Question
Do we need to confess our sins to God in order to be forgiven?
Answer
No. Confessing our sins to God does not bring about God's forgiveness. People who believe that confession of our sins brings about God's forgiveness are living in an illusion and a lie. If confession of sins brings about God's forgiveness, then it was unnecessary for Jesus Christ to shed his blood and die on the cross. There would have been no need for the Old Testament animal blood sacrifices, if all the Israelites just needed to confess their sins to God to receive God's forgiveness.
A key verse in understanding this is Hebrews 9:22.
It was the blood of Jesus, which took away our sins, not our confession. He is the final sacrifice for our sins. Blood must be shed in order for God to forgive our sins, not the shooting of our apologies up to God.
What is Confession? To confess means to agree or admit something. When we sin, we should agree with God that the sin we are about to do or have done was wrong. To admit that sin is wrong is the very place we need to start in order to start thinking differently. Sin often hurts others. It is the very opposite of love. "charity shall cover the multitude of sins." (1 Peter 4:8). Confession and admission of our sin is the very beginning place where we need to start for the renewal of our minds. We begin to grow in grace when we learn that “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.” (1 Corinthians 10:23).
An Obsession With Confession For Forgiveness
Somewhere along the line, most Christian seminaries teach their "pastor to be" students, that confession is necessary for forgiveness. There is a vast difference between confessing our sins to God, and confessing our sins to God, in order to receive His forgiveness. See the difference? If you believe that the confession of our sins brings about God's forgiveness, then you have just negated the cross of Jesus Christ and have “...trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:29).
Keep on Reading
Pastors use 3 verses to defend their argument that a Christian needs to confess their sin to God in order to be forgiven.
1. Matthew 6:12 - "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors".
This verse is part of the "Lord's Prayer", which is chanted in just about every church, every week. The Lord's Prayer was a prayer which Jesus gave to the disciples, not for Christians today. It is important to know the timeline here and ask yourself, "What dispensation was this given under?". The obvious answer is after Jesus died on the cross. At this point, Jesus was alive and was still under the Law of Moses. One key to understand that this was an Old Testament prayer given to the disciples is to keep on reading to Matthew 6:14-15 "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.".
Is Matthew 6:14-15 true under the New Testament today? No, because Jesus has forgiven your sins once time at the cross, and is "not imputing their trespasses unto them;" (2 Corinthians 5:19). Forgiveness under the Old Testament was conditional. Forgiveness under the New Testament is unconditional and based on what Jesus did on the cross, who took away the sins of the world.
2. James 5:16 - "Therefore, confess your faults one to another"
There are many pastors and media ministries using James 5:16 when presenting their case, that you must ask God to forgive you. But if you listen carefully, they only use the first part of James 5:16 "“Confess your faults one to another,". They always stop there and do not keep on reading. Without a doubt, God wants us to confess our sins to one another in order to be reconciled to one another.
3. 1 John 1:9 - "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness"
1 John 1:9 is a verse offering salvation to gnostics unbelievers who claimed to be without sin (1 John 1:8) and to those who claimed they did not sin (1 John 1:10). The gnostics also were deceiving themselves and were making Jesus out to be a liar. Both the truth and the word were not in them. They were spiritually dead in need of life.
1 John 1:9 is easily the single most misunderstood verse in the entire Bible. Most pastors, seminaries, authors, televangelist and Christians have missed the meaning of 1 John 1:9. They use 1 John 1:9 as a "Christian bar of soap" to defend their argument that you must ask God to forgive you, after each and every sin. What if you miss one? What if you die in an auto crash after having a sinful thought? What they are ultimately saying is that God will not forgive you unless you confess it to Him and then ask Him to forgive you. With this line of thinking, a person will never come to the conclusion that God has completely forgiven them, understand the finality of the cross or be able to experience God's Sabbath rest (Hebrews 4:9-11).
Do we need to confess our sins to God in order to be forgiven?
Answer
No. Confessing our sins to God does not bring about God's forgiveness. People who believe that confession of our sins brings about God's forgiveness are living in an illusion and a lie. If confession of sins brings about God's forgiveness, then it was unnecessary for Jesus Christ to shed his blood and die on the cross. There would have been no need for the Old Testament animal blood sacrifices, if all the Israelites just needed to confess their sins to God to receive God's forgiveness.
A key verse in understanding this is Hebrews 9:22.
It was the blood of Jesus, which took away our sins, not our confession. He is the final sacrifice for our sins. Blood must be shed in order for God to forgive our sins, not the shooting of our apologies up to God.
What is Confession? To confess means to agree or admit something. When we sin, we should agree with God that the sin we are about to do or have done was wrong. To admit that sin is wrong is the very place we need to start in order to start thinking differently. Sin often hurts others. It is the very opposite of love. "charity shall cover the multitude of sins." (1 Peter 4:8). Confession and admission of our sin is the very beginning place where we need to start for the renewal of our minds. We begin to grow in grace when we learn that “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.” (1 Corinthians 10:23).
An Obsession With Confession For Forgiveness
Somewhere along the line, most Christian seminaries teach their "pastor to be" students, that confession is necessary for forgiveness. There is a vast difference between confessing our sins to God, and confessing our sins to God, in order to receive His forgiveness. See the difference? If you believe that the confession of our sins brings about God's forgiveness, then you have just negated the cross of Jesus Christ and have “...trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:29).
Keep on Reading
Pastors use 3 verses to defend their argument that a Christian needs to confess their sin to God in order to be forgiven.
1. Matthew 6:12 - "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors".
This verse is part of the "Lord's Prayer", which is chanted in just about every church, every week. The Lord's Prayer was a prayer which Jesus gave to the disciples, not for Christians today. It is important to know the timeline here and ask yourself, "What dispensation was this given under?". The obvious answer is after Jesus died on the cross. At this point, Jesus was alive and was still under the Law of Moses. One key to understand that this was an Old Testament prayer given to the disciples is to keep on reading to Matthew 6:14-15 "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.".
Is Matthew 6:14-15 true under the New Testament today? No, because Jesus has forgiven your sins once time at the cross, and is "not imputing their trespasses unto them;" (2 Corinthians 5:19). Forgiveness under the Old Testament was conditional. Forgiveness under the New Testament is unconditional and based on what Jesus did on the cross, who took away the sins of the world.
2. James 5:16 - "Therefore, confess your faults one to another"
There are many pastors and media ministries using James 5:16 when presenting their case, that you must ask God to forgive you. But if you listen carefully, they only use the first part of James 5:16 "“Confess your faults one to another,". They always stop there and do not keep on reading. Without a doubt, God wants us to confess our sins to one another in order to be reconciled to one another.
3. 1 John 1:9 - "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness"
1 John 1:9 is a verse offering salvation to gnostics unbelievers who claimed to be without sin (1 John 1:8) and to those who claimed they did not sin (1 John 1:10). The gnostics also were deceiving themselves and were making Jesus out to be a liar. Both the truth and the word were not in them. They were spiritually dead in need of life.
1 John 1:9 is easily the single most misunderstood verse in the entire Bible. Most pastors, seminaries, authors, televangelist and Christians have missed the meaning of 1 John 1:9. They use 1 John 1:9 as a "Christian bar of soap" to defend their argument that you must ask God to forgive you, after each and every sin. What if you miss one? What if you die in an auto crash after having a sinful thought? What they are ultimately saying is that God will not forgive you unless you confess it to Him and then ask Him to forgive you. With this line of thinking, a person will never come to the conclusion that God has completely forgiven them, understand the finality of the cross or be able to experience God's Sabbath rest (Hebrews 4:9-11).