Excerpt from The Doctrine of Repentance, By Thomas Watson. (Chapter 3, Ingredient 3)
Sorrow is such a vehement passion that it must vent. It vents itself at the eyes by weeping, and at the tongue by confession: “The children of Israel stood and confessed their sins” (Neh. 9.2). “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense” (Hos 5.15); it is a metaphor alluding to a mother who, when she is angry, leaves the child and hides her face till the child acknowledges its fault and begs pardon. Gregory Nazianzen calls confession “a salve for a wounded soul.”
Confession is self-accusing: “Look, I have sinned” (2Sam 24.17). Indeed, among men it is otherwise: no man is bound to accuse himself, but he desires to see his accuser. When we come before God, however, we must accuse ourselves. And the truth is that, by this self-accusing, we prevent Satan’s accusing. In our confessions we tax ourselves with pride, infidelity, and passion, so that when Satan, who is called “the accuser of the brethren,” lays these things to our charge, God will say, “They have accused themselves already; therefore, Satan, your lawsuit is dismissed; your accusations come too late.” The humble sinner does more than accuse himself; as it were, he sits in judgment and passes sentence upon himself. He confesses that he deserves to be bound over to the wrath of God. And hear what the apostle Paul says: “if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged” (1Cor 11.31).
“Confession is self-accusing: “Look, I have sinned”
But have not wicked men, like Judas and Saul, confessed their sin? Yes, but theirs was not a true confession. So that our confession of sin may be right and genuine, these eight qualifications are required:
1. Confession must be voluntary.
It must come like water out of a spring, freely. The confession of the wicked is extorted, like the confession of a man upon a rack. When a spark of God’s wrath flies into their conscience, or they are in fear of death, then they will fall to their confessions. Balaam, when he saw the angel’s naked sword, could say, “I have sinned” (Num 22.34). But true confession drops from the lips as myrrh from the tree or honey from the comb, freely. “I have sinned against heaven, and before you” (Luk 15.18): the prodigal charged himself with sin before his father charged him with it.
2. Confession must be with compunction.
The heart must deeply resent it. A natural man’s confessions run through him like water through a pipe. They do not affect him at all. But true confession leaves heart-wounding impressions on a man. David’s soul was burdened in the confession of his sins: “as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me” (Psa 38.4). It is one thing to confess sin and another thing to feel sin.
3. Confession must be sincere.
Our hearts must go along with our confessions. The hypocrite confesses his sin but still loves it, like a thief who confesses to stolen goods, yet loves stealing. How many confess pride and covetousness with their lips but roll them like honey under their tongue. Augustine said that before his conversion he confessed sin and begged for power against it; but his heart whispered within him, “not yet, Lord.” He was afraid to leave his sin too soon. A good Christian is more honest. His heart keeps pace with his tongue. He is convinced of the sins that he confesses, and he abhors the sins that he is convinced of.
“A good Christian is more honest. His heart keeps pace with his tongue. He is convinced of the sins that he confesses, and he abhors the sins that he is convinced of.”
4. In true confession a man particularizes sin.
A wicked man acknowledges he is a sinner in general. He confesses his sin wholesale. His confession of sin is much like Nebuchadnezzar’s dream: “I have dreamed a dream” (Dan. 2.3), but he could not tell what it was: “The thing is gone from me” (Dan. 2.5). In the same way a wicked man says, “Lord, I have sinned,” but he does not know what the sin is; at least he does not remember; whereas a true convert acknowledges his particular sins. As it is with a wounded man, who comes to the surgeon and shows him all his wounds (here I was cut in the head, there I was shot in the arm…) so a mournful sinner confesses the several diseases of his soul. Israel drew up a particular charge against themselves: “We have served Baalim” (Judg. 10.10). The prophet recites the very sin which brought a curse with it: “Nor have we listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name” (Dan. 9.6). By a diligent inspection into our hearts, we may find some particular sin has been indulged; point to that sin with a tear.
5. A true penitent confesses sin in the fountain.
He acknowledges the pollution of his nature. The sin of our nature is not only a privation of good but an infusion of evil. It is like rust to iron, or stain to scarlet. David acknowledges his birth-sin: “I was shaped in iniquity; my mother conceived me in sin” (Psa 51.5). We are ready to charge many of our first sins to Satan’s temptations, but this sin of our nature is entirely from ourselves; we cannot shift it off to Satan. We have a root within us that bears gall and wormwood (Deu 29.18). Our nature is an abyss and a seminary of all evil, from which those scandals that infest the world come. It is this depravity of nature which poisons our holy things; it is this which brings on God’s judgments and makes our mercies stick in the birth. Oh confess sin in the fountain!
6. Sin is to be confessed with all its circumstances and aggravations.
Those sins which are committed under the gospel horizon are doubtless dyed in grain. Confess sins against knowledge, against grace, against vows, against experiences, against judgments. “The wrath of God came upon them and slew the fattest of them. For all this, they still sinned” (Psa 78.31-32). These are killing aggravations which accentuate and enhance our sins.
7. In confession we must so charge ourselves as to clear God.
If the Lord is severe in his providences and unsheathes his bloody sword, still we must acquit him and acknowledge that he has done us no wrong. Nehemiah in confessing sin vindicates God’s righteousness: “Even so, you are just in all that is brought upon us” (Neh. 9.33). Maurice the emperor, when he saw his wife slain before his eyes by Phocas, cried out, “Righteous are you, O Lord, in all your ways.”
8. We must confess our sins with a resolve not to repeat them.
Some run from the confession of sin to the committing of sin, like the Persians who have one day in the year when they kill serpents and after that day allow them to swarm again. Likewise, many seem to kill their sins in their confessions, but afterwards let them grow as fast as ever. “Cease to do evil” (Isa 1.16). It is vain to confess, “We have done those things we should not have done,” and still continue to do them. Pharaoh confessed he had sinned (Exo 9.27); but when the thunder ceased, he fell to his sin again: “he sinned still more, and hardened his heart” (Exo 9.34). Origen calls confession the vomit of the soul by which the conscience is eased of that burden which lay upon it. Now, when we have vomited up sin by confession we must not return to this vomit. What king will pardon a man who, after he has confessed his treason, practices new treason?
Thus we see how confession must be qualified.
Use 1: Is confession a necessary ingredient in repentance? Here is a bill of indictment against four sorts of persons:
(1) It reproves those that hide their sins, as Rachel hid her father’s idols under her (Gen 31.34). Many would rather have their sins covered than cured. They do with their sins as they do with their pictures: they draw a curtain over them; or as some do with their bastards, smother them. But though men have no tongue to confess, God has an eye to see; he will unmask their treason: “I will reprove you, and set them in order before your eyes” (Psa 50.21). Those iniquities which men hide in their hearts will be written one day on their foreheads as if with the point of a diamond. Those who will not confess their sin as David did, so that they may be pardoned, will confess their sin as Achan did, so that they may be stoned. It is dangerous to keep the devil’s counsel: “He that covers his sins shall not prosper” (Pro 2 8.13).
(2) It reproves those who indeed confess sin, but only by halves. They do not confess all; they confess the pennies but not the dollars. They confess vain thoughts or bad memory but not the sins they are most guilty of, such as rash anger, extortion, and uncleanness, like the man in Plutarch who complained his stomach was not very good when his lungs were bad and his liver was rotten. But if we do not confess all, why should we expect God to pardon all? It is true that we cannot know the exact catalogue of our sins, but the sins which come within our view and cognizance, and which our hearts accuse us of, must be confessed if we are to hope for mercy.
(3) It reproves those who mince and extenuate their sins in their confessions. A gracious soul labors to make the worst of his sins, but hypocrites make the best of them. They do not deny they are sinners, but they do what they can to lessen their sins: they indeed offend sometimes, but it is just their nature, and it has been such a long time. These are excuses rather than confessions. “I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord: because I feared the people” (1Sam 15.24). Saul blames the people: they would have him spare the sheep and oxen. It was an apology, not a self-indictment. It runs in the blood. Adam acknowledged he tasted the forbidden fruit, but instead of aggravating his sin he shifted it from himself to God: “The woman you gave me, she gave me from the tree and I ate” (Gen 3.12). That is, if I did not have this woman to be a tempter, I would not have transgressed. It is a bad sin indeed that we can make no excuse for, just as it must be a very coarse wool which will not take dye. How apt we are to pare and curtail sin, and look at it through the small end of the telescope so that it appears to be only “a little cloud, like a man’s hand” (1Kng 18.44).
“A gracious soul labors to make the worst of his sins, but hypocrites make the best of them.”
(4) It reproves those who are so far from confessing sin that they boldly plead for it. Instead of having tears to lament it, they use arguments to defend it. If their sin is passion, they will justify it by, “I have reason to be angry” (Jon. 4.9). If it be covetousness they will vindicate it. When men commit sin they are the devil’s servants; when they plead for it they are the devil’s attorneys, and he will give them a fee for it.
Use 2: Let us show ourselves to be penitents by sincere confession of our sin. The thief on the cross confessed his sin: “we are indeed condemned justly” (Luk 23.41). And Christ said to him, “Today you shall be with me in paradise” (Luk 23.43). This might have been the occasion for Augustine’s speech that confession of sin shuts the mouth of hell and opens the gate of paradise. So that we may make a free and sincere confession of sin, let us consider that,
(1) Holy confession gives glory to God: “My son, give, I pray you, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession to him” (Josh. 7.19). A humble confession exalts God. What a glory it is to him that out of our own mouths he does not condemn us? While we confess sin, God’s patience is magnified in sparing us, and his free grace is magnified in saving such sinners.
(2) Confession is a means to humble the soul. The one who describes himself as a hell-deserving sinner will have little heart to be proud. Like the violet, he will hang down his head in humility. A true penitent confesses that he mingles sin with all he does, and therefore he has nothing to boast about. Uzziah, though a king, had leprosy on his forehead; he had enough to abase him (2Chr 26.19). So a child of God, even when he does good, still acknowledges there is much evil in that good. This lays all his feathers of pride in the dust.
“The one who describes himself as a hell-deserving sinner will have little heart to be proud.”
(3) Confession gives vent to a troubled heart. When guilt lies boiling in the conscience, confession gives ease. It is like lancing an abscess which gives ease to the patient.
(4) Confession purges sin. Augustine called it “the expeller of vice.” Sin is bad blood; confession is like opening a vein to let it out. Confession is like the Dung Gate through which all the filth of the city was removed (Neh. 3.13). Confession is like pumping at the leak; it lets out that sin which would otherwise overflow. Confession is the sponge that wipes the spots off the soul.
(5) Confession of sin endears Christ to the soul. If I say I am a sinner, how precious will Christ’s blood be to me! After Paul has confessed a body of sin, he breaks forth into a congratulatory triumph for Christ: “I thank God through Jesus Christ” (Rom 7.25). If a debtor confesses a judgment but the creditor will not exact the debt, and instead appoints his own son to pay it, will not the debtor be very thankful? So when we confess the debt, and confess that even if we were to lie forever in hell we could not pay it, but that God must appoint his own Son to lay down his blood to pay our debt, then free grace is greatly magnified and Jesus Christ is eternally loved and admired!
(6) Confession of sin makes way for pardon. No sooner did the prodigal come with a confession in his mouth, “I have sinned against heaven,” than his father’s heart melted towards him and he kissed him (Luk 15.20). When David said, “I have sinned,” the prophet brought him a box with a pardon, “The Lord has put away your sin” (2Sam 12.13). The one who sincerely confesses sin has God’s bond for a pardon: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins” (1Joh 1.9). Why does the apostle not say that if we confess our sins, he is merciful to forgive our sins? No; he is just to forgive them because he has bound himself by a promise to forgive them. God’s truth and justice are engaged in the pardoning of that man who confesses sin and comes with a penitent heart by faith in Christ.
(7) How reasonable and easy this command is to confess our sin!
(a) It is a reasonable command. For if one has wronged another, what is more rational than to confess that he has wronged him? Having wronged God by sin, how equal and consonant to reason it is that we should confess the offense.
(b) It is an easy command. What a vast difference there is between the first covenant and the second! In the first covenant it was, “if you commit sin, you die;” in the second covenant it is, “If you confess sin, you shall have mercy.” In the first covenant no surety was allowed; under the covenant of grace, if we but confess the debt, Christ will be our surety.
What way could be thought of that is more ready and facile for the salvation of man than a humble confession? “Only acknowledge your iniquity” (Jer 3.13). God says to us, I do not ask for sacrifices of rams to expiate your guilt; I do not bid you to part with the fruit of your body for the sin of your soul; “only acknowledge your iniquity;” if you will only draw up an indictment against yourself and plead guilty, you will be sure of mercy.
“If you confess sin, you shall have mercy.”
All this should render this duty amiable. Throw out the poison of sin by confession, and “this day salvation has come to your house.”
There remains one case of conscience: are we bound to confess our sins to men? The papists greatly insist on auricular confession; one must confess his sins in the ear of the priest or he cannot be absolved. They urge, “Confess your sins one to another” (James 5.16), but this Scripture little serves their purpose. It may as well mean that the priest should confess to the people as well as the people to the priest. Auricular confession is one of the Pope’s golden doctrines. Like the fish in the Gospel, it has money in its mouth: “when you have opened his mouth, you shall find a piece of money” (Mat 17.27). But though I am not for confession to men in a popish sense, yet I think in three cases there ought to be confession to men:
(1) Firstly, where a person has fallen into scandalous sin and by it has been an occasion of offense to some and of falling to others, then he ought to make a solemn and open acknowledgement of his sin so that his repentance may be as visible as his scandal (2Cor 2.6-7).
(2) Secondly, where a man has confessed his sin to God, and yet his conscience is still burdened and he can have no ease in his mind, then it is requisite that he should confess his sins to some prudent, pious friend, who may advise him and speak a word in due season (James 5. 16). It is a sinful modesty in Christians that they are not more free with their ministers and other spiritual friends in unburdening themselves and opening the sores and troubles of their souls to them. If there is a thorn sticking in the conscience, it is good to make use of those who may help to pluck it out.
(3) Thirdly, where any man has slandered another and by clipping his good name has made it less influential, he is bound to make confession. The scorpion carries its poison in its tail; the slanderer carried it in his tongue. His words pierce deep like the quills of the porcupine. The person who has murdered another in his good name or, by bearing false witness, has damaged him in his estate, and ought to confess his sin and ask forgiveness: “If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you; go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Mat 5.23-24). How can this reconciliation be effected except by confessing the injury? Till this is done, God will accept none of your services. Do not think the holiness of the altar will privilege you; your praying and hearing are in vain till you have appeased your brother’s anger by confessing your fault to him.
