If the Bible says for us to confess our sins to one another...who do we confess them to? When? Why?

Question

I have a theory on it, but want to hear the opinions of others first.

Ok...for those that are caught up in exact verbiage....some bibles say in James...confess your sins one to another, the King James version in James says confess your faults one to another. The people who quoted the scripture in James however ARE referring to the context I'm questioning.
My theory is that God not only delivered of Himself so that we could be reconnected with Him, but also that we would reconnect with one another and our land through love. Remember, He created the earth when he created heaven and loves it too. I believe that when we commit a fault against God, we commit a fault against one another. The bible even talks about confessing the sins of our fathers so that the land can be healed. I think that's another way to confess because the sins of the fathers are visited on the sons...so I think the when is, whenever we pray and He leads us to OR as alot of you have said, when we hurt someone and why...so that we, our families, friends, and our land can be healed.

Answer 1

We are supposed to confess our sins to others who have a capacity to encourage that person to overcome his/her sin. We confess because we have recognized that our sin is having a negative effect on our lives. God honors the prayers and encouragement from that person, helping overcome sin. God can and will use other people in our lives to help us overcome sin. They do not forgive us or nullify the sin, they simply encourage us in our daily walk to seek God for forgiveness and healing.

Also, it's good to confess the sin to other people because often times we keep the sin inside like it's a secret. Keeping sin inside is what gives sin it's power to destroy our lives. It may be hard but by confessing the sin, it relieves some of the pain and power that sin has, allowing the healing process to start taking place.

The devil would love for us to keep our sin inside so it can fester and rot, destroying our lives. But Jesus died so that if we confess our sins, if we take the sin by the hand and hold it out to Him, He will take it away and destroy it (note that this process is constant and never stops till we die).

There is more that I could write, but I hope this helps.

Answer 2

The greatest commandment is 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' Confessing your sins to God means that you can be forgiven and have a strong relationship with Him.

Confessing sins to one another could have multiple uses.
Firstly, to fulfil the second commandment: love your neighbour. If you want a good relationship with your neighbour then, again, you can't allow secret sins to come between you.
Secondly, it can help to make your relationship with God stronger. The passage you are talking about is 'the prayer of faith'. In sharing our sins and our prayers through fellowship, we can often have greater faith and our prayers will be stronger.
Also, in admitting our sins to our fellow man we are avoiding hypocrisy. If your friend admits his sin and you don't, or his is somehow made public and you sit on yours, then at least some part of you can hide from God. I'm not saying that you need to admit every sin to everybody but if your friend owned up to taking something that belonged to you (or whatever) and you forgave him with out admitting that you had taken something of his, then even if your spiritual side had asked God for forgiveness, your earthly self is still hiding from him.

Answer 3

My personal take on this is to a fellow Christian who you trust in confidence to keep your confession and will pray with you and for you. This is probably a sin that is going to require you to have someone who will help hold you accountable so that you do not continue in the sin. I also believe that all other confessions need go no further than you and the Lord.

Answer 4

The full scripture (James 5:16) is "Confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed. For the effective feverant prayer of a rightous man avails much."

The word "fault" or "sins" is a translation of the Greek word παράπτωμα (paraptōma in the English alphabet). It refers to "weakness, slips, faults and sidesteps". It refers to the need for any close group of people to admits their mistakes and faults to each other, to apologize when needed, to clarify motives, and keep the air clean between them. To support and pray for each other so that any wounds or misunderstandings are cleared up between them. This kind of honest, heart felt prayer, that makes a man righteous - in right standing with God and his brothers - is very powerful and effective.

The scripture has nothing to do with "confessing your sins" like the Catholics do to priest. It is verse about keeping peace and harmony among Christians. (Something a lot of us Christians could use a lot more of.)

Answer 5

Churches today are filled with loose untrustworthy lips and devious minds. They (not all) would take every word you confessed and eithe spread it around the entire state before sunset or hold it against you till the day you or they die.

THAT is the hard sad facts. It would be so great to have a Church group that were really devout and you could confess your faults for help, support and prayers.

Answer 6

I think it was in the context of the early church, which meant to confess our sins to other Christians. I think it was just a way of life, however: being transparent about our sins and being real with each other. Recognizing our sin is the only way to grow and receive grace. Plus, I really do think words hold a lot of weight. Just saying it out loud makes it sink in for me.

Answer 7

It does say this. We say them to another believer, not an un believer. When the Spirit moves us to. It is done to help us grow closer to God, To help another help hold us accountable so we don;t do it again, and to help other believers know that others go through issues, perhaps the same issues as another believer. We all struggle. We all sin. Just because one is saved, does not make us perfect. This confession helps us remember that.

Answer 8

hello, u confess 2 someone who is living holy and someone u know is applying the word of God 2 there life. when the oppurtunity presents itself. why, so u can over come. not 4 someone to hold it over ur head. not 2 degrade u or belittle u. the bible says 4 all have sin and fallen short .
hope i was some help to u.

Answer 9

First we confess our sins to God- Jesus.
Then we confess our sins to the people that we offend and ask forgivness.
It is always a struggle to live life with out problems that is why God has other christian family that we should lean on for help.

Answer 10

It says in the Bible that if we sin against a brother/sister, we should go to them and confess. Otherwise, we only have to confess to God.