What Confession Really Means

It’s important that we know what it means to confess our sin, because our very forgiveness hinges on our understanding of it.

The Hebrew word for “confess” means to “acknowledge.” In the New Testament we could translate it “to agree with someone” or “to say the same thing as another.” We find the term in 1 John 1:9: “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness” (NLT).

This is essentially saying that if we will agree with God about our sin, if we will acknowledge it for what it is, not make excuses for it, see it as God sees it, and turn from it, then we will be forgiven.

But here’s the problem. Some people believe they’ve confessed their sin when they really haven’t, because they think confession is merely acknowledging their sin. For example, they’ll sin, get caught, and then say, “Okay, I confess that sin. That was a bad thing. I won’t do it again.”

Later, however, they go out and do it again. So they say, “I did it again. I confess that sin.”

That isn’t confession. They’re simply acknowledging their sin. They’re recognizing what is obvious. Confession, on the other hand, means to see sin for what it is, be sorry for it, and turn from it.

There are people who think they’ve confessed their sin and that God has forgiven them when, in reality, God hasn’t forgiven them at all. That’s because they haven’t done it God’s way. They must take that sin to the cross and recognize that it’s offensive to a holy God. Then they must turn from it, stop making excuses for it, and be sorry enough to change.

If you’re willing to do this when you’ve sinned, then God will forgive you.

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