Confession

The word 'confess' translated two different Greek verbs in the NT and is, therefore, understood in two different senses in Christian history.

1. Homologeo, used in Jn 1:20, 12:42; Rom 10:9, 10; 14:11; Heb 3:1; 13:15 & 1 Jn 1:9, means 'to declare' or 'to admit' and in the cases cited, refers to confessing faith in Christ as Lord and Saviour. The need for a confession of this kind first arose during the persecution under the various Roman emperors when the public question of who is a Christian arose. It became part of their liturgy to include a formal confession of faith; it was probably in these circumstances that the first creeds were formulated. Candidates seeking to be baptized certainly would have been expected to make such a formal confession of faith. By the Middle Ages, a formal confession was required of communicants before they were permitted to participation in the Communion.

2. Exomologeo is translated, in the NIV, as "praise" in Matt 11:25, Lk 10:21; Rom 15:9, 'consented' in Lk 22:6, as synonymous to homologeo in Phil 1:11, and finally as the admission of sins in Matt 3:6; Mk 1:5; Acts 19:18; Rom 14:11; and James 5:16. Confession of one's sin is very clearly a biblical tradition, a practice already evident in the OT (cf.Psm 51). Whether such confession should remain private as between an individual and God or between an individual and a fellow believer (as suggested in James 5:16) or communal, perhaps not out loud but together during part of the worship, has remained a matter of debate. Private confession to God alone will always remain the backbone of Christian spirituality, and it is debatable if it is possible to speak at all of spirituality without such confession. James certainly recommends private confession to a fellow believer for, as he says, "the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." Such a practice does not seem to find much encouragement in the modern church, however, for such a practice requires the strict observances of confidentiality, a climate of trust which unfortunately is less common that one should have the right to expect in the Church.