Reference: Confession
Easton
(1) An open profession of faith (Lu 12:8). (2.) An acknowledment of sins to God (Le 16:21; Ezr 9:5-15; Da 9:3-12), and to a neighbour whom we have wronged (Jas 5:16; Mt 18:15).
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"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.
"I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Fausets
Jas 5:16; "confess your faults one to another (the apostle does not say to the priest), and pray one for another, that ye may be healed." The "faults" (paraptoomata) are literally "falls" in relation to one another. But the Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, and Vaticanus manuscripts and Vulgate read "sins" (hamartias). Confession is desirable
(1) in case of wrong done to a neighbor, Mt 18:15;
(2) to a Christian adviser, ordained or unordained, anyone who can apply God's written word suitably to one's need, and "pray for" and with one, Jas 5:16;
(3) open confession of any wrong done to the church, which has caused scandal to religion, in token of penitence. Not auricular: Mt 3:6; Ac 19:18, "many confessed and shewed (openly, not in the ear of a priest under the seal of secrecy) their deeds."
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and confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
and confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.
"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.
Many also of those who believed now came, confessing and disclosing their practices.
Many also of those who believed now came, confessing and disclosing their practices.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Hastings
In Eng. the words 'confess,' 'confession' denote either a profession of faith or an acknowledgment of sin; and they are used in English Version in both of these meanings.
1. Confession of faith.
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and confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go. First be reconciled to your brother; and then come and offer your gift.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And behold, they cried out, "What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?"
"Therefore whoever acknowledges me before men, him I will also acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven.
Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. read more. And I tell you, that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
And all the land of Judea, and the people from Jerusalem, went out to him and they were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.
and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel."
For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.'"
And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.'"
When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, "This is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.
The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, one greater than Jonah is here.
But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and here I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.
And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and turns to you seven times, and says, 'I repent,' you must forgive him."
"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."
He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means the Christ).
Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"
Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
But God raised him up, having loosed the agony of death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power.
For he had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
(...)
And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days.
On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his mouth and so is saved.
Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.
Since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "I believed and therefore I spoke," we also believe and therefore speak,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
but hospitable, a lover of what is good, master of himself, upright, holy, and self-controlled;
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
By this you know the Spirit of God: every Spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,
By this you know the Spirit of God: every Spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, of which you have heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already.
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
Morish
There are two applications of this word, one of which is apt to be overlooked. The one is the confession of sin. This was enjoined by the law, and if accompanied with a sacrifice it led to forgiveness. Le 5:5; Nu 5:7. It is beautiful to see how Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel confessed the sins of the people as if they had been their own. Ezr 9; 10:1; Ne 1:6; 9:2-3; Da 9:4-20. When John the Baptist was fulfilling his mission, the people 'confessed' their sins, and were baptised, Mt 3:5-6; and of the Christian it is said, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1Jo 1:9: cf. Ps 32:5. We are exhorted to confess our faults one to another. Jas 5:16.
The other application of the term is confessing the Lord Jesus. The Jewish rulers agreed that if any one 'confessed' that Jesus was the Christ he should be excommunicated. Joh 9:22. On the other hand, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved . . . . . Confession is made unto salvation." This is PROFESSION, as indeed the same word, ????????, is translated. "Let us hold fast our profession"
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Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan went out to him, and confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
His parents said this because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that he was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who made the good confession before Pontius Pilate,
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful;
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Watsons
CONFESSION signifies a public acknowledgment of any thing as our own: thus Christ will confess the faithful in the day of judgment, Lu 12:8.
2. To own and profess the truths of Christ, and to obey his commandments, in spite of opposition and danger from enemies, Mt 10:32.
3. To utter or speak the praises of God, or to give him thanks.
4. To acknowledge our sins and offences to God, either by private or public confession; or to our neighbour whom we have wronged; or to some pious persons from whom we expect to receive comfort and spiritual instruction; or to the whole congregation when our fault is published, Ps 32:5; Mt 3:6; 16/type/common'>Jas 5:16; 1 John 1:9. 5. To acknowledge a crime before a judge, Jos 7:19.
2. In the Jewish ceremony of annual expiation, the high priest confessed in general his own sins, the sins of other ministers of the temple, and those of all the people. When an Israelite offered a sacrifice for sin, he put his hand on the head of the victim, and confessed his faults, Leviticus 4. On the day of atonement, the Jews still make a private confession of their sins, which is called by them cippur, and which is said to be done in the following manner: Two Jews retire into a corner of the synagogue. One of them bows very low before the other, with his face turned toward the north. He who performs the office of confessor gives the penitent nine-and-thirty blows on the back with a leathern strap, repeating these words, "God, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not; yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath." As there are only thirteen words in this verse recited in the Hebrew, he repeats it three times, and at every word strikes one blow; which makes nine-and-thirty words, and as many lashes. In the meantime, the penitent declares his sins, and at the confession of every one beats himself on his breast. This being finished, he who has performed the office of confessor prostrates himself on the ground, and receives in turn from his penitent nine-and-thirty lashes.
3. The Romish church not only requires confession as a duty, but has advanced it to the dignity of a sacrament. These confessions are made in private to the priest, who is not to reveal them under pain of the highest punishment. The council of Trent requires "secret confession to the priest alone, of all and every mortal sin, which, upon the most diligent search and examination of our consciences, we can remember ourselves to be guilty of since our baptism; together with all the circumstances of those sins, which may change the nature of them; because, without the perfect knowledge of these, the priest cannot make a judgment of the nature and quality of men's sins, nor impose fitting penance for them." This is the confession of sins which the same council confidently affirms "to have been instituted by our Lord, and by the law of God, to be necessary to salvation, and to have been always practised in the catholic church." It is, however, evident, that such confession is unscriptural. St. James, indeed, says, "Confess your faults one to another," Jas 5:16; but priests are not here mentioned, and the word faults seems to confine the precept to a mutual confession among Christians, of those offences by which they may have injured each other. Certain it is, that from this passage the necessity of auricular confession, and the power of priestly absolution, cannot be inferred. Though many of the early ecclesiastical writers earnestly recommend confession to the clergy, yet they never recommend it as essential to the pardon of sin, or as having connection with a sacrament. They only urge it as entitling a person to the prayers of the congregation; and as useful for supporting the authority of wholesome discipline, and for maintaining the purity of the Christian church. Chrysostom condemns all secret confession to men, as being obviously liable to great abuses; and Basal, Hilary, and Augustine, all advise confession of sins to God only. It has been proved by M. Daille, that private, auricular, sacramental confession of sins was unknown in the primitive church. But, though private auricular confession is not of divine authority, yet, as Archbishop Tillotson properly observes, there are many cases in which men, under the guilt and trouble of their sins, can neither appease their own minds, nor sufficiently direct themselves, without recourse to some pious and prudent guide. In these cases, men certainly do very well, and many times prevent a great deal of trouble and perplexity to themselves, by a timely discovery of their condition to some faithful minister, in order to their direction and satisfaction. To this purpose a general confession is for the most part sufficient; and where there is occasion for a more particular discovery, there is no need of raking into the minute and foul circumstances of men's sins to give that advice which is necessary for the cure and ease of the penitent. Auricular confession is unquestionably one of the greatest corruptions of the Romish church. It goes upon the ground that the priest has power to forgive sins; it establishes the tyrannical influence of the priesthood; it turns the penitent from God who only can forgive sins, to man who is himself a sinner; and it tends to corrupt both the confessors and the confessed by a foul and particular disclosure of sinful thoughts and actions of every kind without exception.
CONFESSIONS OF FAITH, simply considered, is the same with creed, and signifies a summary of the principal articles of belief adopted by any individual or society. In its more common acceptation, it is restricted to the summaries of doctrine published by particular Christian churches, with the view of preventing their religious sentiments from being misunderstood or misrepresented, or, by requiring subscription to them, of securing uniformity of opinion among those who join their communion. Except a single sentence in one of the Ignatian Epistles, (A.D. 180,) which relates exclusively to the reality of Christ's personality and sufferings in opposition to the Docetae, the earliest document of this kind is to be found in the writings of Irenaeus, who flourished toward the end of the second century of the Christian aera. In his treatise against heresies, this father affirms that "the faith of the church planted throughout the whole world," consisted in the belief of "one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth and sea, and all that are in them; and one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and one Holy Spirit, who foretold, through the Prophets, the dispensations and advents, and the generation by the virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the ascension in the flesh into heaven, of Jesus Christ our beloved Lord, and his appearing from heaven in the glory of the Father, to unite together all things under one head, and to raise every individual of the human race; that unto Christ Jesus, our Lord and God, and Saviour and King, every knee may bow, and every tongue confess; that he may pronounce just sentence upon all." In various parts of Tertullian's writings similar statements occur, (A.D. 200,) which it is unnecessary particularly to quote. We shall only remark, that in one of them, the miraculous conception of Christ by the power of the Holy Ghost is distinctly mentioned; that in another, he declares it to have been the uniform doctrine from the beginning of the Gospel, that Christ was born of the virgin, both man and God, ex ea natum hominem et Deum; and that in each of these, faith in the Father, Son, and Spirit, is recognised as essential to Christianity. The following passage we cite, for the purpose of marking its coincidence with the Apostles' Creed, to which we shall have occasion soon to advert: "This," says he, "is the sole, immovable, irreformable rule of faith; namely, to believe in the only God Almighty, maker of the world; and his Son Jesus Christ, born of the virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, the third day raised from the dead, received into heaven, now sitting at the right hand of the Father, about to
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and confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
"Therefore whoever acknowledges me before men, him I will also acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven.
And he said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
"I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God.
Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.