Confession
Let me be frank for a minute. My boyfriend and I talked on FaceTime over this topic for a good two hours, it got too late to continue, so it ended up partially left in the air. After that day, I cracked open my Bible, searched google, and even asked my pastor for information. This has to be the topic I have researched the hardest.
Let's start at the confusion between the perspectives of my boyfriend and I. We were looking at confession after salvation. I felt that confession was necessary after we sin because God forgives us after we confess. I believed that sin separates us from God even after we're saved. Not separated in the manner of eternal damnation but relationally with Him. He felt that God had already forgiven us even before we confess it to God and there is no separation from Him at all.
Where did we end up? Well, we had a pretty heavy talk opening up the Word of God and studying it between the two of us. We looked at verses that dealt with confession. I started to understand that at the moment of our salvation, God had already forgiven past, present, and future sins. (See Acts 3:19, Isaiah 43:25, and Hebrews 10:17) But we still had things to work out.
The thing I didn't want to undermine is the importance of confession, the significance of living in sin, and the idea that there is a separation between you and God when you sin. Does this mean you'll go to hell? Absolutely not. What it does mean is there is a disconnect in the communication. Look at 1 John 1.
The Word of Life1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
Walking in the Light
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
Reading through this passage of scripture two things are clear: (1) the passage is dealing with Christians (see verse 3) and (2) something happens when a person is living in sin (see verse 6). The phrase "walk in darkness" simply refers to a person living in sin. Additionally, living in sin is going about life unrepentant of the known sin in life.
I can distinctly remember as a child directly disobeying my parents. Sometimes I got away with it and other times I did not. Did my disobedience make me any less a child of my parents? Not one bit. Was there a block in our relationship? Yes, and it was my doing. I knew I did wrong against my parents; but until the moment I made it right, confessing that sin to mom or dad, our relationship was strained. Likewise, with our relationship with God, when we choose to sin without calling it what God calls it, we are walking in darkness. There's a separation in our relationship with God. We're not at all separated in the manner of being a child saved from condemnation but in the form of a relationship. Let's not forget that God never sins against us and always knows when we sin. While we may be able to fool our earthly fathers and hide things from them, we can never hide things from God (see Hebrews 4:13).
All this to say, the conclusion I have found what I stand by when it comes to confession and sin. God forgives us once and for all and will always love us; however, God does not desire us to live in sin. He wants us to call it as it is: sin. He further desires us to confess that to Him and admit it as wrong. The idea behind this is not so you can be assured you are going to heaven. You already have that assurance at salvation. The idea behind confessing sin is to mend your relationship with God that you messed up. This is a choice that only you can make. The easiest thing to do is continue pretending that you aren't struggling with sin, but that is by no means the godly thing to do.
Check out these other verses dealing with confession:
I can distinctly remember as a child directly disobeying my parents. Sometimes I got away with it and other times I did not. Did my disobedience make me any less a child of my parents? Not one bit. Was there a block in our relationship? Yes, and it was my doing. I knew I did wrong against my parents; but until the moment I made it right, confessing that sin to mom or dad, our relationship was strained. Likewise, with our relationship with God, when we choose to sin without calling it what God calls it, we are walking in darkness. There's a separation in our relationship with God. We're not at all separated in the manner of being a child saved from condemnation but in the form of a relationship. Let's not forget that God never sins against us and always knows when we sin. While we may be able to fool our earthly fathers and hide things from them, we can never hide things from God (see Hebrews 4:13).
All this to say, the conclusion I have found what I stand by when it comes to confession and sin. God forgives us once and for all and will always love us; however, God does not desire us to live in sin. He wants us to call it as it is: sin. He further desires us to confess that to Him and admit it as wrong. The idea behind this is not so you can be assured you are going to heaven. You already have that assurance at salvation. The idea behind confessing sin is to mend your relationship with God that you messed up. This is a choice that only you can make. The easiest thing to do is continue pretending that you aren't struggling with sin, but that is by no means the godly thing to do.
Check out these other verses dealing with confession:
Proverbs 28:13 "Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who concesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy."
Psalm 32:5 "I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,' and you forgave the iniquity of my sin." (really all of Psalm 32)
Psalm 51
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