Born Again Christians: then what about this scripture...?

Question

In reference to my previous question:

Therefore, make it your habit to confess your sins to one another and to pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." (James 5:16)

Answer 1

Christ has made it possible for us to go directly to God for forgiveness. But confessing our sins to each other still has an important place in the life of the church. (1) If we have sinned against an individual, we must ask him or her to forgive us. (2) If our sin has affected the church, we must confess it publicly. (3) If we need loving support as we struggle with a sin, we should confess that sin to those who are able to provide that support. (4) If we doubt God’s forgiveness, after confessing a sin to him, we may wish to confess that sin to a fellow believer for assurance of God’s pardon. In Christ’s Kingdom, every believer is a priest to other believers (1 Peter 2:9).
Cross References:
James 5:16—Matthew 18:15-18; 1 John 1:9

Answer 2

‘Openly confessing our sins to one another’ should serve as a restraint against sinning further. It should foster mutual compassion, a quality that will move us to “pray for one another.” We can have faith that this will be beneficial because prayer by ‘a righteous man’, one exercising faith and viewed as upright by God, accomplishes much with Jehovah. (1 Peter 3:12) The prophet Elijah had weaknesses like ours, but his prayers were effective. He prayed, and it did not rain for three and a half years. When he prayed again, rain did fall.

What if a member of the congregation is “misled from the truth,” deviating from right teaching and conduct? We may be able to turn him back from his error through Bible counsel, prayer, and other help. If we succeed, this keeps him under Christ’s ransom and saves him from spiritual death and condemnation to destruction. By helping the erring one, we cover a multitude of his sins. When the reproved sinner turns from his wrong course, repents, and seeks forgiveness, we will rejoice that we worked toward the covering over of his sins.

Answer 3

Confess your sins to one another means you confess your wrongdoing against that person u r confessing to... NOT confess your sins to the whole church or anything. The scripture didnt ask us to confess our sins to the whole church in front of the congregation...never. It says..one another.
If I have sinned against you in a manner that I have accused you or hurt you so bad emotionally or anything, i have to confess it to you so you can forgive me. Even if you dont forgive me, I will still have to confess it to you anyway.... & if you dont, that's something you have to work upon which is forgiving.

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much
means you can't simply get into the presence of God & expect all your prayers to be answered...you have to do a reality check first, check your walk with God, have you been praying everyday for at least 1 hour, 1 hour prayer is just for survival, to keep from falling into temptation but if you want to have power with God, it will have to be more than 2 hours. Note, the scripture says, the effectual fervent prayer... walking into God's room asking Him to do this that or the other thing is not what the bible is talking about, it's talking about a fervent prayer... a prayer that touches the throne of God!
You have no idea about the power God will give you when you have forgotten about the world in are in His feet woshiping Him giving Him glory and asking Him to solve certain issues. God will start showing you the things that you need to do for the situation... & suddenly you are interceeding for that situation/need, you will start to trevail at times ... This is POWERFUL!
This happens only when you walk into the Sanctuary/Holy of Holies of the King of Kings & the Lord of Lords...

Answer 4

We confess our sins to God through Jesus Christ.

1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

Here is a more accurate translation of the passage you asked about.

James 5:16 Confess your faults (paráptōma) one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

paráptōma - to fall by the wayside. Fault, lapse, error, mistake, wrongdoing. Sometimes used in profane Gr. when it is intended to designate a sin not necessarily heinous in nature. Although it represents errors or faults of weakness, it does not necessarily fail to imply culpability.

Answer 5

Absolutely you should have a person or people in your church to talk to about you sins. If I am struggling with say for instance cigarettes, and want healing for that I should talk to someone who has been there. Who can agree with me in prayer. Notice that this verse is talking to saints, that are needing healing. God uses us to help each other in times of trial. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have my christian friends to pray with me and help me see things from a separate view.

Answer 6

As a Catholic, James is my favorite non-gospel book, becuase it makes the sola scriptura crowd uncomfortable on several fronts. In fact, Martin Luther actually wanted to remove James from the list of canonical books. He eventually relented. But, a lot of Catholic tradition is very strongly supported by James.

The Protestants did succeed in getting rid of what they call the 'apocryphal' books, based on the assertion that they were all written in Greek. It's a shame, because there is so many great stories and wonderful things to learn from those books as well.

Answer 7

The MOST important action is to ask God's forgiveness. If that is all you can do than that suffices.

However, James is also outlining the importance of the Church community in the reconciliation process. You see if a community of believers ackowledge both the failings of each other and themselves then they will be able to work together to solve weaknesses and short-comings and grow more deeply within the body of Christ.

He is also telling us about the importance of prayer both in reconciliation and in general within the body of believers. Since we are all sinners, we need a support structure, a community whose goal is our well-being and salvation to hold us up in our times of weakness.

Answer 8

I don't know what version you are quoting from but the KJV says "faults" meaning weaknesses and areas where I may have offended or sinned against a fellow brother or sister in Christ. I need to make that right between me and the one I wronged. Also it helps to have someone you can trust to say 'hey, I'm really weak in the area of having a bad temper (sanctification issues). Would you help me pray about that and when you see me losing my temper give me a 'heads up' on that? Thanks!' But sin against God cannot be forgiven by anyone But God and therefore should be taken directly to Him. You don't have to "air out" your dirty laundry to everyone - only God. But you do need to admit when you need help with sanctification issues and keeping a right relationship with other people.

Answer 9

We confess to each other when we have sinned against someone. We confess to God for sins against others and against Him.

Jesus said, "So if you are presenting your gift at the altar and remember there that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and first go and be reconciled to your brother. Then come and offer your gift." (Matthew 5:23-24)

Another example is the case of the prodigal: "Father, I have sinned against heaven and you. I don't deserve to be called your son anymore." (Luke 15:21)

So, it all depends on who you have sinned against, that determines who you confess to. We confess to God regardless of the situation, and to others as necessary.

Answer 10

The most often repeated issue in the bible is to admit to God that you are a sinner. What you have is only one verse.