01/26/2025
Day #26 – Confess to One Another – “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” James 5:16
There has been much written on this verse. Just what does James mean, “confess your sins to one another”? Should we confess our sins openly and often to the congregation? To our closest friends? What and who is in view here?
The context speaks volumes. The one confessing has a persistent illness, and they have called the elders to come and pray over them. So, if we limit the confession to the context and the “others” being the elders, then there is a limited audience to the confession and the sin confessed may or may not be related to the illness in view. This is a safe way to understand the passage.
Others take this as a general statement, that confession of sin to those within the body of Christ should be a regular practice. This is most likely too broad an application. With respect to the broader view of confession, Scott helpfully limits confession to those who are affected by the sin, and he gives examples in his illustration section.
Regardless of how you view James 5:16, living in unconfessed sin is never good, King David testified to this in Psalm 32. 1 John 1:9 teaches us that confession of sin to God (saying the same thing about our sin that God says about our sin) should be a regular practice for believers. We should keep short accounts with God; however, we should keep short accounts with others in the body as well. Unconfessed sin when it affects others in the body of Christ is damaging to the one sinned against and to the one who has sinned; furthermore, it erodes unity within the body.
Loving one another means confessing sin when necessary for the good of the one sinned against, for the good of the body, not to mention the good of the one guilty of sinning.
Are you harboring unconfessed sin against someone in the body of Christ? If so, cry out to God in confession, praising Him for the forgiveness that is yours as a child of God, then go, humble yourself, and confess your sin to the one in the body against whom you have sinned. The weight relieved from your soul will amaze you, and the love released toward your brother or sister will heal your relationship and strengthen the body of Christ!
