Misunderstood Bible Terminology Pt2

Practicing Lawlessness or Unrighteousness

Following up from our last message, we have seen that many verses and “concepts” in the New Testament (especially from the epistles of 1 – 3 John) have been misinterpreted in the past and used as a whip to beat the body of Christ back under the Law. In this message we will continue to destroy these arguments with truth from the Word.

In Matt 7 Jesus used the exact same terminology as the apostle John did, talking about those who “practice lawlessness”. He told them to depart from Him because He didn’t know them. Now “practicing lawlessness” may sound like something that a person is supposed to DO, but let’s look at the context. In Matt 7:15 Jesus warns about the false prophets that would come in sheep’s clothing and down in verse 21 He is still talking about these same people. We’ll look at the entire text here so the sceptics can see for themselves: [Matt 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them]. These verses pertain specifically to the fact that an unbeliever cannot manifest the fruit of the Holy Spirit because they don’t have the Spirit living in them. They may act kindly or behave in very moral manner, but their hearts still remain evil and sinful, hence Jesus says they are “ravenous wolves” on the inside.
Also, since Jesus is the tree of life and the good vine, He can not bear bad fruit. This means that we as believers are the good fruit that He bears since His life is recreated in us. God the Father sowed His own Son and reaped more sons.

Now note that in the next verses Jesus is still talking about these same people (the false prophets and unbelievers):

[Matt 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’].

In verse 21 Jesus says that “whoever does the will of the Father” shall enter the kingdom of heaven. Now hang in there for the next paragraph; it may seem disjointed, but we will pull it all together at the end.
Somewhere else Jesus also said the following: [John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again’]. Here Jesus was referring to the 2 different births (natural and spiritual) of any human being that enters the kingdom of heaven – firstly they are born from the water of their mother’s womb (He was NOT talking about water baptism, because in verse 6 He specifically talks about being born of the “flesh” which means to be born into this world) and secondly they are born in the spirit, better known as being “born again”. Now what does the Bible teach us about how to be born again? [Rom 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation].
Once again it would “appear” as though we have a contradiction: In Matt 7:21 Jesus says that whoever does the will of the Father shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but from John 3:5 and Rom 10:9-10 we can conclude that whoever believes in Jesus shall enter the kingdom of heaven.
The following verse sheds some light on what it means to “do” the will of the Father and “work” the works of God: [John 6:29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent”]. As before we see that these expressions, even though they appear to imply that we have to do some external action or work, it actually refers to an action of faith, of placing our trust in Jesus Christ. This is what it means to “do the will” of the Father.

Then in Matt 7:23 Jesus tells those who “practice lawlessness” to depart from Him, referring to the unsaved again, just like we previously saw John did in his epistles. Jesus also said to them “I never knew you”. Can it be any clearer that in fact He was referring to unbelievers? Practicing lawlessness does not mean breaking the 10 Commandments: it means not being saved.

Obeying Commandments

Let’s slam the final nail in the coffin and prove to the legalists just how fully the Grace of God has made provision for our natural human insufficiencies. Let’s try and figure this one out together. Remembering all that we have just learnt about those who “practice righteousness” and previously also about those who “commit sin”, it is obvious that John could also be talking about something else than obeying the 10 Commandments when he says that we need to “obey God’s commandments”. This is in fact a big favourite with those who still preach that we should live according to the Old Testament Laws. Let’s take a look and see what John really meant:

[1 John 2:3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him]. Some other verses address this same issue and the aforementioned “abiding in Him” issue as well (own comments in brackets):

[1 John 3:24 Now he (any person) who keeps His (God’s) commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us]. From Paul’s letter to the Ephesians we know that every believer receives and is SEALED with the Holy Spirit as a guarantee that they are indeed saved: [Eph 1:13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory]. We can therefore see that believers receive the Holy Spirit as a guarantee after they are born again and because He is sealed inside them He naturally will also “abide” with them, and they with Him. Now in this context, read 1 John 3:24 (above) again. Clearly John is saying that whosoever has the Holy Spirit (a believer), such a person also keeps God’s commandments. What “commandments” is he talking about?

[1 John 3:23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment].

When the very nature and character of the person of the Holy Spirit resides within a person, a natural result will be that they begin to change in their outward behaviour. People will begin to notice a difference in the way they live. It can not happen the other way round – somebody that acts in a well behaving manner can never through their good actions be changed on the inside – they need to receive the Holy Spirit first. This is exactly what the apostle John is talking about: When we believe in God and are born again, we will love one another more and more as a fruit of the Holy Spirit that abides within us. Obeying God’s commandments in the New Testament therefore means to believe in Jesus.

In our next message we will conclude this series on “Misunderstood Bible terminology” and take an in-depth look at what it means to “Walk in the Light”.

In Grace
Andre van der Merwe

Misunderstood Bible Terminology Pt1

Misunderstood Bible Terminology

In this message we’ll take a close look at some Bible terminology that can easily be misunderstood if not read through the perspective of the New Covenant. Many of these verses, especially from the epistles of the apostle John, have been used as a whip to beat the church back into obeying the Old Covenant Law. A good understanding of Grace and Righteousness would go a long way into clearing up the fog surrounding these topics of discussion, such as the terms “fellowship”, “practicing truth”, “committing sin or lawlessness”, etc. Undivided attention and prolonged concentration is strongly recommended for this one.
Fellowship
It is commonly believed that whenever a believer messes up in regards to their moral behaviour, that they fall out of fellowship with God and that they need to confess their sins in order to restore such “fellowship”. However when viewed from this perspective the term “fellowship” (better known as “fellowshipping with God” in Pentecostal circles) would then refer to a feeling of intimacy that comes and goes depending on our ability to perform at our best. This is not what scripture has to say, in fact not even once in the entire New Testament is the word “fellowship” described in this manner, specifically when it pertains to our relationship with God. The term “fellowshipping with God” is not even used once in the entire Bible. It is a phrase that has been conjured up by people to refer to their own quiet time with God and through the last few decades it has been twisted by legalists to make believers feel guilty and stand accused of being “out of fellowship” with God if they didn’t allocate a certain amount of time per week to prayer and Bible study. On the contrary, here are a few examples of how the word “fellowship” has been used in Biblical terms:

[2 Cor 6:14b ...For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?] Take note how these opposing entities are contrasted with each other: righteousness vs. lawlessness, light vs. darkness, Christ (anointed) vs. Belial (worthless) & believer vs. unbeliever. It says that such opposites can not have fellowship with one another, meaning they are not compatible. Just as Christ can not have fellowship with Belial, in the same way a believer is not to be considered by the same measure as an unbeliever. If a person is therefore out of fellowship with Christ it means that they have not been born again and they fall under the same category as darkness, Belial, and lawlessness in the above verse.

[1 Cor 1:9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord]. We were called into the fellowship and therefore when we put our faith in Christ we are now in the fellowship.

[1 John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth]. This verse makes it abundantly clear that the apostle John is talking about our position in Christ, not our behaviour. We can not say that we have fellowship with God (in other words that we have been born again) if we walk in darkness (which means we have not actually been born again), because then we would be lying. In simple English: You cannot say you are a Christian if you have not been born again!!

Practicing Truth or Righteousness / Walking in Darkness
Now of course the pessimist or legalist would say, “Yes but what about the parts in the previous verse that says “WALK in darkness” and “PRACTICE the truth?” The answer is simple: once again this is not referring to our own works of righteousness, in fact it has nothing to do with our behaviour. The terminology used by the apostle John for being born again is to “practice righteousness” or “practice truth” or “walk in the light” (we will deal with “walking in the light” in the next chapter). [1 John 2:29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him].
In contrast, when John talks about those who “commit sin” or who “practice lawlessness” or “walk in darkness” he is referring to the unsaved. This principle stays consistent throughout all 3 of John’s epistles. Predominantly however these verses have been read through a legalistic point of view, causing much perplexity in the body of Christ.

Committing Sin or Lawlessness
Another shining example is 1 John 3:4-9: [1 John 3:4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. 5 And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin]. Once again John is referring to the unsaved here. Whenever the New Testament refers to those who “commit sin” or “practice lawlessness” it does not have the same meaning as under the Old Testament when people were still judged according to the Law. The only sin in the New Testament is not believing in Jesus. (Read the article “The Unforgivable Sin” at our website in “Message Archive” page).
Verse 5 depicts God’s answer to mankind’s problem of sin – He took our sin away and placed us in Christ where we now are completely forgiven and seen as though we’ve never even committed a single sin! Read verse 5 again in this context. Is the light beginning to go on yet?

[1 John 3:6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him]. This verse mentions another “buzz” concept, namely to “abide” in Him. It’s really very simple to prove that this also refers to being saved and not to our own efforts to maintain a good standing with God. Simply do searches for the word “abide(s)” on any Bible software program and study the results.
Verse 6 further says that whoever sins has not seen God or does not know God, which implies not having a relationship with Him. Many (if not all) sincere Christians who have had an intimate relationship with God for decades still make mistakes every day of their lives despite their best efforts. If this verse meant that they are disqualified from their relationship with God if they sin even once (because it doesn’t say “sin a hundred times” or “sin four times per day”), this would amount to nobody on the entire planet being able to maintain a stable relationship with God. Clearly therefore this is not the context of this verse. Let’s look at the subsequent 3 verses (comments added in brackets):

[1 John 3:7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness (which means to be saved) is righteous, just as He (God) is righteous. 8 He who sins (an unbeliever) is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whoever has been born of God (a believer) does not sin, for His (God’s) seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God]. The key here is verse 9. How is it possible that a believer can not sin if we’re all too aware of how many mistakes we make? Simply because John is not talking about our behaviour! He is still using the same terminology to differentiate between being saved or not. Read verses 7 – 9 again and let it sink in. In verse 8, if John meant that anybody who commits an act of sin is of the devil, it would imply that all Christians are of the devil. Clearly this is not what he meant.
There are 3 main reasons why Christians can not be called “sinners” anymore, the first being because they are no longer under the Old Covenant Law. And since there is no more Law to break (and sin is defined as breaking the Law) consequently their mistakes can no longer be called “sinning”. [Rom 4:15b ... And where there is no law there is no transgression].
Secondly everybody on the planet person is either a sinner or a saint. Not once in the entire Bible mention is made of a “neutral” position somewhere in the middle. We either have God as our Father, or the devil.
Thirdly the born again spirit of a Christian is 100% righteous and will remain 100% righteous for all of eternity in spite of less than perfect behaviour during his / her remaining time on the earth. If this were not the case, then there would be no other way to explain the following “contradicting” verses:

[1 John 1:8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives].

Now compare these 3 verses against the following “seemingly” conflicting verse:

[1 John 3:9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God].

The only explanation is that in the first 3 verses, even though John used the word “we”, he was in fact not referring to believers, but to unbelievers. As a shepherd and a preacher he was identifying with the lost in an open display of God’s love, saying “We have all sinned, we all need to repent”. Instead of bashing and ridiculing the unbelievers openly, he was tactfully saying something along the lines of this: “(v8) If any person claims to be without sin, they are deceived and the truth (Christ) does not live inside them (because Christ said “I am the TRUTH, the way and the life). (v9) But if such a person (a sinner) acknowledges they are sinful and in need of a saviour, God who is faithful will forgive them ALL of their sins and wash them clean of ALL unrighteousness (implying that they are now clean forever). (v10) However if any person claims they have never sinned, they make God into a liar and willingly reject the truth of His word.” Take these 3 verses and compare them verse by verse to the actual verses above.
Think about it this way: What does a person have to do to be born again? They have to confess they are a sinner, admit that they need a saviour and put their faith in Christ (Rom 10:9-10). Therefore if any person claims to be without sin before putting their faith in Christ, they are deceived and blinded to the truth. This is the heresy that John was countering in this epistle. (For a more elaborate explanation on 1 John 1:9, please read our previous message “Should Christians Confess Their Sins to God?” on the “Message Archive” page of our website).

In our next message we will continue destroying these religious doctrines that have crippled the church for too long. We will look at what Jesus had to say about those who “practice lawlessness” in Matt 7:23 as well as take a look at what the apostle John meant when he talked about “obeying commandments” in 1 John 2 and 3.

In Grace
Andre van der Merwe

Walking in the Light

[1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin].

At a first glance, this verse seems to say that as long as we hold up our end of the bargain, the blood will cleanse us from our sin. However to walk in the light as God is in the light is actually a result of God giving us HIS righteousness – John is talking about our secure position in Christ here, not our behavior. Our position in Christ is eternally secured the day we put our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. From that day on we walk “in the light”.

Now some people may ask “what is light?” In John 8:12 Jesus said “I am the light of the world”, therefore Jesus is light. When we are born again we are placed in Christ (1 Cor 1:30, Eph 2:10), and therefore we are in the light. But because we are in the light, we also become light. [Eph 5:8 you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light]. Jesus also says we are the light of the world: [Matt 5:14 You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden]. As He was (and still is) the light, so we have become as He is: [1 John 4:17b ... because as he is so also are we in this world].

Most of the arguments against the Grace message come from the 3 epistles of John. Most legalists that read these books see it as a set of instructions that tell us what we are supposed to do, instead of reading it in the correct context (as we’ve already discussed previously): The epistles of John were written by John to his “little children” who had just come out from under the false teachings of Gnostics. John was by no means trying to tell them to “DO THIS!” or “DO THAT!” Instead he was telling them how secure they were in Christ, assuring them of their eternal salvation.

1 John 1:7 (our key verse) says the blood cleanses from EVERY sin and to any sensible believer that should pretty much mean exactly what it says: EVERY sin. In the original Greek language the word that was used for “cleanses” was katharizo. This literally means to “continually cleanse”. So if we make a mistake the blood removes it completely and this happens day & night without ceasing. Also if we believe we can “walk in the light” based on our own obedience, why then would we need the blood to continually cleanse us? Because now we are doing it all our self! No, we walk “in the light” because we have been given the righteousness of God as a free gift. Once again note that John is talking about our position in Christ and not about our external behavior. Here are some more verses to explain this:

[Eph 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord]. This says that we were once lost (in darkness), but now we have been born again (we have become light).

[Rev 21:23 And the city had no need of the sun, nor of the moon, that they might shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 And the nations of those who are saved will walk in the light of it; and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it]. This verse says that those who have been saved will walk in the light. Once again “walking in the light” refers to the believer’s secure position in Christ and not to some physical thing they are supposed to do.

Yes when we look at our behavior we will clearly see that we make mistakes every day and that we don’t necessarily walk in the light in our actions, but that is because our minds have not been fully renewed yet. Until the day we go to be with the Lord there will always be some area in our lives that we will need to bring under submission to the authority of God, whether it be thought patterns, habits, or whatever. The point is that we don’t practice “correct behavior” in order to earn God’s approval, but it happens spontaneously as a result of us falling more in love with Jesus and becoming more and more aware of how wonderfully we have been saved.

During our entire time spent on the earth we will always be able to improve our external behavior and bring it more in line with our perfect position in Christ. But until we receive our gloried bodies, God has already provided more than enough Grace to cover any mistakes we may make along the way: [Rom 5:20b But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound]. There is nothing wrong with living moral lives, but we should not use our ability to live ethically as the measure or standard of our relationship with God.

Yours in Grace
Andre van der Merwe

Do Christians Need to CONFESS Their Sin Pt 2 ( 1 John 1:9)?

Last week we spoke about whether it’s Biblical for Christians to confess their sins, and in particular about James 5:16. This week we’ll look at 1 John 1:9

Firstly note we are NOT propagating a sinful lifestyle. We are NOT encouraging people to just go out and commit hideous deeds of licentiousness. We believe in obeying God and living a holy lifestyle, but these are only the fruit. The root is being established in grace & righteousness, knowing who you are in Christ. So let’s get into this week’s message.

[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 verse has to be read in the context of the rest of the book of John – written to a group of believers whose ranks had been infiltrated by teachers of Gnosticism. John seems to be gentle whenever he addresses the Christians, calling them “my little children”. But in other parts of his letter, when he is countering the teachings of the Gnostics, he becomes quite protective of his brothers and sisters in Christ, and his words quite harsh. At the time John wrote this letter, the Gnostics had already left the ranks of the Christians [1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us], but remnants of the Gnostisism teaching were still confusing the Christians that remained.

Gnostics are people who believe that creation is flawed and was created by a flawed creator, a movement out of which the “Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints” or “Mormons” has arisen. They also believe that there is no such thing as sin in the world, and as an UNBELIEVER that you do not have to confess your sins to God to be born again.

Even though the book of 1 – 3 John was written to the church, 1 John 1:9 was NOT a command for people to grovel in sack cloth & ash, instead it is simply a statement to contradict the false teachings of the Gnostics. There were people in John’s church (who had not been born again yet) who were self righteously claiming that they did not need to confess their sins to receive eternal life. They were still confused by the teaching of the Gnostics, even though the Gnostics had already left. John countered this lie and said the following: [1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us].

And then in the next verse he reveals how to be saved: [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]. God will cleanse them from ALL unrighteousness if they will only confess that they need to be forgiven of their sins. If 1 John 1:9 were addressed to the believing Christians (the ones who were already saved), it would then contradict the following verse: [1 John 2:12 Little children, I write to you because you have been forgiven your sins through His name]. Why would John command people to confess their sins if He says a few verses later that they HAVE been forgiven? If confessing our sins was such an important practice in the life of a believer, why did the writer of the biggest part of the New Testament, Paul the apostle, not command us to do it once??

Under the New Covenant, ALL our sins (past, present & future) have been forgiven. When Jesus taught his disciples (who were still under the Old Covenant) the Lord’s prayer, He told them: [Mat 6:12 and forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors]. But under the New Covenant our motivation to forgive others is different. We don’t forgive anymore in order for God to forgive us, but now we forgive others because WE HAVE BEEN forgiven. Col 3:13 … even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

Countless doctrines have been formulated by the modern day church about confessing our sins to God, all based on this one verse (1 John 1:9). It’s quite amazing if we realize there are no other verses in the entire New Covenant that tells us we should confess our sins to God! It’s even more amazing if we realise that this verse was not even intended for Christians who trust in the forgiveness of God, but for self righteous people! There are millions of people who have turned their back on Jesus & left the church, not because they are evil or sinful people, but because they are sincere people that for years & years have been taught a mixture of Old Covenant law and New Covenant Grace. These people have came to a place where they felt that other Christians and themselves were such hypocrites, that their failures and mistakes were so great, that their discouragement drove them away from Jesus into the wilderness. They gave up on Jesus and His word, although they still love Him in their hearts.

But you may ask, “Why would God not want us to confess our sins to Him? After all, we do make mistakes!” The answer is simple: Because walking around the whole day remembering all the bad things we have done will not bring us closer to God! Jesus already paid the full price so that we could have unbroken fellowship with the Father. This means that when we make a mistake, it does not break our fellowship or right standing with God. Jesus was forsaken by his Father on the cross so that we would never have to experience that! Does this mean that we just go out and live a life of full blown wickedness & depravity? No!! But it definitely means that God wants us to have confidence before Him, and to be more aware of our righteousness and His grace than of our shortcomings & mistakes. [Heb 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21 And having an high priest over the house of God; 22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water].

How can we have boldness before God if we have to grovel on our knees and plead for the forgiveness of our sins every time we pray? If we can’t have confidence before God, how then can we even dream to stand in front of a blind person and say confidently: “Blind eyes open in the name of Jesus!” We’d always feel that God does not want to use us because we have too much sin in our lives. No amount of crying, confessing, remembering your sins, emotional torment or anything we can do can add to the finished work of the cross, where our sins were forgiven, once and for all.

So when you find yourself conscious of your sins, simply say: “Thank You Jesus for the perfect work of the cross that has removed my sins completely. Thank you Holy Spirit for convicting me of righteousness, not my own, but the righteousness given to me as a gift (2 Cor 5:21) and I praise You that nothing that I do can ever change that or ever separate me from your love!!!” Grace does not mean the denial of occasional mistakes in our lives – that is a dangerous thing to do – rather grace removes the punishment and guilt of that sin (Tony Ide – Freedom Life Fellowship, Perth, Australia). Grace is what makes us worthy!

Rob Rufus (City Church International, Hong Kong) presented the following brilliant argument: Let’s pretend for a moment that Christians DO have to confess their sins to God. Then for the sake of integrity, these people should please be consistent. They should not only confess those sins which they think are the big sins, but also ALL the little sins. Rom 14 says that ANYTHING a Christian does not do out of faith, is sin. [Rom 14:23b …for whatever is not from faith is sin]. This means that we have to monitor every single little thing we do the entire day, and if we find ourselves doing anything without faith (eat, go to work, go to church, drive home, talk to our children, take off our shoes, worrying about anything, etc.) that is sin, and we should stop whatever we are doing at that moment, and confess that we have sinned, because God has now cut Himself off from us, our right standing with Him has been broken and we stand in danger of being thrown into hellfire for sinning.

So in closing, the Bible teaches all unbelievers to confess their sins to God to be born again and come into Christ, but the Bible does not teach New Covenant believing Christians to confess their sins to God. Also see part 1 on this topic at our website dealing with James 5:16.

If this truth about confessing our sins to God is still unclear to you, we encourage you to download the sermon called “Do Christians have to confess their sins to God?” by Rob Rufus from City Church International in Hong Kong. Simply follow the following link (the date of the sermon is 6 June 2008): http://www.citychurchinternational.net/2008.html