CONFESSION OF SIN 

AGREEMENT AND ADMISSION OF GUILT 

• the Greek verb homologeo means 'to agree, admit, acknowledge, confess' and is used in extra-biblical literature of 
(1) friends who have agreed to do something together, 
(2) a general who captured a town by negotiation, that is, through agreement on the terms of surrender, 
(3) admitting you have treated others with contempt, and (4) admitting your faults to others, such as timidity 
• confession is agreeing with God you've committed a sin (agreement logically precedes an admission of guilt) 
• the opposite of confession is keeping silent about your sins (Psa 32:3–4; Prov 28:13) 

SELF-JUDGMENT 

• confession is judging yourself correctly—rendering a guilty verdict with respect to personal sins (1 Cor 11:31) 

FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD 

• sin breaks our fellowship with God: the moment we sin we drop out of fellowship and become carnal (control by the flesh) 
• confession produces forgiveness of sins, cleansing from all unrighteousness, and fellowship with God (1 John 1:5–9) 
• the moment you are aware of an unconfessed sin confess it immediately to restore your fellowship with God 
• continual, uninterrupted fellowship with God is not possible in this life because we all have sin natures and commit sins 

KNOWN AND UNKNOWN SINS 

• confession cleanses from known ("our sins") and unknown ("cleanse us from all unrighteousness") sins (1 John 1:9) 
• you can't confess unknown sins (they keep piling up until you confess a known sin) 
• unknown sins are automatically forgiven when you confess known sins 

NAMING SINS 

• naming sins is recommended but not commanded (naming clearly identifies the sins you're confessing) 
• David did not name his sins of adultery and murder (2 Sam 12:13; Psa 41:4; 51:4) and numbering the people (2 Sam 24:10) 
• but Moses named the sin of his people—idolatry: "They have made a god of gold for themselves" (Exod 32:31) 
• Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel also named specific sins in their prayers (Ezra 9:10–12, 14; Neh 1:7; Dan 9:5, 6, 10, 11, 14) 

DAILY DECISION 

• confession is a choice: in 1 John 1:9 "if" is a third class condition expressing uncertainty (maybe you will, maybe you won't) 
• self-inspection is a good habit to cultivate: ask yourself, "Have I committed any known sins in the past few hours?" 
• praying without ceasing is a good way to keep short accounts (begin each prayer with confession) 

PROMISE FROM GOD 

• confession is made to God in prayer (Psa 32:5) 
• forgiveness (God's part) is promised for confessing our sins (our part); e.g., 1 John 1:9 
• confess and forsake your favorite sins to receive compassion from God (Prov 28:13; cf. 'azav 'forsake' in Ezek 23:8) 

DIVINE DISCIPLINE 

• failure to confess results in divine discipline (Psa 32:3–4) 
• confession may not remove divine discipline (Josh 7:19–25; 2 Sam 12:10–12, 14–23; 24:10–17) 

ISOLATION OF SIN 

• when you confess a sin, forget it—God has; why keep punishing yourself for something God has forgiven? 
• don't let the yo-yo effect discourage you (the frequency of confession will decrease as you become spiritually mature)