There is an old story about three ministers from different churches in the same town who went fishing together. After spending some time in the boat with their lines in the water, one of the three men pointed out that each of them had to deal with the problems of the members of their respective congregations, but they didn’t really have anyone to talk to about their own problems. “It’s just us, in the middle of a lake; there’s nobody else around. Why don’t we confess our faults to each other, and we’ll all feel better?”
The other two men considered it, and decided that it was a fine idea, but since it was the one man’s idea, he should go first. “I’m afraid that I have a drinking problem. I am able to remain sober throughout the week, and I have managed to avoid any of my congregants when I’m inebriated, but, every Friday night, I just have to get my drink on.”
The second man said, “Well, to be honest, I have a gambling problem. I like betting on the horses. Recently, I have lost so much money at the race track that I have begun taking money from church funds to support my gambling problem.”
The third man said, “My problem is that I’m a terrible gossip, and it’s killing me to be stuck in this boat with this juicy gossip; I just can’t wait to get back into town!”
The Bible does tell us to confess our faults one to another. I think that a lot of that stems from the fact that if you have someone close to you that knows what your weaknesses are, then possibly he (or she) can help guide you away from those temptations when they inevitably arise, and if you know their weakness, you can do the same for them. The problem that we run into is a matter of trust. If, for example, I feel myself drawn to alcohol, and I know that drinking is a problem for me, I probably would not want that to be common knowledge amongst my fellow church-goers; that means that I am only going to talk about my problem with people that I feel I can trust (and that may be only my pastor). Maybe I should want that to be common knowledge, so that more people are looking out for me, but, human nature being what it is, I probably don’t really want anybody to know what my weakness is. I would be constantly worried that every time I overslept, people would whisper that I was hung-over, etc.
The bad part about that is, we should be able to trust our Christian brothers and sisters. Notice I said ‘should.’ Unfortunately, even the best Christian is still human, and we human beings make mistakes. I will admit that I have let slip things that were told to me in confidence (usually because I didn’t realize at the time that those things were being told to me in confidence), and I have to expect that other people will make the same mistake. At the same time, with the understanding that we all have faults, I should be able to confess mine to you, and you confess yours to me, without either one of us feeling less about the other.
By the way, I want to point out that it says to confess your faults one to another; it does not say to confess your sins. Under certain circumstances, that may work out to be the same thing, but you can tell someone that you feel you have a problem with gambling without going into details about how often you visit your local Off-Track Betting facility. Now, I am not telling you not to confess your sins, I am telling you that it is not a Biblical requirement. If it makes you feel better to talk to someone else about specific things that you know you have done wrong, or if you feel that it may help them to know what things you have done wrong in the past (in those instances, probably best to make it clear that those things were waaaay in the past), then you can do that. Make sure that you pray about it beforehand, and consider that your confession may become a burden to the person who hears it. All I am saying is that you are not required to confess your sins to any man. Some churches make a minister available specifically so that you can confess your sins to him, and, of course, whatever you confess to him, God hears also. That’s the Biblical requirement, that you confess your sins to God. Quite frankly, I think confessing to a minister is mostly just a psychological tool—it makes the confessor feel better (especially if the minister hearing the confession assign some form of action or actions to be taken in order to be forgiven). Many times when we confess our sins to God, we walk away wondering if He really heard us. If we confessed with a whole heart, then He did, it’s just that sometimes He’s too busy to acknowledge.
The other two men considered it, and decided that it was a fine idea, but since it was the one man’s idea, he should go first. “I’m afraid that I have a drinking problem. I am able to remain sober throughout the week, and I have managed to avoid any of my congregants when I’m inebriated, but, every Friday night, I just have to get my drink on.”
The second man said, “Well, to be honest, I have a gambling problem. I like betting on the horses. Recently, I have lost so much money at the race track that I have begun taking money from church funds to support my gambling problem.”
The third man said, “My problem is that I’m a terrible gossip, and it’s killing me to be stuck in this boat with this juicy gossip; I just can’t wait to get back into town!”
The Bible does tell us to confess our faults one to another. I think that a lot of that stems from the fact that if you have someone close to you that knows what your weaknesses are, then possibly he (or she) can help guide you away from those temptations when they inevitably arise, and if you know their weakness, you can do the same for them. The problem that we run into is a matter of trust. If, for example, I feel myself drawn to alcohol, and I know that drinking is a problem for me, I probably would not want that to be common knowledge amongst my fellow church-goers; that means that I am only going to talk about my problem with people that I feel I can trust (and that may be only my pastor). Maybe I should want that to be common knowledge, so that more people are looking out for me, but, human nature being what it is, I probably don’t really want anybody to know what my weakness is. I would be constantly worried that every time I overslept, people would whisper that I was hung-over, etc.
The bad part about that is, we should be able to trust our Christian brothers and sisters. Notice I said ‘should.’ Unfortunately, even the best Christian is still human, and we human beings make mistakes. I will admit that I have let slip things that were told to me in confidence (usually because I didn’t realize at the time that those things were being told to me in confidence), and I have to expect that other people will make the same mistake. At the same time, with the understanding that we all have faults, I should be able to confess mine to you, and you confess yours to me, without either one of us feeling less about the other.
By the way, I want to point out that it says to confess your faults one to another; it does not say to confess your sins. Under certain circumstances, that may work out to be the same thing, but you can tell someone that you feel you have a problem with gambling without going into details about how often you visit your local Off-Track Betting facility. Now, I am not telling you not to confess your sins, I am telling you that it is not a Biblical requirement. If it makes you feel better to talk to someone else about specific things that you know you have done wrong, or if you feel that it may help them to know what things you have done wrong in the past (in those instances, probably best to make it clear that those things were waaaay in the past), then you can do that. Make sure that you pray about it beforehand, and consider that your confession may become a burden to the person who hears it. All I am saying is that you are not required to confess your sins to any man. Some churches make a minister available specifically so that you can confess your sins to him, and, of course, whatever you confess to him, God hears also. That’s the Biblical requirement, that you confess your sins to God. Quite frankly, I think confessing to a minister is mostly just a psychological tool—it makes the confessor feel better (especially if the minister hearing the confession assign some form of action or actions to be taken in order to be forgiven). Many times when we confess our sins to God, we walk away wondering if He really heard us. If we confessed with a whole heart, then He did, it’s just that sometimes He’s too busy to acknowledge.
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3 comments:
If you look in the NIV, NLT ESV NAS and ISV they all say confess sin. Just thought you should know. if you go to http://bible.cc/james/5-16.htm you can see about 10 translations in a row and see what each translation says. good luck.
Thanks for the link, but, stop and think about it: Do you want anyone else (other than God, who knows anyway) to know what sins you have committed? How many human beings could actually know the details of your life and not think less of you? If you carefully examine the NIV (and others), there are a lot of other terms that are questionable translations.
As with every text in the bible, it needs to be read in its full 'con-text'. The confession of faults/sins is something that must essentially be undertaken with wisdom and guidance through the Holy Spirit, as it is not everything or to everyone confession is made. There is a time to confess to others and it is only the Holy Spirit that convicts us when we need to. It is the Spirit of God that 'safely' instructs us on what and how to confess for the purpose of strengthening our relationship with God, edifying the other person hearing the confession and, subsequently, to fortify the unity within the body of Christ. We all have different functions within the body of Christ and it is the Spirit that does the ‘joining’ of the various parts (Ephesians 4:15-16). It is the Holy Spirit that teaches us all things, especially how to carry out every requirement given to us in the Word of God (John 14:26; Proverbs 3:5-7). “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding” (Proverbs 4:7).
Let us never lean on the arm of flesh in such a way that we undermine our foremost relationship with God and, as a result, fall short of His grace, peace and joy.
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