Do we need to confess our sins to those we have sinned against?

The first passage surely means that we should confess our sins to God. For this we need no earthly mediator, no human priest. As to the latter passage, it clearly means that if we sin against any person our duty is to confess our wrong-doing to the person we have wronged and seek his forgiveness. Out of these simple verses Rome has built up a great system, a money-making affair, which fastens upon its dupes a priestly domination, totally foreign to Scripture.

If I have wronged another, I confess it to him. If I go wrong and find someone more spiritual than myself, or if I get my heart engaged with anxieties and it is burdened, and I know a person who is really spiritual and has the mind of Christ, I may go and open my mind to him; but do not go to one not spiritually minded.

Finally we may notice that the thought of human forgiveness is really familiar to us all, and owned of God in the common relationships of life. "If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him." (Luke 17:3.) So, on the other hand, if I sin against my brother, I am bound to obtain his forgiveness; it is a point of godliness to do so. (Matt. 5:24.) The case stands, I believe, thus: First, if I have sinned against God only, I have to confess to Him and be forgiven, and He also practically cleanses in grace. Second, if my sin has been also against my brother, I must confess to him, and get his forgiveness, as well as confessing to God. Third, if my sin has been of such a character that it has been open wickedness, and brought what Scripture calls "leaven" into the loaf or assembly, I must get the forgiveness of the assembly as well as God's forgiveness. Discipline and excommunication most commonly precede this forgiveness by the assembly, and are the means used of God to produce that true self-judgment upon which forgiveness both from the Lord and His people depends. This we see strikingly illustrated in the case at Corinth. (Compare 1 Cor. 5 and 2 Cor. 2) But there is no reason why repentance should not precede excommunication, in which case forgiveness might be granted without the putting away of the one who has sinned and repented.*

"In the case of the saint, confession is at once the most gracious provision and most blessed exercise to meet his need down here. … Who that knows anything of his own heart, and of the defiling influences around, does not also know the relief and rest in which a true spirit of confession maintains his soul. But the confession of a saint must be true. … Self judgment and confession must be something more than skin-deep, if we are to dwell in fellowship with Him in whom is no darkness at all, for He knows just where we are in our souls, and what He looks for is truth in our inward parts. … There is a wide difference between confession in order to forgiveness and the evasion of punishment, which is really Popery; and confession in view to the restoration of communion with the Father, in whose love our hearts have learned to find their only rest. We have hitherto spoken only of confession towards God, but it has also its bearing towards man. … Wherein it has touched our standing and relationship towards God, it will be first judged; but wherein it has also touched our relations to men, it will not be neglected; and this latter point demands the deepest exercise and self-examination, and self-emptiness also, on our part, for the tendency of our heart is to evade, if possible, that which may lower us in the eyes of our fellows, whether men as men, or our fellow-Christians. How commonly do we hear one who has failed, and in a way has owned it too, saying, 'I have confessed to God, and there is no need to confess to man.' … 'Confess your faults one to another ' is the pith and marrow of much that is detailed at length under the law. The necessity for restitution, and for the acknowledgment of wrong done, both natural conscience and law most plainly teach; and does the Gospel teach a lesson of less self-denial? Surely not, but rather a deeper one, as in it we learn how self is judged and mortified, and Christ alone to live and act in us. … May the Lord teach us self-emptiness, and so enable us always to maintain a good conscience before God and before man. We ought to walk before men as before God, always able to look each one in the face with the confidence that we are keeping back nothing which is their due, that we are hiding nothing even in our hearts, which in confession we ought to make known."

The apostle adds a more general admonition as to which there is no difficulty: "Confess" therefore, "your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed." This still, however, needs wisdom for its application. The confession of sin itself may be looked at, as men look so much at confession to a priest, as if it were to work something merely as confession. Apart from the recognized need of confessing to another that in which we have wronged him, there may be, and no doubt are, cases where it would be good for any one burdened with the sense of wrong-doing to unburden himself, and find the help of another's prayers. The acceptance of the humiliation of it may be good in itself; but, on the other hand, there is no general rule but will have its exceptions; or, rather, there is no principle that does not need wisdom in application. Nothing will do away with the need of this.

The confession of which verse 16 speaks is however not exactly confession to elders. It is rather "one to another." This verse has nothing official about it as verses 14 and 15 have. There is no reason why any of us should not practice prayer for healing after this sort.

The case supposed is that of two believers, and one has offended against the other, though neither apparently are entirely free from blame, and consequently both are suffering in their health. The main offender comes with heart-felt confession of the wrong he committed. The other is thereby moved to confess anything which may have been wrong on his side, and then melted before God they begin to pray for each other. If they have really forsaken their wrong-doing and are going in the way of righteousness they may expect to be heard of God and healed.

In the first place it shows us how the converted sinner has his feet turned into paths of practical righteousness. When Onesimus wronged his master, Philemon, he was an unconverted man. Now he has become a brother beloved, but this does not relieve him of obligations incurred by his former sin. As regards God that sin was forgiven amongst all his other sins, for he stood "justified from all things" (Acts 13:39); but as regards Philemon confession and some kind of restitution was needful. How restitution was made in this case the Epistle shows. Here at once there meets us an important lesson. If we have done some palpable wrong to another, no more effectual proof of our repentance can be given than that of confession and restitution, as far as that may be within our power. It is ever a trying process, but it is practical righteousness, most effective as a testimony and most glorifying to God.

"The Lord spake to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel; when a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the Lord, and that person be guilty; then they shall confess their sin which they have done; and he shall recompense his trespass with the principal thereof, and add to it the fifth part thereof, and give it to him against whom he has trespassed. But if the man have no kinsman to recompense the trespass to, let the trespass be recompensed to the Lord, even to the priest; beside the ram of the atonement, whereby an atonement shall be made for him."

The doctrine of the trespass offering has been considered in our "Notes on Leviticus," chapter 5; and to that we must refer our reader, as we do not mean to occupy his time or our own in going into any points which have been already considered. We shall merely notice here the very important questions of confession and restitution. Not only is it true that both God and man are gainers by the Great Trespass Offering presented on the cross at Calvary; but we also learn, from the foregoing quotation, that God looked for confession and restitution, when any trespass had been committed. The sincerity of the former would be evidenced by the latter. It was not sufficient for a Jew, who had trespassed against his brother, to go and say, "I am sorry," He had to restore the thing wherein he had trespassed and add a fifth thereto. Now, although we are not under the law, yet may we gather much instruction from its institutions; although we are not under the schoolmaster, we may learn some good lessons from him. If, then, we have trespassed against any one, it is not enough that we confess our sin to God and to our brother, we must make restitution; we are called upon to give practical proof of the fact that we have judged ourselves on account of that thing in which we have trespassed.

Should others offend us by the tongue, through the nasty things they say, we should be ready to forgive them, and not harbour unkind things in our hearts. Should we offend others by our unkind words, we should confess to them the wrong we have done.

Lastly, when it dawns on us that we have been taking this wrong course ourselves, what we should do? ‘Confess therefore your offences to one another, and pray for one another’ (Jas. 5:16). John writes: ‘If we confess our sins, [the Father] is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 1:9). How many times we have found God true to that promise, but if it is right to keep short accounts with Him we should also do it with one another.

Sad to say, it sometimes seems as if ‘sorry’ and ‘I forgive you’ are the hardest words — even for us whose lives as Christians began with ‘repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ’, in whom ‘we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Acts 20:21; Col. 1:14). Paul writes: ‘forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any should have a complaint against any; even as the Christ has forgiven you, so also do ye’ (Col. 3:13).