Why Confession to God Matters

Against you, you only, I have sinned …

 

David blew it big time.

Later, he wrote a psalm revealing the turmoil of his soul before God. Psalm 51 exposes David’s heart for all to see.

I puzzled over his words to God,

“Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight …”

My initial reaction was,

“David, where do you get off saying that?”

Uriah was a loyal and honorable soldier in David’s army. David committed adultery with Uriah’s wife. He then orchestrated Uriah’s death—in essence, murdering him. Throughout, he betrayed the nation’s trust (2 Samuel 11).

Adultery … murder … betrayal.

Then he says, “Against you [God], you only, have I sinned …”

What about Uriah, his wife, and Israel?

 

Not an isolated confession

As we explored in “Was David Deluded, Deceiving, or Discerning?” David’s confession is not unique. 

When Potiphar’s wife sought to seduce Joseph, he refused and added (Genesis 39:9):

“No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”

In the New Testament, the repentant prodigal returned to the father he so gravely dishonored. He confessed (Luke 15:18, 21):

“Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”

In Acts 5:3-4, Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, lied about their financial gift. When Peter confronts them, he says,

“… how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit?... You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”

In this brief sampling, adultery, dishonoring a parent, and lying against another person or group are primarily against God.

 

How is this a sin against God?

Why and how does sinning against a human constitute sinning against God?

Again, in the earlier post (linked above), we went into this question in more detail. 

Whether we acknowledge it or not, each human is an image of God. So, when we offend or sin against another human, we offend or sin against an image of God.

Essentially, every sin against an “image of God” is a sin against the God of the image. It is not a stretch to realize that the way we treat other humans reflects upon the way we treat God himself.

Some (perhaps many) will push back, saying this is an overstatement of the problem.

No, it is a big problem!

A large number of our modern churches, books, seminars, and other resources are permeated with—if not captured by—the social sciences and a therapeutic culture that diminish the seriousness of sin and dilute, reinterpret, and pass off a counterfeit forgiveness as biblical.

In this context, Trevin Wax observes:

When sin is reframed—whether by social science or therapy culture—we end up with a smaller God and a shrunken gospel. … Our problem doesn’t begin horizontally, against one another. The vertical dimension comes first, against God.[1]

We need to reclaim forgiveness: forgiving each other, just as God forgave you in Christ. (Ephesians 4:32)

 

What happens when you confess to God?

Following the biblical examples, if our repentance is true and full, it must be toward God first and foremost. Why is this necessary?

Here are a few insights:

1. Recognizes the severity of your offense.

Not only do you recognize that your offense is against God himself, but you also affirm your true humanity.

As you confess to God your wrong toward another human, you own the seriousness of your offense. You cannot diminish or ignore it as immaterial or trivial.

Furthermore, as you confess, you acknowledge God’s claim over humanity. Whether intentional or not, you are aligning yourself with the biblical assertion that humans are made in the ‘image of God’—including you—and are of incalculable value to God.

As this realization touches the deep recesses of your soul, you see not only others, but also yourself, as truly human; as ‘image of God.’ How will this realization impact your treatment of others in the future?

2. Declares your desire for truth.

Not only do you declare that you desire truth, but you also refuse to condone the injustice of what you have done.

William James, Harvard psychologist and philosopher (1842-1910), puts it this way:

For him who confesses, shams are over and realities have begun; he has exteriorized his rottenness. If he has not actually got rid of it, he at least no longer smears it over with a hypocritical show of virtue—he lives at least upon a basis of veracity [i.e., truth].[2]

You see your wrong for what it is. It is not something that can be excused or forgotten as irrelevant or insignificant. It refuses to condone injustice, harm, and offense in all its forms.

3. Acknowledges that God is right.

The full text of Psalm 51:4 reads:

Against You, You only, I have sinned

And done what is evil in Your sight,

So that You are justified when You speak

And blameless when You judge.

Paul embeds the latter part of this verse in Romans 3:4:

Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.”

When you confess to God, you are saying the same thing that he says about your wrong. In agreeing with God, you declare he is right. 

4. Pleads for wholeness.

In Psalm 51, David expresses his yearning for personal wholeness. We hear words such as:

• • Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin (2);

• • Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice (8);

• • Create in me a pure heart, O God (10).

David also craves relational wholeness, primarily with his God (51:11-12):

Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation …

From this confession can flow relational wholeness with God, self, and others—the rebuilding of damaged or broken relationships.

5. Answers a vital question.

One common question is:

“What if the person I have offended or sinned against cannot be found, or has died, or refuses to forgive me?”

This is an important question we will address in a future post.

 

As I conclude, I find myself asking this question:

Is it possible to know true forgiveness without engaging with God?

How would you answer this question? I want to hear what you think and why. What can you add? You can contact me using this link.

FORWARD TO the next post in this series

BACK TO The What and Why of Confession

TO START at the beginning of this series 

Notes:

[1] Trevin Wax, “The Modern Flattening of Sin—and What We Lose.” The Gospel Coalition, 23 April, 2026, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevin-wax/modern-flattening-sin/ (accessed April 27, 2026).

[2] William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature (New York, NY: Longmans, Green, 1902), 452.

Image credit: ::Prad Prathivi @ Amodica:: via VisualHunt / CC BY-NC