Quotes about Confession

It is impossible for a man to be freed from the habit of sin before he hates it, just as it is impossible to receive forgiveness before confessing his trespasses.

The man who has truly believed in his heart ... his life will be marked by a biblical confession of Christ in word and deed.

Submitting to God requires us to deal with the sin in our lives. Sin

The Lord gave David plenty of time to repent of his sins, but when he didn't, He sent the prophet Nathan to confront him (see 2 Samuel 11—12). The guilt tore up David and made him physically sick (see Psalm 32:3—4). He finally confessed his transgressions to the Lord and received forgiveness (see verse 5).

To confess (homologeo) means to acknowledge or to agree. You confess your sin when you say what God says about it: "I entertained a lustful thought, and that's a sin"; "I treated my spouse unkindly this morning, and that was wrong"; "Pride motivated me to seek that board position, and pride doesn't belong in my life.

Jesus is the Truth, and He is the One who sets the captive free. Power for the believer comes in knowing and choosing the truth. We are to pursue truth because we already have all the power we need in Christ (see Ephesians 1:18-19). Furthermore, people in bondage are not liberated by what I do as a pastor, but by what they choose to believe, confess, renounce, and forgive.

The characters in my novels are my own unrealized possibilities. That is why I am equally fond of them all and equally horrified by them. Each one has crossed a border that I myself have cirumvented. It is that crossed border (the border beyond which my own I ends) which attracts me most. For beyond that border begins the secret the novel asks about. The novel is not the author's confession; it is an investigation of human life in the trap the world has become.

The perseverance of the saints is not primarily a theoretical problem but a confession of faith ... a song of praise to God's faithfulness and grace.

The confession of the church touching Jesus Christ can never be a knowledge such that, with it, the church can elevate itself above the world. It is precisely within the church that people will have to remind themselves that this knowledge is a gift and a miracle which did not arise out of flesh and blood.

The sanctification ... demanded is always an implicate of the sanctification that originates in God's mercy. Hence the sanctification of believers is never an independent area of human activity ... we can speak truly of sanctification only when we have understood the exceptionally great significance of the bond between Sola-fide and sanctification ... the Sola-fide ... a confession of 'By grace alone we are saved' ... is the only sound foundation for sanctification.

In the doctrine of Providence, we have a specific Christian confession exclusively possible through faith in Jesus Christ. This faith is no general, vague notion of Providence. It has a concrete focus: 'If God is for us, who is against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things?' (Rom.8:31, 32).

Worthy partakers are those who confess their sins in self-abhorrence, humiliation, faith in God's promises, and gratefulness of heart. This is the 'worthiness' that belongs to the Lord's Supper. It is not at all meritorious in nature, but is in complete harmony with what is signified and sealed in the Lord's Supper. It is a worthiness that coincides with a confession of 'unworthiness' and with trust in the salvation of God.