If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 10:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9
when anyone becomes aware that they are guilty in any of these matters, they must confess in what way they have sinned.
Leviticus 5:5
‘But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me, which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.
Leviticus 26:40
Listed above are some scriptures found in the Bible both Old and New Testament about confession. When one has sinned, confession is needed in order to gain repentance, and thus be in right standing with God once again.
Why ? The sin needs to be spoken out, which is what confession is, because it is declaring of your own will that you have done what is wrong in God’s sight. It is bringing all the sins, transgressions and iniquity into light before the Lord so that you can be acquitted and completely justified.
37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Matthew 12:37
It is also very important that you state everything before the Lord so that you can be vindicated completely. Everything you have done wrong must be confessed plainly not hiding anything at all. There shouldn’t be any partiality about it. Also, it must be done honestly, with a sincere heart, truly acknowledging that God is right and you were wrong and humbling yourself to confess all.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
1 John 1:8-10
It is important to note that a powerful weapon the devil uses is to keep us silent and our mouth shut. When we have sinned there a natural tendency to want to hide and keep things secret; sweep things under the carpet and suffer in silence. The devil wants to keep the sin in darkness and not allow you to reveal all, so that the he can continue to attack and accuse you before the Lord. Therefore, it is important to sincerely go before the Lord who is the Righteous Judge and confess. Don’t think it in your head you must speak it out.
Similar to when you are in court, the judge needs your spoken word to confess, thinking you’re confession or miming your confession or gesturing a confession is not what is needed but audibly confessing before the Lord is what is required.
And what must we confess? We are to state our sin(s), but also declare and claim righteousness by the blood of Jesus.
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence
Ephesians 1:7-8
Now just to clarify, this confession is not like how it is done in the Catholic church, where you go into a secret booth and reveal your secrets to a man and ask for his forgiveness. This is a gross misunderstanding of Scripture. Rather, it is going before our heavenly Father in heaven, the only one who can truly acquit you of all your sins when you confess.
That is not to say however, that there is no need to confess your sins before a person. Especially if your sin is against a person, then it may be necessary to heal the relationship and ask for their forgiveness, or for accountability.
But I want to clarify that vindication of sin is granted only by God through Jesus Christ most precious blood, and confessing our sins with sincerity of heart is the means to accessing righteousness and being acquitted.
Signing off
Faith With Petra 