Helpful Verses:

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” James 5:16

“When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honour. Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done… In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.” Acts 19:17–18,20

Interesting Quotes:

“Confession is an act of honesty and courage - an act of entrusting ourselves, beyond sin, to the mercy of a loving and forgiving God.” Pope John Paul II

“In confession there takes place a breakthrough to community. Sin wants to be alone with people. It takes them away from the community. The more lonely people become, the more destructive the power of sin over them. The more deeply they become entangled in it, the more unholy is their loneliness. Sin wants to remain unknown. It shuns the light. In the darkness of what is left unsaid sin poisons the whole being of a person… In confession the light of the gospel breaks into the darkness and closed isolation of the heart. Sin must be brought into the light. What is unspoken is said openly and confessed. All that is secret and hidden comes to light.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“Confession in the presence of a brother is the profoundest kind of humiliation. It hurts, it cuts a man down, it is a dreadful blow to the pride. To stand there before a brother as a sinner is an ignominy that is almost unbearable. In the confession of concrete sins the old man dies a painful, shameful death before the eyes of a brother… In the deep mental and physical pain of humiliation before a brother – which means before God – we experience the Cross of Jesus as our rescue and salvation. The old man dies, but it is God who has conquered him. Now we share in the resurrection of Christ and eternal life.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Cultural Relevance

Confession is an act of rebellion against individualism. First, it breaks us out of our self-made cocoons as we are confronted with the reality that life can only be lived in community. Confession stops us from hiding from the truth that our behaviour has implications. Secondly, it breaks the build up of shame within which happens when we hoard our mistakes and keep them to ourselves. The fear of rejection gets shattered when we sit in front of someone and get to hear the sweet words, “You are forgiven.”

Podcast:

Mark Knight, a lecturer at St Mellitus Collage, shares his thoughts on the importance of confession and how it’s still relevant today.