St. Mina and St. Abanoub Coptic Orthodox Church

God, the lover of mankind, introduced to us the practice of confession to help us get rid of these three consequences of sin. In confession we admit our sins, take responsibility of them, and we obtain forgiveness. Admitting one's sin removes the fear; taking responsibility of one's sin carries away the guilt; and being forgiven takes away the shame.

When David the prophet did not confess his sins he suffered, so he resolved to confess his sins in order to have peace and to obtain the joy of salvation "when I declared not my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to Thee, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord;' then Thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin" (Ps 32:3-5).

Similarly, Joseph's brothers when they did not admit their sin nor took responsibility of it, they did not have peace of heart and their conscience rebuked them for so many years. They went to Egypt to buy wheat and met Joseph their brother without recognizing him and when he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them, they said to one another "in truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he besought us and we would not listen; therefore is this distress come upon us. And Reuben answered them, 'did I not tell you not to sin against the lad? But you would not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood'" (Gen 42:21,22).

When we confess our sins we will prosper "he who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy" (Prov 28:13); be purified "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 Jn 1:9); and be healed "Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed" (Jam 5:16).

The practice of confession is from old, it can be traced to the time of Moses the prophet "when a man is guilty in any of these, he shall confess the sin he has committed" (Lev 5:5) and it was done before the priests "and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins" (Mt 3:6) meanwhile it was understood that it is done to God "now Joshua said to Achan, 'my son, I beg you, give glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession to Him, and tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me" (Joshua 7:19).

The practice of confession continued in the New Testament "many also of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices" (Acts 19:18). This was based on the authority that the Lord Jesus Christ gave to His disciples and their successors "and when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, 'receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained'" (Jn 20:22,23).