Carolinsblog

“Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed.”

Basically, it is pretty simple how James does it mean here. But nonetheless, this verse of the Bible is oftentimes completely misunderstood.

Let us first take a look on how serious Jesus takes the matter of sin (e.g. in Matthew 5:21-30)…

Every thought in which I am not loving towards another person and does not really wish something good for this person, is unrighteous; hate towards my neighbor is in Gods estimation just like murdering my neighbor… and hate starts in thinking, is sometimes expressed in the form of words and ends in the worst case in murder.

Actually, I could say it more easily also in this way:

To cross a “red line”, it needs a whole way beforehand in order to get to this line in the first place.

We humans draw oftentimes a line… for example concerning hate towards my neighbor, sexual immorality, greed, jealousy, pride and so on.

Could it be that we draw this line where our thoughts have become words? Yet such a line does not even exist. For the one it may exist because we try to uphold something external while internal everything is wholly different as we would like to show it.

But Jesus doesn’t draw a line, he doesn’t make a boundary… for him only black and white exists. I am in His eyes a murderer, if I think of my neighbor with hatered.

I just want here – with my way of expressing – try to formulate what Jesus means with his words in these verses. To understand this is really important for the next question I actually wanted to write about.

Jesus is concerned about my heart, He is concerned about my whole being. That is why I should also be concerned about my heart, my whole being.

Yes, I am sinful. I do not do what I love, instead I do what I hate… (Romans 7:15), I agree with Paul. I know well how sinful I am. I see how quickly I am about to sin… to fall… and I deeply regret it within me. No one is without sin and no one on this earth will ever become completely sinless. We have – as christians – still have sin in us, which is why Paul writes this succinct testimony about himself in Romans 7: 14-25. We will not be fully redeemed here on earth from this body, this ‘fleshly’ thing.

One could understand this verse of James – in which he says that we should confess our sins to one another and pray for each other so that we may be healed – in this way that we, as christians, confess our sins to another person in order to receive forgiveness of our guilt.

That would then mean that I would have to talk to this spiritually mature person every day, several times a day, and each time I would have to list everything I had sinned again.

If Jesus is so serious about this that a person who carries hate with himself is equal to a muderer then it is practically impossible to need a person always to whom I confess my guilt.

Confession of guilt means that I agree with the judgment God speaks about me. I see myself in Gods light, see my guilt and the judgment which should actually be above my life. I say the same what God says about me. I accept his judgment about me that I am sinful and I am aware of this. I do not necessarily have to speak about a sin in my life to do this because confession goes far beyond confessing with words what I have done. It is more an attitude and an awareness how Paul also explains this insight in Romans 7: 14-25.

I confess this awareness of sinfulness alone before God because also for this very confession I do not need any person. I have Jesus and he is all I need…

This spiritually mature person is just a human like me who stands himself in this fight of faith. It is impossible for me to confess all sins to another person – in the right understanding of sin.

Another thought here…

With this understanding of pastoral care, would we not also be taking on the role of the high priest, who in the Old Testament offered sacrifices on behalf of people in order to obtain forgiveness for them?

If a person takes on this role, people are dependent on them, they may even carry additional burdens that are not meant to be carried and this person then stands between me and God.

It must not happen that someone stands between me and God – why not? Because God is my Father, He loves me and I cannot allow another person to stand between me and God. It is a very personal relationship with Jesus that has been made alive by the Holy Spirit and I am allowed to live in it.

Jesus is my high priest, as it says in 1. John 2:1. In Jesus, I have a high priest who is himself the Passover lamb – once slain forever – and the merciful high priest.

Jesus alone intercedes for me before God’s throne, only to HIM alone do I entrust my heart and only HE alone is the one who has taken my place so that I can call His righteousness my righteousness. Jesus alone can declare forgiveness and make a person whole… only Jesus can tough hearts and call them for eternity… only HE creates a pure heart in me.

In Hebrews 4:16 it speaks of this that we can confidently approach the throne of grace to get mercy and find grace whenever we need help.

This should be our attitude towards ourselves and others. There is no condemnation anymore for the one who is in Christ (Romans 8:1)… but maybe we are still quickly to condemn ourselves. We can know that if we come to the throne of grace, we get mercy and find grace, whenever we need it. It is an invitation and we can accept this and live a life in freedom.

What does James mean when he says that we should confess our sins to one another and pray for one another so that we may be healed?

It speaks here of healing – not of forgiveness what is a significant difference. What does healing mean in this context? It means that I was hurt, am hrt and human help could be useful to experience truth and love so that I can heal.

When I am desperate and do not know how to help myself, advice from someone who can look back on victories is precious.

A believing friend is there for you when you are stuck and trapped in this guilt and condemnation towards yourself… you can ask this person for prayer and share your concern, let them knoe and thus not remain alone with this problem. Guilt can also be laid before the throne of grace on this way.

Another believer is there for you so that you can talk, you can talk honestly about things with that you are struggling with and that you may not even be able to talk about at first… and so that they can listen to you, give you advice and support, encourage and build you up. Basically, this person speaks the truth in love – for you. You get what you need in order to be healed and to show others this same love and compassion. Difficult bible passages can be discussed and explained, commented on and argued, so that I can grow in my understanding of scriptures and thus be healed.

Confidential conversations can reveal the truth to a person about themselves, about God and about other topics and thus give them freedom. A confidential conversation should definitely take place in the right context and in the right uplifting way.

Counselling is a gift in which we can find healing because knowing that a person knows my personal problem and is praying for me encourages me and shows me how important fellowship among believers is.

We need eachother. We need to be loved. We need to be understood and to experience mercy. We need others who stand themselves in faith in order to be encouraged and encourage myself and spread love. We are all in a struggle and how much more do we need people who build us up instead of destroying what was perhaps just beginning? We all need to know that we are not alone in this or that. We are never alone, we know that because Jesus never leaves us, he has promised that. Nevertheless, it van be so wonderfully encouraging to be together with people of faith, to stand and pray.

With lots of love,

your Carolin