“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness<\/em>” (I John 1:9).<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThe word confess comes from the Greek word\u00a0homolegeo<\/em>. It means to admit, publicly confess, or openly acknowledge something. For example, “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven<\/em>” (Matthew 10:32) shows that confession is something admitted to someone else. Would these same people argue that “Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also<\/em>” (I John 2:23), which uses the same word behind “acknowledges” in this translation, argue that one only needs to acknowledge Jesus to one’s self and it doesn’t have to be to God or any other man? The point is that the very definition of the word “confess” does not include only admitting something to yourself.<\/p>\n“First John 1:9 is the only New Testament instance where the word is used for confession of sins, not suggesting a public admission, but an open admission of them to God.” [The Complete Biblical Library<\/em>].<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThe Old Testament shows there is precedence for the confession of sins to God.<\/p>\n
“But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me, and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt – then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham I will remember; I will remember the land<\/em>” (Leviticus 26:40-42).<\/p>\n“yet when they come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of those who took them captive, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong, we have committed wickedness’<\/em>” (I Kings 8:47).<\/p>\n“Please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned<\/em>” (Nehemiah 1:6).<\/p>\n“He shall pray to God, and He will delight in him, He shall see His face with joy, for He restores to man His righteousness. Then he looks at men and says, ‘I have sinned, and perverted what was right, and it did not profit me.’ He will redeem his soul from going down to the Pit, and his life shall see the light<\/em>” (Job 33:26-28).<\/p>\n“I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the iniquity of my sin<\/em>” (Psalms 32:5).<\/p>\n“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight – that You may be found just when You speak, and blameless when You judge<\/em>” (Psalms 51:1-4).<\/p>\n“And I prayed to the LORD my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments”<\/em>” (Daniel 9:4-5).<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThe parable of the prodigal son illustrates this same point, “I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants” <\/em>” (Luke 15:18-19). In this parable, the prodigal son illustrates sinners, the elder son those who remain faithful to God, and the father, God the Father.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Question: Hello, I just read your article: “How detailed does a confession of sin have to be? Do you need to list out all that you’ve done wrong?”\u00a0 We have been discussing this subject for over two months with no end in sight. One side holds to the understanding that one needs only to repent…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[51],"class_list":["post-31352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-confession"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":39695,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-dont-want-to-be-sorry-for-the-wrong-reasons\/","url_meta":{"origin":31352,"position":0},"title":"I don’t want to be sorry for the wrong reasons","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 20, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was raised Catholic and have not been baptized yet as an adult. For repentance do we need to go back and set everything right before being forgiven? Must we confess every lie we ever told to every person? Or is asking God to forgive us enough? And to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39697,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-must-i-confess-before-i-am-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":31352,"position":1},"title":"What must I confess before I am baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Let me start off by thanking you for all that you do in the name of Jesus Christ. A few weeks ago I had prayed to God asking for guidance in finding the true church of which I can become a part so that I may further my understanding\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62042,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/confession-of-wrongdoing\/","url_meta":{"origin":31352,"position":2},"title":"Confession of Wrongdoing","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Psalms 32 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Each time we gather, we offer an invitation to those who desire to become Christians to do so without delay. We also offer an opportunity for those who desire the prayers of their brethren to make that desire known. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At times brethren\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39825,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-i-need-to-confess-my-use-of-pornography-to-my-preacher\/","url_meta":{"origin":31352,"position":3},"title":"Do I need to confess my use of pornography to my preacher?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: God bless. I have been a Christian for many years, but I was addicted to porn and I committed fornication against myself (my body). I never had sex with anybody, just myself. I have repented from that sin, and I recognize my sin, so do I need to confess\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60048,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-i-need-to-confess-to-the-person-i-lusted-after\/","url_meta":{"origin":31352,"position":4},"title":"Do I need to confess to the person I lusted after?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 22, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do I have to confess my lustful thoughts to the person I lusted after? I'm dealing with the sin of lust (and the commonly related sinful behavior linked to it). I know I need to repent of this, ask God for forgiveness, and cut it out of my life.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18886,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-there-be-repentance-without-confession\/","url_meta":{"origin":31352,"position":5},"title":"Can there be repentance without confession?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 23, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about repentance.\u00a0 I have always wondered if there was such a thing as a lack of repentance? For example, when someone lies to another and later on they repent and change their mind about lying, but they don\u2019t want to bring up the details of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31352\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}