CONFESSING In order to obtain forgiveness of sins both the alien sinner and the child of God must make a confession. But the confession made by the alien sinner is not the same as the confession made by the child of God. The alien sinner must confess Christ. Jesus said in Matthew 10:32-33, “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But wiiosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” The Ethiopian eunuch confessed Christ in Acts 8:37: “And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” When a truly penitent person makes this confession he is then ready to be baptized into Christ, as was the eunuch on that occasion. On the other hand, the child of God is to confess his faults. James 5:16 says, “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.” One can be forgiven only of those sins he will confess. It needs to be understood that the purpose of the confession of sins is not to advertize the sin: it is rather to advertize the repentance. Sins that are known only to God need to be repented of and confessed only to God. I need not confess publicly those sins that are known only to God. but have had evil thoughts, there is no need to make a public confession of that which is known only to God. Sins known only to God and one or two others need to be confessed to God and those who know about them If I have talked ugly to my wife, I need to apologize to her and ask her forgiveness. There is no need to make a public confession of such. Furthermore a public confession will not substitute for a private confession in such cases. if sins are generally known then a public confession needs to be made, so that all who know of the sins will know also of the repentance. First John 5:16 lets us know’ for sure that a public confession is required in order for public sins to be forgiven. That verse says, “If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.” This shows that Christians are to pray for the forgiveness of their brethren commit, unless they commit a “sin unto death.” What is this “Sin unto death.” Since chapter’l of this same book teaches that God will forgive any and every sin a brother will confess. it follows that the “sin unto death” is any sin a brother will not confess. If I know a brother has sinned, the only way I can know to pray for his forgiveness is when he confesses his sin. Let us not make the mistake of using the public confession merely as a means of reporting cur sins. but let it be a means of advertizing genuine repentance. --Bobby Duncan
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 09:01:59 +0000
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