”
Unlike the Catholic teaching, we are to confess our sins to God and to others that are involved. If it is public enough, then the whole congregation should be aware of it. We do not need or are we required to go to “authorized” priests to make confession and then in turn receive “absolution” (forgiveness) from them. Thankfully, there is only Christ and His blood between us and a loving merciful God if we humble ourselves and confess our sins before Him and others.
By Gary Hunt
