Another reason, given to support the error that confession of sins is not necessary is this: “Apostle Paul, who wrote two-thirds of the epistles to the churches, never once taught on confession of sins. In fact, in his letter to the Corinthian Christians, many of whom were committing sins like visiting temple prostitutes, he didn’t tell them to go and confess their sins to get right with God. Rather he reminded them of who they were in Christ—“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16).
The first problem with this statement is that it ignores the truth of what Paul wrote about the Scriptures. Paul wrote, “ All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works (2 Timothy 3:16-17). All Scripture, not just what Paul wrote, is given by the inspiration of God. By this Paul himself affirms that God, not he, is the the author of the Scriptures. Peter also stressed this truth: “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy (Greek: Propheteia “also means the endowment and speech of the Christian teachers called prophets) “came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost (2 Peter 1:20-21). Paul, and all the other human authors who penned portions of the Scriptures, were merely human vessels God chose to communicate His message through. The truth of Scripture is therefore not based on the person God used to carry forth the message, but on the truth that it is the Spirit of God speaking though whosoever He wills. Even so, when 1 John 1:9 instructs the church to confess their sins in order to receive forgiveness, it is the Spirit of God instructing the church to do so. To neglect 1 John 1:9 on the basis that Paul did not write it is an attempt to exalt what we think Paul said above the words of the Holy Spirit. This is a serious error.
Secondly, the inference made from Paul’s ministry to suggest that he had no use for Christians to confess their sins to receive forgiveness is false, and only gives an inaccurate and distorted view of what Paul himself said he believed and taught. Paul did not only remind believers who had fallen into sexual immorality and other sins of who they were in Christ. He dealt with those offenders severely until they were moved to sorrow and repentance: “For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it—for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while— I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death” (2 Corinthians 7:8-10). We also read in Proverbs that “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy” (Proverbs 28:13). Jesus, emphasized the truth of this Scripture when he taught on repentance (Luke 13:3). He also emphasized the need we have to ask God for forgiveness when He taught us to pray: “and forgive our sins as we forgive others (Matthew 6:14-15, Luke 11:4 )”. By this Jesus confirmed the Scriptural truth that confessing of sins and repentance go hand in hand in obtaining God’s mercy for his followers. The apostles also re-echoed this truth concerning the church (e.g. 1 John 1:9, 2 Corinthians 7:8-11, 1 Corinthians 5:1-2). Thus, it is scripturally indefensible to claim that Paul, who was mighty in the Scriptures, did not know about Jesus’ teaching on repentance and confessing of sins, as well as the Christian’s scriptural obligation to confess and repent of their sins to receive God’s forgiveness. For Paul Himself taught that he preached Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:5) and followed Him (1 Corinthians 11:1). In his own words, he preached and stood for the very things Jesus taught. And this includes Jesus’ affirmation of our need to confess and repent of our sins (Luke 13:3, Matthew 6:14-15, 1 John 1:9).
We falsely accuse Paul when we suggest that even for Christians who had gone into grave sexual immorality, he only told them to know who they are in Christ. For those who got into such depravity and refused to repent, here was his instruction concerning them “ But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person (1 Corinthians 5:11). For some, he would have them removed from the church until they repented (1 Corinthians 5:1-8). If we had truly followed Paul, we wound not attempt to use him as a basis to conceal the sins we have to confess to God to receive his mercy.
A fundamental error that has been made in our day is the attempt to make Paul the pivot of Christianity. Paul himself taught that Jesus Christ is the foundation of Christianity (1 Corinthians 3:11), and he a servant of Jesus, whom he preached (2 Corinthians 4:5). Jesus Himself affirmed that his teaching constitutes the foundation upon which we ought to build (Matthew 7:24-27). And we find Paul and the apostles testifying to these truths that they only took what Jesus taught and ran with it (2 Corinthians 4:5, 1 John 1:1-3, 2 Peter 1:16-18, Acts 5:42). Evens so, until we have a good grasp of the things Jesus taught, we cannot fully understand the things the apostles taught. Paul and the apostles did not reinvent the wheel but only followed in Jesus’ steps. If we follow the error of excluding everything Paul did not write from the Scriptures, we will only be left with pages that fail to give the full counsel of God given us in the Scriptures. In this way, we will end up grossly misrepresenting Jesus and the things Paul wrote, and will deceive many. Let’s get back to the foundation and study the things Jesus taught. This is how to properly understand what Paul wrote. Let us give ourselves to the reading and study of the entire Bible, not just what Paul wrote. This is how we will get to know the full counsel of God and save ourselves from the false grace message, such as perpetual forgiveness for Christians, even if they neglect to confess their sins and repent in order to receive God’s mercy and forgiveness.
Kwadwo Omari, PhD
July 30, 2019.