Why Confession?

[B-A-C]

Why would anyone be against confessing their sins? Why would you not want to?

Confessing our sins reminds us that we have sin. People that avoid admitting they have sin in their lives tend to keep repeating them.

We can talk about no condemnation and that God forgives us, yes these things are true. But there are conditions on these things. (i.e. forgiving others, walking in the spirit, confessing your sins.. etc..)

If I sin against you, I should confess my sin to you, and ask for forgiveness. Some sins aren't always obvious (maybe you didn't even know I did it) so you would never know about my sin against you unless I confessed it. I can't ask you to forgive me if you don't know about it.

Mat 5:23 "Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,
Mat 5:24 leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.

It's kind of the same way with God. He already knows about our sins, so we aren't hiding anything from him, but we can hide our hearts from ourselves. If we don't confess our sins, we don't have to ask him to forgive us, and we don't have to repent.

Jas 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

1Jn 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
1Jn 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1Jn 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

We really can't just pick and choose the parts of the Bible we like or don't like. If we are going to believe in it and follow it, we need to follow all of it. Not ignore the parts we don't feel like doing. Or as some people say "I don't believe THAT part of the Bible". It must be convenient to be able to pick and choose what parts are correct and what parts God "made a mistake" on.

If the Bible says we should confess our sins... then why not do it?

 

[Stickz]

james g, what is your point? You were attacking a point of view, I was defending it. You showed us your interpretation of Romans 8:6 and I questioned your interpretation of it, how is that in—anyway—judging you? assuming that that is what you are implying? Since judging is making a decision, I judged what you said. Is it a sin to decide whether someone is speaking truth or not? We have to be able to "judge" between right and wrong; that cannot be what Luke 6:37 is saying.

Why do you use that verse against me, when you don't really even believe that it applies to Christians? Unless you are assuming that I'm not a Christian ...?

I decided that you believed once saved, always saved by what you wrote, was I wrong?

Then, I was genuinely asking you a couple of questions about your faith. I thought that with your interpretation of Romans 8:6 that you were saying that a believer doesn't actually experience any changes in their minds.

Myself, I feel like I went from thinking about sinful things all the time ( what I have assumed was the carnal mind ) fulfilling the lusts of the flesh with every ounce of my being, to being able to avoid fulfilling those old lusts and desires, which I have assumed was walking in the Spirit. Listening to the Spirit instead of my carnal mind, obeying what the Spirit would have me to do rather than the flesh. So, it would be a "state" that I have come into, would it not?

But, you are saying that that is the wrong way for a Christian to think? So, I assumed ( perhaps wrongly ) that you have not experienced those things and was curious as to what you have experienced in your walk. You seem to be saying that a Christian does not experience the Spirit within them, and that caused me to assume that what you were saying was that the only reason that we even know that the Spirit resides in us is because the Bible says it. Am I wrong in my assumption?

You seem to be saying that the flesh has a mind of death. The Spirit itself has a mind of peace and life. Where are you in all of this? You seem to have excluded yourself from both of these somehow. Is there a third mind, or do we now have a choice between the two named? Or, are you suggesting that all people are stuck with their carnal minds, but through Christ we will one day escape the carnal mind? Are you saying that a believer is stuck with their carnal minds while on earth?

james g: Rom 8:6 The King James rendering in this verse is hopelessly obscure. God does not say that “to be
carnally minded” is death, but that the mind of the flesh

, in which they are, is death. Further, He
does not say, “to be spiritually minded is life and peace,” as if it were a state into which the believer
came; but He does say, the mind of the Spirit is life and peace. In neither case does God speak
of people, but of the flesh and of the Spirit. If you are according to Spirit, having been born of God,
there is indwelling you a mighty One, the Comforter, whose whole mind, disposition, and manner
of being and ruling within you, is life and peace. This “life” is the life of the Risen Christ, which
the Spirit, as “the Spirit of grace,” supplies (Heb. 10:29, Gal. 3:5); and this “peace” is that of Christ

as spoken of in Isaiah: “Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end.”

Then this part:

james g: We find the definite article “the” in the Greek before the word

Spirit, where the Holy Spirit’s person or personal action is
emphasized. But where His power, or nature as a sphere of being, and not His person, is before us, the article generally disappears.
To translate literally several instances in this chapter: The Holy Spirit is introduced in verse 2 as “the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus”; but in verse 4, it is “who walk not according to flesh but according to Spirit.” In verse 5, “they that are according to
Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” Here “according to Spirit” is a matter of characterizing; whereas in “the things of the Spirit,” the
Holy Spirit’s person is brought to the fore. He has certain things—“the things of God none knoweth save the Spirit of God” (II

Cor. 2:11). Again, in Romans 8:9, “Ye are not in flesh but in Spirit.”

Romans 8:12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, but not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

Romans 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh, you shall die: but if through the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you shall live.

Do you interpret these verses to be something that Christ accomplished for you on the cross? Do you consider your self a righteous man, even when you are in the process of sinning, because of Jesus?

I like to question the ideas of people who believe different from me to see if I can deduce why they believe differently. I've talked to a lot of people who don't seem to have ever considered alternatives to what they believe, and it puzzles me. Almost all Christians claim to have the Spirit, claim to have salvation, but with the differences of the interpretation of scripture I don't see how we have all taken different paths to the same place. Especially when Jesus calls the path a straight one. And saying that there won't be many that find it.

I have decided that we could all possibly be wrong, but we can't all possibly be right. So, I have spent a lot of time comparing what I believe to what others believe to try to ensure that I have found the right way. I know that many just "believe" that what they have done is right. That's fine with me, I haven't come to change what anyone believes, but to better my own.

Many of us seem to believe differently because of certain foundational assumptions. People who believe in Once Saved, Always Saved are forced to read certain verses a certain way or negate that belief. People who believe that Jesus was, in fact, God incarnate also seem to read certain verses a certain way, but it doesn't seem to have as much of an effect on their interpretation of scripture as does the very pivotal, "Once Saved, Always Saved". All roads tend to lead back to this spot. You can listen to the way one interprets most scripture and deduce that they believe OSAS, or not.

Anyway, I didn't mean to offend you, I was only trying to pick your brain. I posted an argument against what was being said to see how you would defend it. How does one decide that something is right if it won't hold up under examination?

 

[james g]

hi stickz I took it the wrong way.I thought you were saying someting else.

 

[Stickz]

james,

I probably come off a little abrasive, even accusative, but I 'm just trying to get you to defend your words so that I can decide how much sense they make to me. I'm not one of those people that go around looking to argue their point. The truth is the only thing that matters to me. I've had my fill of fruitless debates.

Back to the original question posted by Mabalot:

In Acts 8 we see Simon the sorcerer "believe", get baptized, and begin to follow Philip. He commits a sin in something that he says. Peter rebukes him for it, and—Acts 8:22 Therefore, repent of this wickedness, and pray to God, that perhaps the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. I've heard people debate the salvation of Simon at this point, but why? The scripture says that he believed, it didn't say that he feignedly believed. He was, nevertheless, told to repent in verse 22.

II Corinthians 7:9 Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that your sorrow brought you to repentance: for you were made sorrowful in a godly manner, so that you suffered no harm from us.

All of these letters are letters to churches ( or at least to saints ), most being churches that Paul had himself been to, so I have always assumed that the people referred to in the letters were, in fact, people that Paul had been responsible for converting. Believers. Why would one assume otherwise?

To the saints at Rome:

Romans 2:4 Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience; not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

II Corinthians 12:21 And I fear that, when I come again, my God may humble me before you, and I shall mourn over many who have sinned and have not repented of the impurity and sexual sin and licentiousness which they have committed.

We should decide who is being referred to here in John's first epistle:

I 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.

I John 5:16 If any man sees his brother commit a sin which does not lead to death, he shall ask, and God shall grant him life, for those whose sin is not to death. There is a sin to death: I do not say that he should pray for that.

I, myself, ask for forgiveness every time I pray.