And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. Matthew 6:12
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:8-9

As promised last time, there is more to say about this monumental subject of forgiveness…

Today: What is confession? Confession is much more than merely admitting guilt. “Yeah, I did it—so what?!” is not even remotely the same as what the Bible is referring to regarding confession. The Greek word confess literally means agree. So if we are confessing our sins in a biblical fashion, what are we doing?

We are agreeing with God about our sin. In order to agree with God we must know what He thinks of our sin. What God thinks about our sin can be summarized in these words: “God hates our sin and it has to go!”

Obviously then, a mere admission is not sufficient. We must be convicted by God’s Word and the Holy Spirit so that we too hate our sin and fervently want to be shed of it. If we do not feel the way God feels about our sin, we cannot exactly agree with Him, can we? In that case, sometimes confession ought to begin by pleading with God to change our hearts so that we actually do hate our sin and want too be rid of it. (Read and pray 2 Corinthians 7:10.)

This is why though the Bible speaks frequently about repentance (which means changing one’s mind), when we read about confession, even if repentance is not explicitly mentioned, it is implied as a component of biblical confession.

Next time, God’s faithfulness to forgive and to cleanse.