Caput XII. De confessione
The Scriptures Urge Us to Confess
Scripture repeatedly calls us to confession, not because God needs our words, but because self-accusation disarms the devil, mutual confession brings salvation, and hidden sins find mercy only when confessed and forsaken.
Scripture often urges us to take refuge in the remedy of confession — not because God needs our confession, to whom everything we think, say, or do is already plain — but because we cannot be saved in any other way, unless we repent and confess what we have done wrong through our own negligence. Whoever accuses himself in his sins, the devil no longer has grounds to accuse on the day of judgment — provided that, confessing, he washes away by repentance what he has done, and does not do it again. Confess your sins to one another, says James the apostle, and pray for each other, so that you may be saved (James✦ 5, 16). Likewise the blessed Paul the apostle: With the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Rom.✦ 10, 10). But Solomon also spoke about the confession of sins: Whoever hides his sins will not prosper; but whoever confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy (Prov.✦ 28, 13).
Confess While There Is Still Time
Drawing on John, the Psalmist, and Paul, the text urges the living to confess now, because confession cleanses in the present life but bears no fruit after death.
It's a powerful remedy for salvation not to repeat the wrongs we've done, and not to reopen the scars of old wounds. This is what John the evangelist said: If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John✦ 1:9). Likewise the Psalmist says: I said, I will confess my wrongdoing against myself to the Lord, and you forgave the guilt of my sin (Ps.✦ 31:5). Let the sinner confess what they've done while still alive, because confession bears no fruit among the dead, and repentance that advances toward salvation has no place there. Now is the time of salvation, now is the acceptable time to God (2 Cor.✦ 6:2).
The Torment of Unconfessed Sin
Those who neglect confession face bitter, unavailing repentance after death, tormented both outwardly and inwardly, because they refused the healing God freely offered through confession.
This is a time of pardon for those who repent, but after death there will come a time of vengeance for those who neglected to confess their sins. For all the wicked have a bitter repentance amid their torments, yet their repentance does them no good toward salvation; instead, their conscience torments them, adding to the weight of the punishments they suffer. For they could have guarded themselves against the severity of those torments through confession, and they neglected to do so. Just as they are tormented outwardly by flames, so inwardly they are tormented in their own conscience. How can a doctor heal a wound that the sick person is ashamed to show? For God desires our confession, so that he may have a just reason to forgive us. Whoever hides his sins and is ashamed to confess them in a way that brings healing has God as his witness now, and will have him as his avenger again. A person judges himself most effectively in this life, so that he may not be judged by God with everlasting condemnation.
Confession as the Remedy for Sin
True penitence weeps over sins of commission and omission, yet confession justifies, grants forgiveness, and stands as the sole remedy and medicine for our vices when joined with penitence.
Every sinner ought to weep on two counts in penitence: either because through negligence they failed to do the good, or because through boldness they committed evil. What they ought to have done, they didn't do; and what they ought not to have done, they did. Confession justifies; confession grants forgiveness of sins. All hope of forgiveness rests on confession. Confession is a work of mercy: the sick person's health, the sole remedy perhaps for our strength, a medicine for our vices when joined with penitence.
Read the original Latin
Hortatur nos saepius Scriptura ad medicamentum fugere confessionis: non quod Deus indigeat confessione nostra, cui omnia praesto sunt quae cogitamus, loquimur, aut agimus; sed nos aliter salvi fieri non possumus, nisi confiteamur poenitentes quod inique gessimus negligentes. Qui seipsum accusat in peccatis suis, hunc diabolus non habet iterum accusare in die judicii: si tamen confitens poenitendo diluit quae fecit, nec iterum renovat quae egit. Confitemini, dicit Jacobus apostolus, alterutrum peccata vestra, et orate pro invicem, ut salvemini (Jac. V, 16). Item beatus Paulus apostolus: Ore autem confessio fit ad salutem (Rom. X, 10). Sed et Salomon de confessione peccatorum dixit: Qui abscondit peccata sua, non dirigetur: qui autem confessus fuerit, et reliquerit ea, misericordiam consequetur (Prov. XXVIII, 13).
Magnum est salutis medicamentum non iterare quae prave gessimus, nec priorum cicatrices vulnerum resauciare. Sic autem dixit Joannes evangelista: Si confiteamur peccata nostra, fidelis est Deus et justus, ut remittat nobis peccata, et mundet nos ab omni iniquitate (I Joan. I, 9). Similiter et Psalmista ait: Dixi: Confitebor adversum me injustitiam meam Domino: et tu remisisti iniquitatem peccati mei (Psal. XXXI, 5). Vivens confiteatur peccator quae fecit, quia non est fructuosa confessio apud inferos, nec poenitentia ad salutem proficiens. Ecce nunc tempus salutis, ecce nunc tempus acceptabile Deo (II Cor. VI, 2).
Tempus est nunc remissionis poenitentibus; sed tempus erit post mortem vindictae negligentibus confiteri scelera sua. Omnes enim impii amaram habent in tormentis poenitentiam, sed non proficit eis poenitentia ad salutem: sed conscientia torquet eos ad augmentum poenarum quas patiuntur. Potuerunt enim sibi per confessionem praecavere tormentorum immanitatem, et neglexerunt. Ita sicut foras flammis, ita intus in conscientia propria torquentur. Quomodo potest medicus vulnus sanare, quod aegrotus ostendere crubescit? Deus enim confessionem nostram desiderat, ut justam habeat causam ignoscendi. Qui peccata sua occultat, et erubescit salubriter confiteri, Deum testem habet nunc, et iterum habebit eum ultorem. Optime se judicat homo in hac vita, ne judicetur a Deo damnatione perpetua.
Duplicem habere debet fletum in poenitentia omnis peccator, sive quia per negligentiam bonum non fecit, seu quia malum per audaciam perpetravit. Quod enim oportuit, non gessit, et quod non oportuit, egit. Confessio justificat, confessio veniam peccatis donat. Omnis spes veniae in confessione consistit. Confessio opus est misericordiae: salus aegroti unicum est viribus Forte, vitiis nostris medicamentum cum poenitentia.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Jas.5.16 — Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful as it works.
- ↩Rom.10.10 — For with the heart one believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses, resulting in salvation.
- ↩Prov.28.13 — Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will receive mercy.
- ↩1John.1.9 — If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
- ↩Ps.31.5;Ps.33.5 — Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God. Ps.33.5 — He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.
- ↩2Cor.6.2 — For he says, 'In an acceptable time I listened to you, and on a day of salvation I helped you.' Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
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