Why Do I Still Need To Confess My Sins? (Confess Sin to God)

If you would like to gain a deeper understanding of this subject, consider listening to the following sermons by Dr. Richard Caldwell as he opens the Word of God and exposits it for us:

Why do I need to confess my sins if they are already forgiven? Weren’t my sins fully paid for, pardoned, and forgiven at the cross? What purpose does this serve in my walk with the Lord?

This week on Straight Truth Podcast, Dr. Josh Philpot shares Colossians 2:13-14. The Apostle Paul writes about the forgiveness of our sins in these verses. Paul explains that our trespasses have been canceled out by the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross. Dr. Philpot asks, Dr. Richard Caldwell if all our sins are canceled at the cross, and we have received complete forgiveness, why do we need to confess them? And, if all our sins are forgiven, why should we pursue holiness?

Dr. Caldwell explains that we must make a distinction between judicial forgiveness and fatherly forgiveness. These distinctions are sometimes called positional forgiveness and relational or familial forgiveness. In judicial forgiveness, all past, present, and future sins, are fully forgiven as we embrace Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. The death of Christ has answered for our sins. We are justified and declared right with God. We stand clothed before God in the perfect righteousness of Jesus. God now views us in this legal standing, and this is our position forever.

But, says Dr. Caldwell, if we go to 1 John 1:5-10, what we find in reading through these verses as Dr. Caldwell does, is that there are three categories of people that John describes. First, there is the person who says they have never sinned. Second, there is the person who has concluded they have no sin. The third person, Dr. Caldwell says, is who we are as believers. These verses describe how we ought to be living and confessing our sins. We are to say the same thing about our sins as God says about them. In confessing our sins, we aren’t now seeking God’s forgiveness in a judicial sense but in a relational, familial way – like that of a parent and their child. Our position with God as our judge has been settled with the shed blood of Christ when we received Him. But with God as Father, there is now an ongoing relationship. In this relationship, we must recognize and acknowledge when we’ve done wrong. What we suffer when we sin is not the loss of our fellowship but the joy of our salvation, the joy of our fellowship. So, one of the aspects of enjoying our fellowship with God is that we agree with Him when we have sinned, and we turn and repent of those sins. A believer's life will reflect this ongoing confession of sin, one of perpetual repentance. Dr. Caldwell tells us that this is one of the marks of a true child of God.

Dr. Philpot shares that in Jeremiah 31, under the terms given for the new covenant, the Lord says that He will remember our sins no more. In what way, he asks, is our confession of sins, seeking forgiveness, and restoring of our joy in our fellowship with Him, tied to this?

Dr. Caldwell says that in this passage, God describes things in a way that we can relate to them. It’s like what theologians call an anthropomorphic statement – God uses language that we as humans can relate to and grasp. When God says He will remember our sins no more, Dr. Caldwell sees this as having to do with the judicial aspect of forgiveness. Our sins are gone, truly forgiven, not to be brought against us at the judgment. Our sins as believers have been judged. They were not swept under the rug but were judged justly and truly in the body of God’s own Son at the cross. They will never be brought up again. God has cast them behind His back and as far as the east is from the west is how far He has removed them from us. We are secure and have nothing to fear. But in the case of our sins today, God’s Spirit will often remind us of what we have done wrong. He brings them to our attention that we might confess those wrongs. If we desire proper fellowship with God, we cannot walk around with unconfessed sin in our lives.

[jeffknowlton]

I believe in having a relationship with God based on honesty. Do I believe in confessing sins? Yes. But you should do it if you WANT TO not because you HAVE TO. It can be like saying you're sorry to someone when you really aren't. That is not something I recommend doing to God

[victoriapalferez-siri]

I don't believe in it if no people will stop after they confess their sins will be effective but they don't no matter their type of confession without proper realization and changes. A confession without true repentance means nothing is like shamelessness. This is for people that live their lives cheating and committing cardinal and deadly sins like vanity, depravities of excess, coveting, doing actions in anger, lying, murder, etcetera etcetera...that is confession for sinner or prone to mistakes feel better. No true repentance then save it and don't use a priest as scapegoat for your mistakes.

[stevedavies]

It is so sad to hear men who profess to be wise in scriptures abuse 1 John! There is absolutely no doubt John is speaking against Christians who profess faith but are in sin! Speaking against the very position they hold! Romans clearly teacher it is forgiveness of sins that are past!