Bridge of Confession and Reconciliation
by David Wright
For all of 2024, we have been pursuing Jesus by pursuing the spiritual disciplines. Following Richard Foster’s structure of there being twelve spiritual disciplines, we have focused on one each month, and throughout September, we are focusing on the corporate discipline of confession. This discipline is in the corporate category in that it is practiced with others (Foster places the twelve disciplines in three different categories: inward, outward and corporate).
The Bible speaks of confession nearly forty times. It is spoken of in both the Old and New Testaments. Though it is mentioned, exampled, and modeled by prophets, disciples of Christ, and Jesus himself, I'm not sure we talk or intentionally execute confession in our daily lives extensively. I confess this is true of me (no pun intended).
The word confess in Greek is a compound word that translates “same word, to agree.” For example, when we read in 1 John 1:9 that if we confess our sins to God, He is faithful and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. To confess our sins to God is to agree with Him that we have sinned. It’s thinking, agreeing with, giving assent that we have sinned, and we think of this wrong behavior in the same way as God.
In James 5:16, a different Greek word is used for “confess,” and it means to openly acknowledge, to profess. Hence, when we practice the discipline of confession with one another, we agree with God’s definition of our sinful behavior, and in the strength of the Spirit, we share this struggle we have with a trusted fellow believer(s), one in which there is guaranteed confidentiality.
In considering the topic of confession, I asked several friends their thoughts on the matter. The responses were interesting and enlightening to me. One friend talked about how confessing his sins to another lifts his spirit, lightens his emotional load and provides a "cleansing" of conscience. Another shared that confession to others most often results in forgiveness and movement towards reconciliation.
Our conversations reminded me of the previously mentioned passage in James 5:16, that as we, "confess our sins to each other and pray for each other,” there is a much needed (and wanted) result; “so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."
When we confess our sins to God—thinking of sin in the same manner as does He—and when we courageously confess our sins to one another with broken and contrite hearts (Psalm 51:17), we move closer to God in that our sins are forgiven. Moreover, we become increasingly like Jesus because the practice of confession requires humility.
The picture that comes to mind is that confession is a bridge to reconciliation of relationships. It provides a way to bring people together once again. Jesus himself is the ultimate bridge for those who confess him, his death, his burial, resurrection and ascension to the right hand of his Father.
Simply said, confession is good for the soul.
