The Basis for Confession

Recently I visited a church with my brother. It’s a reformed congregation that uses liturgy to guide and structure its service. When we got to the time of confession and assurance, I was struck by something unexpected: this part of the service was “backwards.” The pastor read the words of assurance first, and then came the time for confession.

In the church I grew up in, the confession part always came first. After singing or hearing Scripture about the glory of God, we would spend a moment of reflection looking inward and confessing where we did not match up. Then we’d hear a passage of Scripture assuring us of our pardon. Nothing necessarily wrong with this confession.

However, at this church I was visiting, we started out with assurance. We looked right in the face of who God is—his mercy, his abundant grace, his willingness to forgive. And from there we confessed, both corporately and privately, the ways we fail to love God and neighbor. And then came the assurance.

Why? Because God’s assurance of pardon is the basis for our confession. We are called to walk continually in confession and repentance before God; this is vital for our relationship with him. And what gives us the confidence to confess in the first place is knowing he is gracious.

When we come to God, we don’t have to wonder whether or not he’ll forgive. It’s not like he is standing far off, waiting to hear our confession before he decides to be merciful. He has proven himself merciful, since the beginning of time and climaxing in the death and resurrection of his Son.

After all, we are not forgiven because of anything we’ve done or haven’t done, confessed or haven’t confessed. We’re forgiven because God loves us and delights in showing mercy toward us.

All we must do is come. But even then, what is it that compels any of us to desire to repent? God’s Spirit at work within us. He is the founder and the fulfillment of our desire for repentance.

After all, it is God’s grace that moves us to repentance (Romans 2:4). If God loved us first, if he is the one who moves our hearts to desire him, then it only makes sense that our starting point for repentance should always be God’s grace.

God’s grace bookends our faltering steps toward him, attracting our guilt-ridden consciences with the beauty of his goodness and assuring us of forgiveness even as we confess.

The basis for our confession was never found within ourselves, our ability to confess, or our strength to repent. What then is our basis for confession?

“The LORD is merciful and gracious,
     slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love….
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
     nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
     so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
     so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:8, 10–12)