Bonhoeffer on "Confessing Sins One to Another"...
..."That We might be Healed."
4/21/2011
In confession there takes place a breakthrough to true relationship. Sin wants to be alone with people. It takes them away from the Life of Jesus in others. The more lonely people become, the more destructive the power of sin over them. The more deeply they become entangled in it, the more unholy is their loneliness.
Sin wants to remain unknown. Sin and those committed to sin shun the light. In the darkness of what is left unsaid sin poisons the whole being of a person. This can happen for at least some space of time in even one in the midst of a Body of committed christians. In confession, as Jesus, James, John, Paul, and the Hebrews writer all insisted, the light of the gospel breaks into the darkness and the closed isolation of the heart. Sin must be brought into the light. What is unspoken is said openly and confessed. The Mystery and Celebration, so contrary to the human flesh and deception, and so precious and rewarded by the Father of Lights, is that secret and hidden sin comes to light.
It is a hard struggle until the sin crosses one’s lips in confession. But God breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron (Ps. 107:16). Since the confession of sin is made in the presence of another Christian or Christians such as themselves, without assignment or schedule or hierarchy, but friend to friend before a living God as prompted by the Holy Spirit, the last stronghold of self-justification is abandoned. The sinner surrenders, giving up all evil, giving the sinner’s heart to God and finding the forgiveness of all one’s sin in the Life of Jesus Christ and His Life Together with other Christians. Sin that has been spoken and confessed has lost all of its power and mystery and the burden of false reputation and deception, disarming and humiliating the enemy of Jesus, Satan, by the Cross. It has been revealed and judged as sin. It can no longer tear apart the relationships of Believers or the prayers of the Saints.
The local friends who daily wear Him together and live for Him in the world as companions and coworkers of His and each other, “a hundred, mothers, brothers, sisters” as Jesus said, the church, the local Together-Life, now bear the sin of the individual believer, who is no longer alone with this evil but has “cast off” this sin by confessing it and handing it over to God. The sinner has been relieved of sin’s burden…We can admit our sins and in this very act find relationships, community, daily church as Jesus lived it, taught it, and lives it—for the first time. When anyone deems himself too “spiritual” for such a willing projection in “confession of lack and failure, sin” they have made a fatal mistake. To confess humbly and freely, without pretense, without soft-sell or rationalization, or justification, and without form or dogma (or legal manner or method or place or time or person)…is to Name Jesus as a man or woman’s only identity—as He must be. A refusal for any man or woman to humble himself this way will end him before God, the church, and the demons. “Jesus we know, Paul we know about, but who are YOU?” says the Lord of the Flies to those who will not confess and clothe themselves in the humility of the Robes of Jesus, alone. It is our Calling to relieve ourselves willingly of our own pretense of self-justification by selfless service, and by confession in daily life to other simple brothers and sisters who have our Messiah living within them.
Hidden sins separate the sinner from the daily life of Jesus in His People and make the sinner’s apparent relation to them, and Him, all a sham. The sins that were courageously and freely willingly lovingly acknowledged help any man or woman to supernaturally find true community with other believers. It is the CROSS, not format or perfect intellectual belief system, that humiliates and makes an open spectacle of satan, shaming him. In our vulnerability, or weakness, His Power has its first Way to be displayed, “lest ANY man boast.” Jesus Christ may then, through the Power of the HOLY Spirit, unleash His love and Life in the Balm of Union amongst those who Live in Jesus without pretense, that there will be TRUE Church: “TRUE Israelites without guile.”
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer, along with some friends from 70 years later)
[Dietrich’s part before update in language and some expansion: In confession there takes place a breakthrough to community. Sin wants to be alone with people. It takes them away from the community. The more lonely people become, the more destructive the power of sin over them. The more deeply they become entangled in it, the more unholy is their loneliness. Sin wants to remain unknown. It shuns the light. In the darkness of what is left unsaid sin poisons the whole being of a person. This can happen in the midst of a pious community. In confession the light of the gospel breaks into the darkness and closed isolation of the heart. Sin must be brought into the light. What is unspoken is said openly and confessed. All that is secret and hidden comes to light. It is a hard struggle until the sin crosses one’s lips in confession. But God breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron (Ps. 107:16). Since the confession of sin is made in the presence of another Christian, the last stronghold of self-justification is abandoned. The sinner surrenders, giving up all evil, giving the sinner’s heart to God and finding the forgiveness of all one’s sin in the community of Jesus Christ and other Christians. Sin that has been spoken and confessed has lost all of its power. It has been revealed and judged as sin. It can no longer tear apart the community. Now the community bears the sin of the individual believer, who is no longer alone with this evil but has “cast off” this sin by confessing it and handing it over to God. The sinner has been relieved of sin’s burden…We can admit our sins and in this very act find community for the first time. The hidden sins separated the sinner from the community and made the sinner’s apparent community all a sham. The sins that were acknowledged helped the sinner to find true community with other believers in Jesus Christ.]
—dz, mp