A Protestant View of Confession
Earlier this year, revival broke out in a chapel service at Asbury University. Like previous revivals that were believed to be authentic, it wasn’t planned, but brought irresistible conviction. It was exciting and encouraging to see several students and visitors experience conversion, renewal, and sacred fellowship with the Holy Spirit.
One of the practices of Christian fellowship that swept through this revival was confession. Confessing sins has been a staple in historic Evangelicalism. Some Protestant traditions recognize this along with the call in James 5:16 to regularly confess your sins in church gatherings.
However, sometimes there is a hesitancy in Protestant circles to practice confession. One may object, “I don’t feel safe confessing these things to other people. They don’t need to know these things, only God can judge me and He’s the one who forgives.”
I affirm confession should be done in a safe environment. Church leaders should always strive to be a safe space for all people to confess their deepest sins and burdens. With that said, I find confession to be a highly valuable church practice that is too often undervalued in American Evangelicalism today. Has it been abused and mistaught? Unfortunately, yes.
However, as Protestants, we should remember a few things. First, while Scripture affirms that God is the one who alone atones and justifies, it still calls for mutual confession to one another. Second, the early Church practiced it and believed it was crucial for the mutual integrity of Christians. Third, while the Reformation was critical of how the Roman Catholic Church practiced confession, they didn’t throw the practice away all together and still encouraged confession among the saints. Fourth, as previously mentioned, confession has often been an essential piece for Evangelical movements and renewal.
Scripture’s call for Confession
The primary text in Scripture referenced by Christians to practice confession is James 5:16: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.” (CSB) I would personally add two more passages on the subject.
Galatians 6:1-5 calls Christians to gently correct one another if they’re in error, to carry each other’s burdens, and to humbly examine their own behavior. While confession is not specifically stated, I would suggest this instruction from Paul falls under a similar umbrella.
I would also add the call in Matthew 5:21-26 to reconcile a conflict one has with another as soon as possible. Jesus goes so far to state that making amends is a higher priority than formal worship. (Matthew 5:24) Combining these three texts, we see that confession in the assembly with fellow Christians is good for healing, accountability, and genuine unity.
If there’s tension in the gathering between fellow Christians, or unspoken sin weighing down one’s shoulders, how can we say we’re truly unified? At best, it’s Christians tolerating each other. But Christ calls us to something greater than tolerance, He calls us to be unified, to be one.
The 1st Century Church’s Instruction for Confession
When looking into The Didache, new converts are instructed to confess their sins regularly in the church and to pray with a clean conscience. (Didache 4.14) Christians are also instructed to confess their sins before partaking in the Eucharist. (14.1) Once again we see themes of integrity and unity being what drives Christians to confess to each other.
A Reformed view of Confession
There was no shortage of formal statements of faith during the Reformation. While the Augsburg Confession (1530) is probably the most historically significant and influential, a lesser remembered, yet still significant Reformed confession was the Second Helvetic Confession. Written in the 1560’s, the statement came from the Calvinist tradition in Switzerland, overseen by Henry Bullinger.
In chapter 14, the Second Helvetic Confession affirms that forgiveness of sins comes from confessing to God alone, who absolves the sinner through the Son, Jesus Christ. It denies the instruction that confession must be made to an ordained priest. However, confessing sins in the gathering is still encouraged:
“But we believe that this sincere confession which is made to God alone, either privately between God and the sinner, or publicly in the Church where the general confession of sins is said, is sufficient, and that in order to obtain forgiveness of sins it is not necessary for anyone to confess his sins to a priest, murmuring them in his ears, that in turn he might receive absolution from the priest with the laying on of hands, because there is neither a commandment nor an example of this in Holy Scriptures.
...If, however, anyone is overwhelmed by the burden of his sins and by perplexing temptations, and will seek counsel, instruction and comfort privately, either from a minister of the Church, or from any other brother who is instructed in God’s law, we do not disapprove; just as we also fully approve of that general and public confession of sins which is usually said in Church and in meetings for worship, as we noted inasmuch as it is agreeable to Scripture.”
The Reformation was far from perfect, but I feel there are often misrepresentations of the Protestant tradition today. To be fair, this can often be done by fellow Protestants who haven’t studied the Reformation nor read the Reformers in their own words.
Reformers like Calvin and Bullinger were not against Christians confessing their sins in church. On the contrary, the Helvetic Confession states it to be a normal practice in their gatherings, in line with the ancient teachings of the Didache. What they were against was later traditions of the practice, feeling it relied too much on church authorities and merit, and not enough on the forgiveness offered directly from God to the individual Christian.
Conclusion
To be in integrity with God is to be in integrity with my brothers and sisters. While God alone atones and saves, it is ideal to be honest and transparent with others in the Body of Christ, so that no secret walls can be built between us. For those of us who don’t regularly confess to our siblings in Christ, let us speak up, seek spaces in our church to confess, and lead by example.
Bibliography
Bullinger, H. (1564). The Second Helvetic Confession.
English translation: https://www.ccel.org/creeds/helvetic.htm
Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.
Thumbnail Image: “Methodist Camp Meeting” – Edward Williams Clay and Henry R. Robinson (1836). https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_326094