Do Christians have to confess sins to God?

Please check out All Scriptures listed here to see what is said is been true. If any query, free to ask at the bottom of the posts!! Thankyou,

Do Christians have to confess their sins to God in order to be Forgiven?

Finally the Lord is giving some mighty revelations into this truth, Thankyou Jesus!!!

2000 years ago, Jesus has Already forgiven you of All your sins!!! and you partake of that, you received that Full forgiveness in One Perfect installment at salvation, Eternal Life, the moment you gave your life to Christ.

1 Peter 1:3-5

I can talk to God about my sins and ask Grace to Overcome, but its not the same as Confessing it because All my sins have Already been Forgiven and He promises in the New Covenant that He makes with us, that our sins He “Remembers them No More” Hebrews 8:12;10:17-18.

Unbelievers need to confess their sins to God to get saved; but Christians do not need to, because they are Already saved.

1John 1:9 was written to refute the teaching that Gnostic false teachers had infiltrated the church to dilute the Gospel Message to the world. The Gnostics claimed that ‘there was no such thing as Sin or Sinning’, and that our bodies are already evil anyway.

So what John the Apostle was essential saying was, “If any unbelievers confess their sins, they can be cleansed of All their sins and get saved.” refer 1 John 1:9

If an unbeliever doesn’t believe that ‘sin or sinning’ exists (or the doctrine of original Sin) due to the Gnostics teaching that was trying to infiltrate the believers, then the unbeliever won’t acknowledge that he is a sinner to God and hence be saved.

Read Ezekiel 36:25-26, Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 2:13 as an foundation to 1John1:9 and Hebrews 10:19-22 which is referring to unbelievers getting saved.

Ezek 36:25 I will sprinkle you with pure water and you will be CLEAN from ALL your impurities. I will PURIFY youfrom ALL your idols. 36:26 I will give you a NEW heart, and I will put A NEW spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh. 36:27 I will put MY SPIRIT within you;

Ephesians 1:7

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace

Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people–free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. [Abundantly] free! (MSG translation)

Colossians 2:13

And even though you were dead in your  transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he nevertheless made you alive with him, having forgiven all your transgressions.

When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive–right along with Christ! Think of it! All sins forgiven,

Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, ²¹ since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, 10:20 by the fresh and living way that he inaugurated for us ²² through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, ²³10:21 and since we have a great priest ²⁴ over the house of God, 10:22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, ²⁵ because we have had our hearts sprinkled CLEAN from an evil conscience ²⁶ and our bodies WASHED in pure water.

This Scripture in Hebrews was written to Hebrews/Jews, some of which was tempted to go back under the Law or some of which won’t even saved, possibly to encourage them to come out of Old Covenant of Moses, into the New Covenant. It is a SCripture written to encourage these Jews to get saved!!! by having their hearts cleansed by the Blood of Jesus!! It’s not a SCripture refering to believers but Unbelievers who already know the Law!!

1John 1:9 But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and CLEANSING ²⁴ us from ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS.

Reading this SCripture in the light of Ezekiel and other Old Testament SCriptures prophesying of the New Covenant, we can see once again that this Scripture 1 John 1:9 is in line and it’s talking about unbelievers entering into the New Covenant so all their sins can be forgiven. Look at the Word ‘Cleansing‘ in Ezekiel and 1 John and you’ll see the parallel.

“The best commentary for the bible, is The Bible!! “said Ian Mckellar

Think about this:

How can God tell believers to confess their sins if He promises “I will Remember their sins No More…”

Read Jeremiah 31:34; Hebrews 8:12; 10:17,18; Psalms 103:3,12; Micah 7:19

Everything in the Old Testament must be interpreted the New Testament.

What the Old Conceals, the New Reveals; everything before the Cross, must be interpreted after the Cross.

Matt 6:14-15 was written before the Cross (read the context), it must interpreted through what happend After the Cross in which God Changed the Way He Related to us, Colossians 3:13

The Bible, is meant to be read as One Book, written by One Author, with One Theme flowing through the Old and the New.

It’s not meant to contradict each other, but what the Old Conceals, the New Reveals.

What the Old Prophesies, the New Fulfills.

Jesus is the The Fulfillement of the Old Covenant to bring the New Covenant, He IS literally the New Covenant!!

Isaiah 42:6; Luke 24:27; Colossians 1:27

When some of the Corinthians were sleeping with the temple prostitutes, Paul never tells them even once to ‘Confess their sins’. If confessing sins was such a common practice among New Convenant believers, why was it never mentioned once in all of Paul’s letters?

1Cor 5:1-2; 6:9-11

Paul says to those who were sinning, “those who commit sexuall immorality will not inherit the Kingdom of God…”

but Then He says, “that is what some of you WERE… you were WASHED, SANCTIFIED!!!”

He is saying, “that is Not you!!! the unbelievers won’t inherit the Kingdom!! that is Not you, you have Already been WASHED!!!”

“You don’t need to confess your sins, you’ve ALREADY BEEN WASHED, bEEN FORGIVEN!!!”

WASHED = FORGIVEN, FORGIVEN= WASHED. It’s the Same thing, it’s both past tense.

Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD:

though your sins are like SCARLET, they shall be as WHITE as SNOW;

though they are RED like CRIMSON, they shall become like WOOL. Isaiah 1:18

If you already have been forgiven, what is left to confess? You only need to do it ONCE!!

For by a SINGLE/ONE Offering He has PERFECTED for ALL TIME those who are being SANCTIFIED(set apart unto God by that One offering, we are set apart FOREVER!). Hebrews 10:14

WASHED = FORGIVEN = SANCTIFIED = JUSTIFIED = 1Cor 6:11; Romans 8:30 = COMPELTE = FINISHED WORK OF THE CROSS = “It is finished!!!” John 19:30

God’s Work is Complete from Beginning to End, for He declares the End from the Beginning. Isa 46:10; Rev 1:8

He is the ‘Beginning/Alpha and the End/Omega’, so if you are in Him, you are Already Complete.

Paul is trying to ‘change the way they think’ – Repentance, to tell them “this is not you… you are not sexuall immoral anymore, you are New Creations in Christ… therefore start acting like one…you don’t have a sinful nature anymore, but you have a God nature and you have been justified (declared Righteous before God).

“As man thinketh in his heart, so is he” proverbs.

If you believe you are sinner, then you’ll sin by faith. If you believe you are a ‘Idiot’, then you’ll act like a Idiot. The whole bible is all about transforming your mind, there is nothing you have ‘To Do’, it has already ‘Been Done!’, just Repent (change your mind) and Believe the Truth so you can be Set Free!!! John 8:32, Live by the Spirit, Not by the Law, Galatians 5:18

We are not longer ‘Sinners saved by grace’, we WERE sinners, but Now We are Saints.

The moment you discover Who you really are, then you’ll start to live like it.

Paul didn’t tell them to confess their sins but he told them Who they are. There is no need to confess your sins if you don’t have a sinful nature anymore!!!

Believers no longer have to be ‘sin conscious’, but they can be “Gift of Righteousnes conscious” and “Christ conscious” rather than “self-conscious”. Romans 8:1

Woohoo!! thankyou Jesus, Heavenly for this wonderful Gospel Grace that truely changes people from the Inside out, not Outside In!!

So what happens when we sin?

Instead of asking Him to forgive us and feeling condemned, we just thank Him that He has already forgiven us and there is Now No Condemnation.

More to come about “Do Christians have a sinful nature?” studies based in Romans 6-7.

Thankyou and feel free to spread this blog!!!

Have a read of this as well:

* When did Jesus forgave us all our sins?

http://gracerevolution.tv/grace/gracerevolution/2008/09/25/when-did-jesus-forgive-us-all-our-sins-part-1/

http://gracerevolution.tv/grace/gracerevolution/2008/10/06/when-did-jesus-forgive-us-all-our-sins-part-2/

The understanding of this took me a couple of years to grasp it.

Confessing your sins and forgiving others in order for God to forgive you was an Old Covenant practice (Matthew 6:12, 14-15); but in the New Covenant we forgive others Because God has already forgiven us (Colossians 3:13). Jesus was still living under the Old Covenant when He said this, the New Covenant didn’t begin until Jesus died on the Cross and it was completed on Acts Chapter 2, the Day of Pentecost when the Spirit was poured out.

Its important to RIGHTLY DIVIDE THE COVENANTS when you read the bible otherwise you’ll mis-interpret it. There are 7 major covenants in the Bible. Right now we are living under the Dispensation of the New Covenant, so when we read Old Covenant Scriptures we’ve got to filter it through New Covenant Lenses.

E.g. If you read most parts of the Old Testament, you will find that God commands us to kill our enemies. Do we do that today? of course Not, that was Old Covenant Law of Moses. Also when Jesus came, He said He was only sent to the Lost sheep of Israel, Not to the Gentiles (Matthew 15:24), and He also told his disciples only preach to the Jews (Mathew 10:6)  that was Old Covenant. But when He rose from the dead, the Covenant changed and He told everyone to go into the World and preach the Good News to all ethnic groups, all people, not just Jews!!!

Jesus preached law/Old Covenant to its original standard, where once people had watered the law down to be “keepable”, he preached this to the Self-Righteous and Proud in heart to expose their sins by bringing the law which is  mirror, and Jesus preached New Covenant Grace Prophetically and renewing the Abrahamic Covenant of Faith to those were humble and ready to receive.

Acts 15 Commentary, by Michael Eaton

Being Kind to the Weaker Brother  (Acts 15:19-35)
Although James concluded that Christian gentiles need not come under the Mosaic legislation, he did ask three things of them (5:19-20)1.  Therefore I for my part come to this conviction: we should not harass people from the gentiles who turn to God (15:19), but we should write to them asking them to abstain from the pollutions of idols, and from wrongful sexual relationships, and from what is strangled and from blood (5:20). He wants to ask gentile Christians (i) not to buy and eat food which was associated with idolatrous worship (having been offered in sacrifice before being sold); verse 29 uses the phrase ‘food sacrificed to idols’.  He wants them (ii) to be specially careful about immorality.  And he wants them (iii) not to eat meat from which the blood had not been drained.
How should these be interpreted.  There are three possible interpretations.
(i) Do James’s three points deal with permanent principals of behaviour?  Are Christians forever forbidden to buy meat with dubious associations, forever forbidden immorality, forever forbidden certain types of food?  This interpretation makes sense with regard to immorality and idolatry but not with regard to the other two matters.  Christians are not permanently compelled to refused meat with blood in it.
(ii) Do James’s three points deal only with minor Jewish sensitivities to which gentiles make concessions?  Are Christians temporarily forbidden to buy meat with dubious associations – as a concession to Jews? Are they temporarily forbidden immorality – as a concession to Jews?  Are the temporarily forbidden certain types of food with blood in it – as a concession to Jews?  This interpretation makes sense with regard to one or maybe two matters, but not with regard to immorality, which is permanently forbidden.
There are expositors who think that ‘wrongful sexual relationships’ refers here only to Jewish sensitivity about the forbidden relationships of Leviticus 18.  But this would imply that such relationships are now allowed, and gentile Christians had then to stay away from them only as a concession to Jewish sensitivites.  Yet the wicked relationships of Leviticus 18 are permanently forbidden – not because of the permanence of the law but because of the permanence of the conscience, and the forbidding of the Holy Spirit.  Although the Christian is free from the law in general, there are certain parts of it which are are are fulfilled without change (especially Levticus 19:18) for reasons of conscience and the leading of the Holy Spirit.   Leviticus 18:6-20 is not dealing with marriage; it is dealing with criminal sexual relationships that were punishable by the death-sentence (see Lev.18:29).  The Christian knows the sins of Leviticus 18 are still wicked.  He does not need the law to know it.  ‘The works of the flesh are obvious’ (Gal.5:19) – even without the law.  But is would be wrong to take this phrase in Acts 15:20 as only a ‘temporary concession’.  Leviticus 18:6-20 will be obeyed by those who keep a good conscience and walk in the Holy Spirit – without their having to come under the entire law..
(iii) Actually, two of these matters are dealing with Jewish sensitivities, and one of them deals with a permanent matters of behaviour. This third approach is less tidy but it is  necessary. Two items are dealing with minor sensitivities to which gentiles make concessions. But immorality is more serious.  Gentile Christians are forever forbidden immorality; but the Christian gentiles are temporarily asked not to buy meat with dubious origins – as a concession to Jews with tender consciences. And they are asked to temporarily abstain from food with blood in it- as a concession to Jews.  The three matters are not all of similar importance.
It may seen puzzling that the three thing are not all of the same kind.  Two of these matters are about food-laws or the purchasing of food; and one of them is about more serious sexual morality.  The explanation, I believe, is that these three (unequal) matters really were, as a fact of history, three concerns of Jewish Christians.  Jewish people were concerned about (i) indirect contact with  idolatry, (ii) looseness of gentile morality (which they feared might still characterize even Christian gentiles), and (iii) horrow at the thought of eating blood.  James says: please make a concession about two matters, and please forever be very careful about a third.
What then are the practical implications of all of this for the modern Christian?  One is: Christians should wise and kindly even where they have freedom.  Two of these three points are not strict ever-lasting legislation for the Christian.  Yet they were necessary in the first century if Jews and gentiles were to have fellowship together.  Care about what you eat would make it possible for Christian Jews and Christian gentiles to have fellowship together without Jews being horrified.  A modern Christian trying to talk to a Hindu friend had best not invite him to a meal with beef in it!  Although Christian gentiles were not under the law, Christian Jews were likely to want to keep their culture for a long time.  If the two groups were to have fellowship and were to eat together, some concessions would have to be made.  Moses gets read in the main cities of the empire (15:21).  Jewish people everywhere are specially sensitive about these three matters, so gentile Christians would do well to restrain themselves, even though they are not bound to the Mosaic law-code.
It must be realised that these three requests are not things that are binding on Christian gentiles for all time.  The three requests are not a new law-code!  They were guidelines to help gentile Christians to avoid offending Christian Jews needlessly.
Chapter 7  Coming To Agreement  (Acts 15:22-16:5)
Part of the precise requests of Acts 15:20 have fallen aside for the modern Christian, and today the concessions about the kind of food we eat are no longer directly relevant.  Yet there is a principle here which still stands.  When relating to people who have some cultural restraints or some excessive sensitivities, one might have to go along with them for a while until the ‘weak brother’ comes to a clearer mind. Christians should be sympathetic to those who have cultural inhibitions; they should be kindly to those with such inhibitions, even where they themselves have freedom.
1.  One way of resolving disagreement is discussion by church conference.  It is a matter of joy when dispute comes to a happy conclusion.  The meeting at Jerusalem agrees with James’s conviction, and they write a letter to the Antioch church.  The letter comes from the entire leadership of the Jerusalem church, with the involvement of the people (15:22).  It is addressed only to the area around Syrian Antioch (15:23).  They explain that the trouble-makers who had come to Antioch had no authority from Jerusalem (15:24).  The letter commends Barnabas and Paul (15:25-26), and it is to be taken to Antioch by people who will explain it more fully (15:27).  The Christians at Jerusalem are resolved not to ask for the Jewish law to be kept by gentiles (15:28), but they do have three requests to make (15:29).
The letter is taken to Antioch and the gentiles Christians rejoice at what has happened (15:30-31).  The ministry of the Jerusalem prophets is received (15:32) and friendly greetings are sent back to Jerusalem (15:33).  The ministry of Paul and Barnabas in Antioch continued (15:34).
So the dispute came to a happy conclusion.  This Jerusalem consultation between two churches is a model of what churches need to do from time to time.  When there is doctrinal dispute, when there are cultural perplexities, there needs to be inter-congregational consultation.  Churches need to cooperate well with other churches, in so far as it can be done.
2.  Another way of resolving disagreement is for both sides to follow different procedures while maintaining friendship.   Immediately after the agreement at Jerusalem, another kind of disagreement springs up between Paul and Barnabas!  Paul wants to visit the church in Cyprus and south Galatia again, but refuses to take John Mark.  Barnabas refuses to go without Mark (who is Barnabas’s cousin – Col.4:10).  The disagreement between the two men is sharp (15:35-39).  In the end they divide the mission into two. Barnabas takes the Cyprus section of the trip.  Paul takes the Galatian section.  The dispute did not cause permanent bitterness.   Although the disagreement was sharp for a short time, eventually a good solution was reached.  They made two missions instead of one. Insoluble disagreements do arise in the church.  God may bring good out of them if they are handled with wisdom and love.  Sometimes an amicable parting is the best way to handle the matter, in which case great care needs to be taken that good relationships are preserved after the separation.  Love can find a way of separating in a friendly manner, and good may come out of it despite bad appearances. Paul speaks well of Barnabas in 1 Corinthians 9:6, and later Paul and Mark were colleagues again (Col.4:10; 2 Tim.4:11; Philem.24).
Because of the dispute the evangelistic team became two teams.  God gave Paul some new colleagues.  Silas took the place of Barnabas (15:40-41).   He was als0 (like Barnabas originally) from the Jerusalem church (15:22) and was a prophet (15:32).  It appears from what we read later that (like Paul) he was a Roman citizen.  Although Paul would probably not have replaced Barnabas if it had not been for the dispute, yet it is likely that Silas was a more suitable co-worker for Paul at this point.  Sometimes God pushes us into decisions that we would not have taken for ourselves.
When the two men got to Lystra (16:1), Paul found a replacement for John Mark also.  Timothy had been in Lystra as a young believer when Paul and Barnabas.  He was one of the Christians who had received Galatians.  Presumably he was in heart agreement with what Paul said in Galatians.  As someone who was half-Jew, half-gentile, he was a useful man.  Such people can relate to Jews as a Jew, and to gentiles as a gentile.  He was just the kind of colleage Paul needed.  Paul was very firm about salvation through grace, but so long as grace was clearly established he was a very yielding and gracious man.  He had Timothy circumcised.  It was a step taken to make thing easier for Paul when relating to Jews.  As long as no one thought Timothy received grace from God by circumcision, than Paul did not mind Timothy’s being circumcised as a concession to culturally touchy Jewish Christians.
3.  The important matter is the preaching of the gospel.  One can see that behind both of these disputes (the conference at Jerusalem, the forming of two evangelistic teams) is a concern for the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Ways are being found to overcome difficulties in the way of preaching.  The kingdom of God is not circumcision; it is not disputes over opinions.  It is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.  It is Jesus.   The apostles settle these matters as speedily as they can, and then the outreach teams get on with the work of building up the churches.  The decisions made at Jerusalem are told to the churches (15:4-5).  Paul is now ready for a further step in taking the gospel of Jesus to areas where the message is unknown.