• CHRISTOCENTRIC MEAL
• DR ABEL DAMINA
• MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2020

• HOW ABOUT CONFESSION OF SINS?

This concept has been bandied before many believers today.

While some say it is not needed to be saved, some agree and say it is however needed to maintain your salvation. That is, to remain redeemed, one has to confess sins regularly.

First thing to know is this: confession of sins is an Old Testament concept.

Leviticus 16:21 and Aaron shall lay his hands on the head of the live goat, and he shall confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their unrighteousness, and all their sins; and he shall lay them upon the head of the live goat, and shall send him by the hand of a ready man into the wilderness.

We see a requirement for individual confession of sins.

• Leviticus 5:5
• Leviticus 26:40
• Numbers 5:7

In examining the epistles however, there are no instructions to believers to confess sins to God.

Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Philippians 2:11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

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.

1st John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1st John 4:15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.

Our confession in the New Testament is Jesus (all that he has done for us and is doing in and through us). He was made sin, so we are not to confess our sins but to confess what he did to, and for our sins; He paid for and took it away eternally by the sacrifice of himself.

(We would examine 1st John 1:9 later).

As we saw previously when explaining how a man is saved, the word “confession” implies to say the same things in agreement.

So, what the believer confesses is what Christ has done for sins, and not a confession of sins.

CONFESSION: I confess that I am the redeemed of God and I stand forgiven forever. My sins have been forgiven in Christ.