qaz, I don’t see why you are pointing to 2 Cor 7:10, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”
I’m asserting that Christians—people who are saved—don’t need to seek forgiveness from God.
Certainly, we are to be honest with Him about our sins; and we are to thank Him for our forgiveness.
Certainly, we are to seek forgiveness from other people against whom we sin, and not let the devil get a foothold.
As James 5:16 says, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”
And Ephesians 4:26 tells us, “Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.”
And Hebrews 12:15 says, “See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.”
Under this New Covenant, our forgiveness is a done deal. At the top of this thread, I quoted DukeUSA. This person insists that the moment we sin, we are thrown out of fellowship with God, and that the only way to get it back is by naming our sins to Him, as per their application of 1 John 1:9 to Christians. I don’t know about you, but I sin pretty often. I think the more seriously you take that idea, the more neurotic you are likely to become.
I insist our righteousness is a free and permanent gift. It is the enemy who wants us to feel condemned and cut off by our sins, not God.
Here are some further ideas, from Paul Ellis, to help distinguish our secure, eternal, right standing in Christ:
**You were forgiven through His blood. **
Your works don’t come into it. Under the old covenant law, there could be no forgiveness without the shedding of blood (Heb 9:22). What the law prefigured, Christ fulfilled. At the Last Supper Jesus explained the basis of our forgiveness:
*“This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” *Mat 26:28.
Note the absence of any qualifiers. Jesus did not say, “…provided they confess first.” It’s His blood from start to finish.
You were forgiven completely for all time. Jesus will never go to the cross again.
“But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.” Heb 10:12.
Jesus’ death on the cross was a once-off sacrifice offered for all time. It was perfectly perfect in every respect and there is nothing you can do to improve upon it. Those who take 1 John 1:9 as their justification for trying to earn what we’ve already been given, need to pay more careful attention to what John is saying: the blood of Jesus purifies us from “all sin” (1:7) and cleanses us from “all unrighteousness” (1:9). All means all. “All sin” includes the sins we haven’t done yet and all the sins we have never confessed.
Your sins are long gone.
“But now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” Heb 9:26b.
In the Bible, the word “forgive” literally means to send away. You sin hasn’t merely been overlooked, it has been abolished (AMP), put away (ASV), and removed (GNB). Neither has God put away your sins in the same way that you might put your rubbish in a bin by the back door – close by and smelly. He has removed them from you as far as the east is from the west (Ps 103:12). If you were to go looking for your sins, you wouldn’t find them. They’re gone! They’ve all been blotted out (Is 44:22).
God chooses to forget your sin.
“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Heb 8:12. God does not impute our trespasses to us (2 Cor 5:19).
Confessing-to-be-forgiven puts us under law.
“For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Rom 6:14). “…The strength of sin is the law.” 1 Cor 15:56.
Confessing-to-be-forgiven keeps us from God.
“Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus… let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience…” (Heb 10:19,22)
Another argument which is sometimes used to justify confession is that it restores our fellowship with God. Confessing our faults is certainly a good idea when we sin against each other (James 5:16). But don’t make the mistake of relating to God on human terms.
We’re called to be Christ-conscious, not sin-conscious.
“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (Jn 17:3)
Confessing-to-be-forgiven distracts us from the purpose of life which is to know and enjoy God our Father and Jesus Christ whom He sent. Confession tends to make us introspective and gloomy. When you look at all you’ve done wrong, how could you not get depressed? Our heavenly Father doesn’t want us to live like that. God didn’t send His Son to make us self-aware but Christ-aware.
From 12 Reasons Why Christians Don’t Need to Confess-to-be-Forgiven by Paul Ellis