The Confession Session

As is often the case, this week’s instalment of Doug Wilson’s letters column turned out to be thought provoking. A reader notes that he can’t recall a single time in the lengthy history of Doug’s blog that Doug has spoken about his own struggles with specific sins.

It raises a perfectly reasonable question: When is public confession of my sins appropriate, and when isn’t it? What constitutes a legitimate Christian “confession session”?

Christian Views on Confession

Christian views on confession are all over the map, as I have noted previously in posts about the appropriate level of detail in a confession, about how confession can go wrong, about the relationship of confession to repentance and about whether adultery should be confessed to one’s spouse. Where public confession is concerned, the differences are even starker. Some take the command in James to “confess your sins to one another” as a mandate to talk about all our struggles with fellow believers in the interests of honesty and authenticity. There are churches that encourage this practice in their gatherings. Having aired their dirty laundry, some Christians may be disappointed and even discouraged to find other believers do not always respond in kind, or in a satisfying level of detail. There may be good reasons for this, as Doug Wilson notes in his response to the letter.

I do not believe James was teaching that all sins ought to be publicly confessed to all Christians “in the interests of transparency”, as we like to say today. The context in James is a sick man who believes his illness is the consequence of some hidden sin, and so confesses it to his elders in hope of being healed in answer to their prayers. If James was teaching universal, exhaustive transparency between Christians, then he’s the only New Testament writer who did so. I read the words “to one another” as being a direction to confess your sins to whichever fellow believers are appropriate in any given situation. There is no need to take it further than that, and many good reasons not to.

Types of Biblical Confession

I will leave out private confession to God, for which there is plenty of scriptural precedent, as the subject of the letter was public confession of ongoing spiritual struggles. Here are some biblical examples of appropriate confessional situations, both prescriptive and descriptive:

1/ Help! I’m Drowning

The situation in James points out the first type of confession that is appropriate, and that is when you need help. If you are struggling with a besetting sin or the consequences thereof, by all means reach out to someone more mature whom God has equipped to come alongside, give advice and comfort, and pray for you. In this case, it’s the elders, which seems entirely logical under the circumstances.

2/ Personal Confession

The object of personal confession is to clear up an issue between brothers and sisters in Christ. It is not to satisfy curiosity, compare detailed notes about one’s sins, or make others feel that they’ve “got it together” spiritually to the same extent their peers do. Comparing ourselves with ourselves isn’t wise and doesn’t help. If you know that your brother has something against you, go get reconciled to him. If he has sinned against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. In neither instance does the matter need to proceed further. This is still the case if sin and confession happen seventy-seven times in a day. There’s no need to expand the circle. The appropriate sphere of confession remains precisely one.

3/ Collective Confession

We have a good example of appropriate collective confession in Acts 19, where the gospel came to Ephesus and awakened the consciences of new converts. They made public confession of dabbling in magic arts and burned their books together to show their repentance. But this was a particular situation where collective conviction produced decisive, collective action, and it appears to have been a one-off. No record of similar confession sessions exists, and there is no indication in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians that this practice continued. The word “confess” does not even occur in Ephesians. Luke’s record certainly provides us with no model for weekly corporate or individual public confessions. If, as mature followers of Christ, we have that much to confess to one another weekly, I would estimate we are doing Christianity all wrong.

4/ Liturgical Confessions

Some churches see value in liturgical confession, by which I mean they have the congregation read a written prayer of confession together aloud. Such confessions are, of necessity, general in nature (and therefore largely useless). It is abundantly clear that “we all stumble in many ways”, but unless that thought has a relevant application, as it does in James, it is of little value to dwell on it. The point is not to wallow in our sinfulness, but to learn to avoid stumbling. I cannot bring myself to join in liturgical confessions, and usually find myself thinking, “This doesn’t have anything to do with me!” I may have my own problems, but I don’t need to be confessing other people’s.

Struggling with Sin

Of these types of confession, the first three are biblical and the last, while questionable, at least has the virtue of entirely lacking detail, and therefore being neither titillating nor an act of self-exhibition. But you will notice the sphere of any specific confession is limited. Talking about sin just for the sake of it is not a biblical practice.

As for the reader’s question about what Doug Wilson struggles with, I cannot think of a single verse of scripture that might encourage us to pour our hearts out to one another about our ongoing battles with specific sins, let alone write them up for an internet audience. In my 2,500+ posts here, I have made occasional reference to the various sins of my youth, as well as to my learning curve about stewardship and how it works. Some might refer to these as “confessional” pieces, but I can assure you that has never been the intent. Whatever confessions needed to be made have been made years ago, to the appropriate individuals. If I share the stories here (in minimal detail), it is entirely for the purpose of encouraging my fellow believers by saying, “Yes, I once had this problem too, though you might find it hard to believe if you didn’t know me. I beat it with the Lord’s help, and here’s how.” Such were some of me, but I’m not that anymore. I cannot imagine for a moment what value might exist in exhibiting myself to the world over an ongoing struggle.

The Dangers of Confession

Confessing one’s sins in excessive detail or to the wrong people presents certain spiritual dangers to both confessor and confessee:

1. You may not be able to forget what you’ve heard. I used to read a Christian blogger who made a public confession of what-was-then-recent infidelity. He has since been restored to the Lord and to his family, and now writes again, years later. I’ve never been particularly interested since his confession. Spiritual leadership requires a consistent Christian walk. I have enough temptation to inconsistency in my own life without taking advice from people who are intermittently faithful. That is probably a defect in me; nevertheless, it would not be surprising to find people respond to my own public confessions (should I make any) the same way. To be clear, I am not suggesting a Bible teacher who has stumbled never be allowed to teach again, but I am saying it is up to individual Christians to decide if they feel like hearing what he has to say. Some won’t.
2. Talking about temptation can be discouraging. By definition, any “ongoing struggle” involves repeated failures. It may seem comforting in the short term to hear that other people are having the same experience I am, but my rehearsing of my own repeated failures is more likely to discourage my brothers and sisters (or provide them with excuses and self-justifications) than it is to strengthen them spiritually. If we are going to talk about our spiritual battles, let’s talk about the ones the Lord has helped us win.
3. Talking about temptation can lead us to question God’s faithfulness. God will not let us be tempted beyond our ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that we may be able to endure it. Do you believe it? Then repeated failures at conquering temptation are ours, not the Lord’s unfaithfulness to us. Dwelling on our failures is not constructive and can lead us to identify with our besetting sins (for example, Christians who refer to themselves as “gay” because they are tempted by same-sex lust).
4. Talking about temptation can lead us to normalize it. Being tempted need not lead to sin, but endlessly rehearsing it and reminding ourselves that it is “common to man” may lead us to feel no particular urgency about conquering it.

I believe the current mania over constant personal disclosure among Christians has less to do with rediscovering the biblical teaching about confession, and a great deal more to do with inadvertently channeling the spirit of the internet age, which is all about me, me, me. I actually had someone tell me a while back that failing to talk about my personal temptations is hypocrisy. (I recommended she look up the definition of the word.)

I am all for confession so long as it is biblical in character and sphere. There is a time and place for sharing personal struggles, and it is always with a view to building up one another rather than tearing down. For Christians, talking about ourselves is only useful when we believe it may help the other guy.