Protestants why do you confess your sins straight to God, didn't you know its unbiblical?

Question

James tells us quite clearly to confess to one another.

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

Where does it say to confess straight to God? It is obviously unbiblical.

I am not saying it is wrong, but merely unbiblical to do so.

Answer 1

You are right that James does advise believers to confess their sins to one another. This sort of confession is not only Catholic but also Protestant. All churches who follow the teachings of Christ ought to teach that we confess our sins to one another and ask others to hold us accountable for our actions. Just as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Confessing our sins to God alone robs us of this important part of human interaction and so is unbiblical.



However, to say that confession to God is unbiblical is not only to take the argument too far the other way but to state something that is unbiblical in itself:



"Now make confession to the LORD, the God of your fathers, and do his will." Ezra 10:11



"Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD "— and you forgave the guilt of my sin." Psalm 32:5



"Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us." Luke 11:4, The Lord's Prayer as taught by Jesus



That seems pretty clear to me... If God is the only one with the authority to forgive Sin (bear in mind there is a difference between Sin - displacing God from His rightful place as Lord - and sins - the methods by which we commit Sin) then surely we must confess our sins to God so that He will forgive us of our Sin.



Indeed then, we must confess our Sin before God and ask Him for forgiveness for the many ways in which we have Sinned by our transgressions. Then we must also confess our sins (transgressions) before man and ask them for forgiveness for the way we have treated them. God is faithful and just to forgive - man not always.

Answer 2

Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed: James reminds us that mutual confession and prayer brings healing, both physically and spiritually. These free us from the heavy burdens (physically and spiritually) of unresolved sin, and removes hindrances to the work of the Holy Spirit.



i. To one another: Confession to another in the body of Christ is essential, because sin will demand to have us to itself, isolated from all others. Confession breaks the power of secret sin. Yet, confession need not be made to a “priest” or any imagined mediator; we simply confess to one another as appropriate. Confession is good, but must be made with discretion. An unwise confession of sin can be the cause of more sin.



ii. Sin should especially be confessed where physical healing is necessary. It is possible - though by no means always the case - that a person’s sickness is the direct result of some sin that has not been dealt with, as Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 11:30.



iii. Hiebert on confess: “The root form means literally to say the same thing; hence, it means that in confession sin we agree to identify it by its true name and admit that it is sin.”



iv. The one who hears the confession should have the proper response: loving, intercessory prayer, and not human wisdom, gossiping, or “sharing” the need with others.

Answer 3

before assending into heaven Jesus who had full authority on earth as in heaven; breathed on the apostles saying receive ye the holy spirit, who's sins ye shall forgive, they are forgiven, and who's sins ye shall retain, they are retained. I ask, how can a sin be retained without hearing it as in confession? If a sin can't be forgiven, it would have to be because they are not really sorry for what they have done, or they are not willing to refrain from the same act again by removing the person or place from their situation. an example is someone comes to confess that they are living with someone and fornicating with them, so the priest asks, when is the girlfriend/boyfriend moving out? the penitent answers, what? He/she is not moving out. there you have an example of a sin that would be retained. but you'd have to hear what the person says to beable to know they can not be forgiven untill they remove the source of their sinning. why do protestants follow an unbiblical doctrine of confessing sins straight to God? I'll tell you why, for one reason , if they admitted it, they'd have to become catholic. :)

Answer 4

We do know this verse- and we do totally practice "accountability" to one another. The key here is one another- since ALL believers ARE priests now, we all have Christ.



If we sin against someone- we are to go and make things right, confess and get it all straightened out.



If we have a struggle with some personal sin,some thing that one is finding hard to give over to the Lord, let go of it, we can seek out a brother or sister to confide in, confess our sins, and then we pray together, we have someone to call up and talk to when needed.



And yes, we also can and must and do confess directly to God, too- thru Christ, God is the forgiver!



1Jo 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.



The he in that verse is God himself.

Answer 5

I'm a protestant and I have a couple of close friends that I do confess my sins to. They help hold me accountable, encourage me to do better, and pray for me not to fall into the sin again. We try to meet every week to pray together.



I still ask God for forgiveness, I don't find that un-biblical.



I think the Catholics started out with the right idea that its biblical and good for believers to hold each other accountable, but it got a bit screwed up when somehow the priest himself got the power to forgive and had to pray on the believers behalf. I'm not Catholic so I'm afraid I'm speaking from a stereotype here, not on actual knowledge of how the modern church handles it. Forgive me if I'm off-base on that opinion.

Answer 6

Interesting point...well, I am a protestant, and I think, what's wrong is to think that ONLY by confessing your sins to a priest, and doing what he says "Pray 2 Our Father's and 10 Ave Maria's" and that's it. You're forgiven. It is NOT like that...

So, what's the point in confessing to a priest - who's nothing but another human being - that you, say, stole something, say a couple or prayers...that will give you peace of mind, probably, but it doesn't mean God forgave your sins...you have to REALLY regret and repent for what you've done...and ONLY GOD can forgive you...and that's the difference. It's not that we say that it's unbiblical to confess your sins to another person, but to believe that ONLY with whatever he says we should do, it's all fine.



I guess you're confused with the concept... :)



Blessings!



EDIT: I totally agree with SOMEBODY! he said it better that I did!

Answer 7

This is a matter of doctrinal interpretation, and one must consider the whole body of doctrine before arriving at any conclusion.



Too many people try to put Paul and James at odds with each other. They were not. They had different audiences. Different contexts.



James is to believers. This is seen from chapter 1:2 and 2:1 (at least). I'd go so far as to say it was for mature believers. Meat, if you will. For the established congregation. How to have the power of God in your church.



Paul wrote salvation doctrine, as a missionary. He wrote new Church doctrine as a church-builder.



But John 14:6 makes it clear that we must go through Jesus to get to the Father.



We are honest with our fellow Christians so they can uphold us in prayer. God values the prayers of His children, especially when they join together in it. But forgiveness can only come from one place: The cross of Christ.

Answer 8

If you read the whole chapter you will see that James is talking about people who have hidden their sins and are now sick due to it. He's saying get it out in the open, quit hiding it. Confess it and pray about it and be healed.

Answer 9

It is not necessary to have a liaison in order to communicate directly with God. This passage is speaking of trying to hide your faults from your brethren and in so doing act like someone that you are not. We all have faults and fall sometimes. We are told to pray for each other and encourage each other that everyone makes mistakes sometimes. We are suppose to pick them up and dust them off when they have fallen and not to condemn them. It is not the same as confessing before God.

Answer 10

And you show me where it says to specifically confess to a priest and that he can forgive (absolve) them? Because that is unbiblical. Priests have no power here. It says confess your faults to one another so that others might pray for you, meaning pray that you can overcome such faults, not confess your sins to one guy so he can pray for your forgiveness. You pray for forgiveness yourself. I admit to my friends my faults, but I'm not going to tell some guy in a confessional once a week. That's stupid.

Answer 11

We should follow James and be open with each other in confessing our sins. BTW it does not say to a Priest, because we have a High Priest with we can go straight to the throne of grace. Read the book of Hebrews, Jesus and the Father are one I am sure if you are Catholic you believe that. Hebrews teaches us we can go straight to Jesus as our high priest and lay all of our cares upon him because he cares for us. That is Biblical.

Answer 12

We pray for forgiveness to God when we have sinned against him, and we ask for forgiveness of others we sin against them.

The confessing to one another has nothing to do with forgiveness, we will have already asked for forgiveness straight from God. We confess to one another to share burdens and to overcome strongholds of sin, not to speak in some sort of chain of command to God.



You are not in the right.

Answer 13

That only applies to situations where you need to make amends with that person. I confess my sins to my High Priest, my Lord Jesus Christ. Not to a preacher or priest. You twist God's Word to fit your ideas.

Answer 14

When it speaks in this verse, it means when we sin against each other...we go to that person and confess to them that they may forgive.

Since the veil in the Temple was rent, we have access to God through Jesus.

Answer 15

I confess my sins straight to God because He's the one who died to atone for them.

Answer 16

I confess my sins to GOD in the name of Jesus Christ. If my sins are ones against someone else then I will confess them to someone... /but/ I am not Catholic and do not believe that I need a human mediator between me and GOD since that is what Jesus is for.

Answer 17

As a Baptist- I do not confess my sins to God. He already knows them, he already knows what sins I will commit tomorrow. It is pointless to confess. I ask for forgiveness for what I have done wrong and I am forgiven, but I don't have to spell it out.

Answer 18

Matthew 6

5"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Answer 19

THERE ARE DIFFERENT TYPES OF CONFESSION THAT HAVE DIFFERENT PURPOSES.IN CONFESSING ONE TO ANOTHER ALL LEARN RIGHT FROM WRONG AND HOW THIS WORKS.WE ALL GAIN IN WISDOM IN THE EXPERIENCE OF ANOTHERS MISTAKES.ALSO IF WE CONFESS OUR SINS GOD IS FAITHFUL AND JUST TO FORGIVE US OUR SINS.THIS TYPE OF CONFESSION IS TO GOD.THIS BRINGS HEALING FROM MERCY AND GRACE.THE LETTER KILLITH BUT THE SPIRIT MAKETH ALIVE.THE WORD OF GOD IS HIDDEN IN THE BIBLE.YOU MUST RIGHTLY DIVIDE THE WORD TO GLIMPS ITS TRUTH.THIS IS DONE ONLY FROM A PURE MOTIVE IN HEART.THE OTHER MOTIVE BRI STRIFE AND DIVISION. THANK YOU D'S

Answer 20

i agree that we should confess to one another. the bible does teach that and we should do it, you can't pick and choose which scriptures you want to follow. you cannot serve to masters. but the bible also teaches that Jesus is my advocate to God and that He intercedes for me. thus we don't have to sacrifice animals Jesus' blood was sufficient. so i do not agree that it is unbiblical to confess straight to God through Jesus.

Answer 21

If we Christians are to confess their sins one to another then after you confess your sins to a priest, ask him if he wants to confess his sins to you.

Answer 22

Christians can forgive one another as well as ask Christ to forgive us, as we are to be examples of the love of Jesus towards others.

Please cite were the Bible says asking for God's forgiveness (by prayer to God) is wrong? Christ is our mediator.

Answer 23

There is a little God in each of us. Certainly if you do something to a being that is alive and you can confess to that person, that is more better.....and of course the witnesses that sensed the wrong doing!



But God is everywhere, right? Those that are too scared or dumb, have to have some place to confess to!



Life does not always seem FAIR!

Hi! I am a Forgive Affirmed Spirit and this is what I profess and try to act like.



Forgive Affirmed Spirit is the belief in a way of life that is a method of grief resolution and functional communication processing involving active listenning, sympathy, empathy and affirmation of shock, denial, anger, guilt, depression, loneliness and hope...a kind of ego-equilibrium seeking methodology.



A Greater Works of communication and action, a way to learn to love your enemies "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you AS IF YOU WERE THEM!"



And nobody is perfect! NOBODY! We are all judgeable, hopefully in a graceful discerning way! We are all doing our best every moment!



Humans judge everything as we are a part of it. Without difference, we have nothing to live for, nothing to witness. Sin is difference, the relative seriousness with regards to law and survival of other beings, is punishable by the courts. The best way to judge is with as much graceful discernment as one can muster in a given moment!



Life is the question(uncertainty) asked by the exhaling infinitely compacted imagination invention, or no thing, which is completely certain of everything, completely omniscient or all knowing.



When I die, I believe I will be in a new state, aware of all that is and yet divided into the nature of dust that I am in, whereupon my dust shall fall. My being will remain an infinite part of an infinite being and infinite knowledge without my material human being status of now. So there will be a change.



But my soul, my passions and discompassions, will move on to infinite places of comfort and challenge. Able to return to this state of uncertainty and free choice illusion for another ride when it is called effectively to do so.



So that the children of God, the creations of God, .. are actually part in parcel of that God or Creation Energy!



This life is a roller coaster ride. Enjoy your passion within it and whatever gathering of two or more in Forgive Affirmed Spirit to make it better can garner.



Healing be unto you and yours and me and mine in

Forgive Affirmed Spirit

Answer 24

you are quoting a verse about healing, not sin. we are to confess sin straight to God.That is straight out of scripture.

Answer 25

It doesn't say "But do not also pray directly to God, He doesn't like it and will smite you with boils if you bother Him with your petty problems", does it?

Answer 26

Jesus said in the Lord's Prayer "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us"



I believe that answers the question fully. :)

Answer 27

Neither one of you guys are right. You both preach peace and prosperity, yet hate anything that is different, so i ask you, how could anyone live in peace and prosper if you hate them.

Answer 28

You seem to be generalizing all protestants, not very "enlightened" or tolerant of you.

Answer 29

We not only confess to one another when necessary...........but we are now commanded to pray directly to God through Jesus Christ.



And I agree with the person above me.............this is where catholics have it all wrong in confessing to a priest.........as if he has the power to forgive anything.



What a crock

Answer 30

no it isnt.. IT IS NEVER WRONG TO PRAY..

Answer 31

Yes, it is umbilical...How very umbilical of you