APOSTLE EDWARD SSEWANYANA: PUBLIC CONFESSION

One of the most contentious issues in Christian circles today is the issue of public confession. I remember during a mission trip to Sembabule district where some believers came to the front and confessed their sins before the whole congregation willingly. On another occasion I was in a service in a church and a young woman came to the front and confessed that she became pregnant before marriage and asked for forgiveness from the whole church. She was under instruction from the church leadership to confess this sin. It is important to know the opinion of the Bible about this issue before we reach any private conclusions.

One of the first public confessions we see in the Bible is after Apostle Paul had preached the gospel in Ephesus, "And many that believed came, and CONFESSED, AND SHOWED THEIR DEEDS. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them BEFORE ALL MEN: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver” (Acts 19:18-19). We are told that many of those who believed came and publicly confessed their deeds. Among these were practitioners of witchcraft who not only confessed but destroyed the magic books worth millions of dollars. I believe that one of the reasons that they confessed publicly was because their Satanic practice was widely known and had affected the population at large.

Most believers have only known about the private confession of sin to God as mentioned in 1 John 1:9. However this is not the only level of confession though it is the fundamental and first step that any believer should take when they have sinned. When you worship an idol in your bedroom and no one knows about it, the only step you have to take is to confess that sin to God and He will forgive you. However, other sins can have an effect upon the public like stealing, adultery or murder. When a person is murdered it affects the family members and friends of that person. Another important factor is the position of the believer in the church. God uses a different measuring rod for ministers than for the laymen (James 3:1). When an elder in the church sins they can lead many others in the church to sin because they are looked at as the example to follow. That is why Apostle Paul instructs Apostle Timothy that, "Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. Them that sin REBUKE BEFORE ALL, that others also may fear" (1 Timothy 5:19-20). This is an instruction to the church overseers or Apostles to thoroughly investigate the sins that elders in the church have been accused of and when full proof beyond reasonable doubt has been compiled then the elders are publicly rebuked. This implies that upon being publicly censured the elder would have to come before the church and ask for forgiveness (James 5:16). An elder in the church is specifically one who holds a public ministry office especially the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers (Acts 20:17, 28; 1Peter 5:1-2). By extension this principle can also apply to the deacons, administrators and choir members since they exercise a public ministry in the church. When the church simply covers up the sin of its ministers it risks losing its reputation and good name in the community. It would be taken to be a church that takes sin lightly and hence would drive away even the unsaved.

Some people ask why it is commonly those who have committed fornication or adultery who are called up to make the public confessions. The reason for this is that sexual sin falls in a separate category according to scriptures, "Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body” (1 Corinthians 6:18). A person who commits fornication sins against their own body and also against the body of Christ. Fornication results in physical consequences such as pregnancy. The only time when Apostle Paul publicly orders the excommunication of a sinning Christian is the case of the man who was committing adultery with his father's wife (1 Corinthians 5). He finally instructs them to, "put away from among yourselves that wicked person" (1 Corinthians 5:13). We should put emphasis where God puts the emphasis in His word. As a leader I have to hate the things God hates (Rev 2:6) and exercise discipline where it is necessary. The man Apostle Paul writes about would obviously have to publicly confess before the church for him to be restored just as it would have to be for other unrepentant sinners that Jesus gave us instructions to expel from the church (Matthew 18:15-17).