Day 15: Friday, February 22

Why must we confess? Aren’t our sins already forgiven?

The passage from 1 John tells us that we all sin, and in order to be forgiven we must acknowledge our sins “and” truly believe in the resurrection of Jesus and that the Holy Spirit will bring salvation.

To me, the key is to differentiate between forgiveness and salvation. Forgiveness is a universal act accomplished by Jesus' death on the cross. He died for all the sins of mankind. Salvation is an act of God upon a specific individual, one person at a time. God saves a person when he confesses faith in the resurrection of Jesus and is ready to hear what God is telling him through the Holy Spirit.

Now, how can confession help us reach salvation? Let’s start by remembering what we say every Sunday:

“Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in your will,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your Name. Amen.”

The reciting of this confession must be viewed as much more than just a verse that we repeat weekly. What John is trying to help us understand is that in order to be saved, we recognize two things; 1) we are forgiven of all sins by the death of Jesus Christ, and 2) that salvation occurs through the actions of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives. The act of confession helps us achieve salvation by bringing together these two concepts.

Andrew Price