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The Believer’s Bar of Soap

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Writing in The Christian Century, Dr. Lloyd H. Steffen, professor of religion studies and university chaplain at Lehigh University, recounts a story about King Frederick II, an eighteenth-century King of Prussia, who was visiting a prison in Berlin. Each of the inmates tried to explain how they were innocent and had been unjustly imprisoned, all except one. This one sat quietly in a corner while the rest protested their innocence. Seeing him sitting there, oblivious to the commotion, the king asked him what he was there for.

“Armed robbery, Your Honor.”

The king asked, “Were you guilty?”

“Yes, sir,” he answered. “I entirely deserve my punishment.”

The king then gave an order to the guard. “Release this guilty man. I don’t want him corrupting all these innocent people.”

It is always best to confess our sins, honestly and forthrightly. There is power in confession. To confess our sins to God is to pull a drain plug on guilt. All our sin and guilt swooshes down the drain, vanishing forever in God’s grace. When we confess our sins, we simply agree with God about our sins.

“Lord, I was dishonest with Bob.”

“Father, forgive me for losing my temper with Tommy.”

“Oh God, forgive my pride. I didn’t need to brag about my job with those people.”

In Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC, Rev. Frederick Buechner puts the matter poignantly: “To confess your sins to God is not to tell Him anything He doesn’t already know. Until you confess them, however, they are the abyss between you. When you confess them, they become the bridge.”

I find the same thing happens in my marriage. If I am unkind or insensitive with Gayle, we may still be married, but there is now a barrier between us. We are connected in a legal and judicial sense, but we are not connected in a relational and fellowship sense. But when I apologize to her, everything changes. Our closeness and oneness are restored. There is power in confession.

God gives us a wonderful promise in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This is the Christian bar of soap. When we confess our sin, God will restore us to full, untarnished fellowship with Him.

Confession is part of prayer. We don’t need to be overly introspective, but neither should we be insensitive to the Spirit’s gentle work. When God graciously reminds us of our sin, then we should immediately and sincerely confess it to God to experience the fresh joy of His cleansing grace.

In one sense, a legal and judicial sense, all our sin has already been forgiven. In Romans 8:1, we learn that all our sin was nailed to the cross, and we are under no condemnation.

But in another sense, a relational and fellowship sense, our relationship with God is hindered by our sin. There is a barrier between us until we confess our sins to God. This is the point of 1 John 1:9.